Comment by wut42

Comment by wut42 2 days ago

8 replies

Yeah no you are targeting somewhere specific even if you miss.

This was a large scale indiscriminate attack. Which is entirely forbidden in Geneva Conventions.

tptacek 2 days ago

It was a large scale extremely discriminating attack, from all available reporting, right? The Geneva Conventions and ICRC documentation on IHL are online, and have been cited repeatedly on these threads; could you cite the claim you're making, just so we're all clear what it is? People might agree or disagree, but a lot of pointless flaming is driven by people that don't even agree on what they're arguing about.

  • wut42 2 days ago

    Article 51(4 a b c) of Genova.

    I really don't see how it can be a "discriminating" attack when they exploded in shops; groceries; family homes (in the face of a child) etc.

    • tptacek 2 days ago

      4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:

      (a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective;

      (b) those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or

      (c) those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol;

      So far as I can tell, this strike clears all those definitions. I think you may be reading 51(4) to be a prohibition on civilian casualties as collateral to military strikes, but that obviously can't be its meaning --- that would ban virtually all air strikes, for instance, and I'm pretty sure that isn't something the victors of WW2 were going for.

      Am I misunderstanding the argument you're making? It's not unlikely that I could have!

      • GuinansEyebrows 2 days ago

        You cannot specifically target a military objective using a small explosive in a crowded area. It’s not possible other than by pure luck, which negates any assumed specificity.