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title: ""If the targeting of civilians in wartime is okay, then clearly the…"
date: 2017-11-14
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships shared a link.
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# "If the targeting of civilians in wartime is okay, then clearly the…

*November 14, 2017 · Facebook*

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[https://www.fff.org/2016/05/12/arent-hiroshima-nagasaki-war-crimes/](https://www.fff.org/2016/05/12/arent-hiroshima-nagasaki-war-crimes/){target="_blank"}
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\"If the targeting of civilians in wartime is okay, then clearly the decision to nuke the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not a war crime.\
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But if that's the case, then why was U.S. Army Lt. William Calley prosecuted during the Vietnam War? He's the officer who intentionally killed several defenseless women and children in a Vietnamese village. The military prosecuted and convicted him of a war crime. Why? If it's not a war crime to intentionally kill women and children in wartime, then why was Calley prosecuted and convicted of war crimes?\
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The fact is that it is a war crime for troops to intentionally target non-combatants in wartime. Nobody disputes that. But then given such, why the pass on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Everyone agrees that Truman was targeting non-combatants --- mainly women, children, and seniors --- when he ordered the nuking of those two cities. How do defenders of Truman's decision avoid the inexorable conclusion that Truman's action constituted a war crime?\"\
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[https://www.fff.org/2016/05/12/arent-hiroshima-nagasaki-war-crimes/](https://www.fff.org/2016/05/12/arent-hiroshima-nagasaki-war-crimes/){target="_blank"}
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