Heidegger

Cologne 07-Jun-2007

Bernx at aol.com schrieb Wed, 6 Jun 2007 15:03:10 EDT:

> In a message dated 6/6/2007 12:04:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> artefact at t-online.de writes:
>
> ME: Asymmetric combatants present a genuine problem,
> especially when they descend even to despicable suicide
> murders on civilians — which is beyond the pale of anything
> even faintly resembling civilization and
> has made the Geneva Convention in broad measure obsolete
> (Bernard’s
> “planed (sic) obsolescence”).
>
> Dear Michael;The Geneva Convention is merely a paper ticket to conduct
> “legal” mass”collateral” (civilian) slaughter. Why are civilian
> populations such a delicious targetfor generals conducting a military
> operation, e.g., 1934, Italian forces, under Gen. Badaglio in
> Ethiopia using mustard gas on civilians; “Guernica” destroyed by
> Fascist aircraft during the Spanish [un]-Civil War: Bombing of London
> and Coventry by the Luftwafe: punitive bombing of German cities by
> Anglo American airforces: US anhilation of Hiroshima and Nagaski in
> first deployment of “The Bomb.” Again, beyond the paper rules of the
> Geneva Convention civilian populations were very much considered de
> facto military targets. In my own case, “The Bomb” probably saved my
> life, along with an expected one million US casualties and many
> millions of Japanese, since I was being trained for the US invasion
> of Japan. But a year later I was absolutely appalled to see the utter
> destruction of large sections of civilian targets by US Army
> Airforce pinpoint bombing that left the docking facilities of Bremen
> totally uintouched and intact. I was equally shocked when German
> civilians in Bremerhaven told me of the fire bombing of nearby
> Cuxhaven where large populations were suffocated before they were
> roasted by the created fire-storm. On the other hand, the American
> B-17 bomber crews suffered enormoous casualties and as if they were on
> suicide missions.I would have been on a suicide mission if the
> invasion of Japan were carried out. But at the time I did not
> understand this, espescially from the point of view of a bomber pilot.
> Later, while in charge of my ship’s mess and transporting 2000 German
> POW’s back to Germany I had a volunteer POW assisting me in my
> messroom. His father [had] owned a restaurant in Dresden and he knew
> very well how to wash dishes. Werner was a short, hawk-nosed fellow
> and a former Stuka dive bomber pilot. Working together we became good
> friends until one night in the crew mess where the off watch crew were
> on a coffee break, he gleefully told me what fun it was to machine gun
> London civilians running down the street as he swooped in low after
> dropping his bombs. I suddenly went berserk, grabbed Werner by the
> neck and started choking him, screaming “you f__king Nazi bastard.” My
> shipmates leaped up and tore us apart and Werner stood there white in
> the face and in shock. As I came to I began to cry, put my arms
> around Werner and who was also crying. My shipmates stood around,
> shook their heads and then returned to their coffe. All returned to
> normal and as if we all, including my German prisoner and myself,
> understood we were all victims of the Geneva Convention. And so, what
> else, 9/11 notwithstanding, is new in today’s slaughter of self and
> others in or out of uniform?Sincerely;Bernard >

ME: I appreciate your story. A few thoughts:

The Geneva Convention is not merely a piece of paper. like a bus ticket
one discards on alighting, but an international agreement with many
countries as signatories. Breaches to the Convention do not imply it is
useless, with the consequence that everything is permitted in war. The
Convention remains a criterion for judging actions in war. The ius belli
of the European feudal ages was elaborate and also constantly breached,
but it remained indispensable for regulating war and peace among the
European states. Truces and peace treaties made under complicated
rituals of giving oath were often infringed, prisoners of war were often
slaughtered, but the law of war remained a criterion nevertheless with
long-term consequences for those violating it.

The Geneva Convention is outdated today when war is waged by murderous
non-state entities such as Al Qaeda that will stop at nothing. When
captured, these people are certainly not entitled to POW status under
the Geneva Convention. How, then, are they to be treated?

Your use of the term “suicide mission” (i.e. a highly dangerous military
mission) would seem to suggest an assimilation to today’s suicide
bombers — as if there were little difference. But even a Japanese
kamakazi pilot was flying a plane with Japanese markings that could be
identified and, with luck, shot down.

Apart from the despicable act of suicide bombing civilians with
explosives strapped to the body or hidden in a vehicle, what invariably
remains entirely unmentioned is that a suicide bomber makes the entire
civilian population in which he is embedded also into a potential
legitimate target for the enemy. Soldiers than have to treat every
member of the civilian population as a potential suicide bomber and
react accordingly. The tactic of suicide bombing is barbaric and
cowardly to a degree that beggars belief measured against any criterion
of civilization and military bravery.

At least the Europeans drew a lesson from the carnage of WWII: the EU to
make war in Europe ‘impossible’. Getting peoples entangled in mutually
beneficial webs of trade on a fair basis is the best way of at least
erecting high hurdles to making war on each other. Back in the fifteenth
century, the English used to invade France every summer just because it
was a profitable venture for both the English people and the king.

Michael
_-_-_-_-_-_-_- artefact text and translation _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- made by art _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ http://www.webcom.com/artefact/ _-_-_-_- artefact at t-online.de _-_
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Dr Michael Eldred -_-_-
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2007 at 10:20 am
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