Humanitarian action: a Just action?

[Abu Suleyman]

So what is a war crime? I have some pretty set ideas about War Crimes, but these are vastly at odds with what the UN/NGOs/media wishes/chooses to call war crimes.

I suspect that if we were to break out our respective definitions of what we think war crimes are most of us here would have a pretty similar definition. I almost %100 certain, based on reading Wilf for so long that we would have no meaningful disagreement.

Why wars are declared or occure is different from how they are conducted. The aim of this is to preserve the humanity of the combattants by accepting that war are spaces in the real with different rules and moral understanding. But saying that, the warriors or soldiers still have and are part of humanity. What political leaders may ask them to do may be unjust and then the responsability lies in the hands of the decision makers. But also, as Stan pointed out, combattants have the obligation to refuse unjust or illegal orders. The definition of unjust or illegal orders is unclear and vague, I agree.

We are in %100 percent accordance. I treat the two as different, but both essential elements of a moral war. If your war for a good reason is conducted in an immoral way, it is not a moral war, and no amount of humanity in an immoral war makes it ok. I only separate warfighters from politicians for analytical purposes, and (a little) because their choices are of a different character.

And I would not dare to juge whitout knowing the responsability of individuals in a war zone. Choices made are harsh and difficult under high pressure. But still law as the realisation of moral standing in the real has to be preserved.

Also agree. Here I am talking about general theoretical level questions. Theory is important because (well constructed) it is a constant and gives us the measuring stick against which we can evaluate the real world. However, when dealing with individual cases I would be very hesitant to pass more than a cursory "If...then..." evaluation of the situation, and only after enough time had passed to let all of the facts come out.

Indeed, while not condoning true warcrimes, I think we are sometimes too harsh on warfighters. The stakes are higher in war, and therefore mistakes have greater consequences. To treat things that occur in a war zone the same way we would deal with them if they happened at home is probably a bad thing to do.