Quote Originally Posted by slapout9 View Post
Hi tequila, I would not recommend that as a defense but in todays world I would believe someone would try it. To me the worst and most damming evidence was when they did strafing runs on the sailors while they were in their LIFE RAFTS!! even if it was a mistake how could you justify that? I think that is what you call a war crime to boot.
Concur...but they have the get out of jail free card. And trying to equate this with amicide incidents in Iraq, Afghanistan, or World War II is simply foolish. It MIGHT come closer to NKVD troops shooting their own comrades if they fell back from a failed assault, but even then it's a stretch.

Regarding life rafts...there were many incidents during World War II of this taking place...but I don't recall a single one where USN PT boats opened fire on British sailors in life rafts and continued firing once they were identified. That would be about the equivalent.