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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (10622)	5/30/1999 10:30:00 PM
From: Dayuhan	Respond to of 17770

We certainly expected Yuogoslavia to follow them in the treatment of the American soldiers they captured. This only demonstrates my contention: There is only one thing that has been and will continue to be constant about these conventions: nobody observes them unless they feel that it is in their interest to do so. We don't treat prisoners well because of the conventions, we treat them well because it is in our interest to do so. It is likely that some of our people will be taken prisoner, and we want to encourage surrenders. We feel free to violate the conventions on bombing because it is most unlikely that we will be bombed. Note that our leaders inevitably denounce terrorist bombings as "cowardly"; presumably they feel that bombing a nation with no capacity to defend itself against such bombing is somehow heroic. I confess that I am unable to discern much difference.

To: The Philosopher who wrote (10622)	5/31/1999 8:57:00 AM
From: James R. Barrett	Respond to of 17770

"Actually, there is an astonishingly strong commitment to these principles in wars where the combatants are relatively equal, because each side knows that if they violate them, the other side will, too. But in our case, where we know that Milosovic can't do anything to us no matter how much we violate the law, there is no incentive to obey the law." Very true. Milo can't hurt NATO but he can sure raise hell with the ethnic Albanians.

To: The Philosopher who wrote (10622)	5/31/1999 9:12:00 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 17770

We certainly expected Yuogoslavia to follow them in the treatment of the American soldiers they captured. As far as I know, we followed them in the treatment of the two Yugoslav soldiers we captured. Yeah, we expected them to treat them well, but apparently they didn't quite meet the mark. There were no letters home or initial visitations from the Red Cross (that took 3 weeks to occur). We were completely UNAWARE of their status or whereabouts for almost the entire period of captivity. Then we must look at the violation of Macedonia's sovereignty by Serb Special Forces (they apparently spoke fluent english), that resulted in the capture of these soldiers. The soldiers didn't even fire a round in their defense, yet they were BEATEN, and one soldier had 3 ribs broken. Hmmmm... so who was violating who's rights as a POW?? I take it you have never been in the military Christopher. Actually, you probably never were even much of a brawler in your youth either (don't worry, neither was I.. :0). But combat is an ugly, messy affair that NO SOLDIER in his right mind actively seeks out. Now those who consider themselves "warriors" crave it as a way of life, and many of us reluctant warriors are only too happy to let them. But war is a brawl that is winner takes all. You simply can't apply "law" to brutality and chaos. War is a breakdown of law and as you stated any semblance of adherence to the "law of war" is solely the result of the balance of terror or fear of consequences. Do you really think we would have continued to strategically bomb German factories were US factories suffering similar attacks here in the US?? Doubtful... there would have been a deal worked out. It is the reason that chemical weapons were no used in WWII to any noticeable degree. We both had them. However the US had the means to mass deliver them. Regards, Ron