SAS on trial

[On Balance]

Agree with a lot of that but the Dresden raid especially remains questionable. Even the aircrew themselves had qualms about it. Certainly thousands of civilians died horrific deaths in the subsequent fire storm and the impact on any military targets is now seen as being very limited and the idea that such a ferocious attack would hasten the end of the war also seems flawed. All is fair in love and war? Reap what you sow? The normal rules cannot apply in war -but surely a line over what is acceptable/justifiable and what is not should still be made? In this case, however, any "guilt" (if there should be any) should lie with Harris and those who authorized it, certainly not the aircrew whose bravery I have nothing but respect for.

We must continue to support our military personnel. That said they are trained to kill but there must be a line between a lawful kill and an unlawful one. If that line is crossed then it is right and proper that any war crime is investigated.

The issue with the Dresden bombings is that the rules back in the period of WWII were not as they are today (I would suspect) Civilian casualties will always be repulsive by nature of the fact they are not part of the war. However, I would imagine it would be difficult to avoid if the enemy use them to put munitions and barrack close by to ensure a strategic military advantage.

If the rules were different then one must take into account what rules were in place at that given time. We should not use todays rules of engagement to decide whether what happened twenty, thirty or a hundred years ago was wrong.

[Omegstrat6]

I agree that any historical events and behaviour can only be understood in the context of the time but still think that it is valid to question these from a modern perspective as to whether were think them right or wrong. The historical,/cultural contexts are then a kind of mitigating circumstance when making such judgements (and the benefit of hindsight also helps of course!&#128513 For example, in the context of the time, and for certain people, the Atlantic Slave trade was seen as perfectly fine and whilst that helps us understand some of the reasons behind why it happened it surely doesn't mean that it is right? Shouldn't the point be that we should learn from the past in order to create better societies in the future? (Not that we seem very good at it &#128542