Justified against unarmed civilians?
1) Commit war crime.
2) Face the music for a moment.
3) Go to a friendly podcast and raise support (just say you have trauma and pain, and the people you've killed were animals anyway).
4) Become a free man.
5) Optionally for Seals: write a book with a chapter about hell week (can be done @ step 2 as well)
Following the same rules, civilian defender in the US will find him/herself in prison very quickly. Ability, opportunity and intent will not be proven by stating that the defender felt threatened.
Truly outstanding planning, reconnaissance, and decision-making in the field. If I ever need some guys in swimwear taken out, I know who to call.
North Korean media likes to depict US soldiers as what can only be summarized as cruel demons. Depictions of US soldiers torturing and killing civilians are especially common[1]. If they were ever warming up to the west, this incident among others should serve as a good reminder to not alter course.
> [..] talks have fallen apart and North Korea has forged ahead with its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program.
I'd build more nuclear weapons as fast as I could as well if that's who I'm dealing with.
[1] Some examples of North Korean anti-American propaganda for your viewing pleasure: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/north-korea-anti-american-p...
Can someone explain?
Were they believed to be militants? Were they recognized as civilians but they took up weapons? Is there a rule that you can kill a non-militant who might raise the alarm to militants, even if not at war? Were there unusual orders in effect for this mission? Something else?
Governments around the world have strong incentives to keep this kind of thing out of the news even when they are on the receiving end, so it is relatively rare for it to leak into the public sphere no matter which government ends up killing innocents.
Isn't this a pretty dangerous power and precedent to have, if you're the good guys?
Especially if you don't have a lot of confidence that the top of the command chain will always be of the utmost integrity and decency?
jackb4040•1h ago
hnlurker22•1h ago
John23832•1h ago
It removes the focus of the killing of civilians and makes it "aw shucks, the mission didn't go as planned".
olddustytrail•1h ago