LogFAQs > #891153387

Unbridled9 posted...

I'm saying that believing something like a simple convention will suddenly turn all war into a clean-cut gentlemanly conflict in which civilians never get hit in the crossfire, people don't use civilians as shields, and it doesn't become important to do things like disable production capabilities (which results in civilian casualties), all to the tune of a piping kettle and hot cup of tea is stupid

Fortunately, no one believes that.

The Geneva Convention outlaws the deliberate targeting of civilians for no purpose beyond punishment/general mayhem and states that wherever possible the death of civilians is to be avoided. Accidental killing of civilians is not considered a violation of the Convention, as long as it can be shown that the act that caused civilian casualties had military necessity and all reasonable steps were undertaken to limit civilian casualties.

And for the record, production facilities dedicated to the production of military goods are considered legitimate military targets and the Geneva Convention does make allowances for their destruction.

Unbridled9 posted...

We shouldn't be like North Korea; but we shouldn't act like the convention is also going to just stop civilian casualties except when done by crazy sociopathic lunatics either.

Noe one's acting that way, though.

Saying "We should take all reasonable steps to avoid killing civilians" is not incompatible with acknowledging that deaths will still sometimes happen.
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