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PaperclipPerfector  7d ago (text post)   35715 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 27, 2025

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Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki

None of these cities were purely civilian targets, particularly if you think military industry is fair game. Hiroshima was a Japanese army headquarters, and at Nagasaki the bomb detonated between an arsenal and an arms factory, while the Doolittle raid hit an aircraft carrier and various industrial targets (and also civilian buildings, but AFAIK the Raiders were not instructed to target e.g. schools). The Dresden bombing was planned to hit German industrial centers and a railroad yard - there were apparently some ancillary military assets there (such as barracks) but the real target was the military industrial center that was believed to be there.

Now, that being said, I tend to agree with your overall point - there's certainly a case to be made that these bombing raids were not proportionate and therefore not justified under the laws of war. But there were certainly military or at a minimum industrial targets relevant to the war effort at all four of those locations.

None of these cities were purely civilian targets, particularly if you think military industry is fair game.

So I guess the tunnel network under Gaza makes every inch of it a legitimate target for earthquake and bunker buster bombs.

Any strike on the tunnel network under Gaza would need to apply the principle of proportionality – same as the Allied bombing strikes on Japan. International law bans

an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

I am not a lawyer but I think that in practice what this means is that if striking the tunnel network was sufficiently necessary to achieve Israel's goals, and it was also entirely colocated with orphanages, hospitals, and food banks, it would be justified to hit a food bank in order to strike the tunnel network. (Note also that as I understand it the Gazan combatants would have some duty to not entirely colocate their military equipment with orphanages, hospitals, and food banks.)

But on the other hand if Israel had the ability to strike the tunnel network and gain the same military advantage without striking an orphanage, hospital or food bank, they should take that option instead of the one that could reasonably be expected to kill civilians.

I have never seen a realistic suggestion for how to militarily destroy the tunnels without hitting said food bank etc. I've seen many suggestions by people who have watched too many Hollywood movies, though.

I don't have a strong opinion on the tunnel network, but it seemed like a helpful example to demonstrate proportionality.

None of these cities were purely civilian targets, particularly if you think military industry is fair game.

This is also true for Gaza.

Yes, I agree – Gaza, as a whole, is not a purely civilian target. This, at least in my estimation, does not mean that carpet bombing it is necessarily a proportionate response – particularly given that modern precision-guided weaponry and the lack of Gazan air defenses means that Israel faces a different calculus than the Allies did during World War Two (and even then, from what I know, I think you could reasonably argue at least some of the Allied bombing strikes weren't justified).

Note that I am not saying the Israelis have been carpet-bombing Gaza – I do not believe that to be a correct description of their actions. Just pointing out there's a material difference at play.

(and even then, from what I know, I think you could reasonably argue at least some of the Allied bombing strikes weren't justified)

This is the piece of the puzzle that I think you are missing. The bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Dresden and dozens of other strategic air raid targets are totally unjustifiable by modern standards. They fail the tests of both proportionality and distinction. Were we to be using the standards of the allies in WWII (which were still higher than the standards of the Axis) then Israel turning the Gaza strip to rubble with carpet bombing or nukes would be, if not justifiable, at least comfortably within the window of normality.

Dresden, perhaps. With Hiroshima and Nagasaki it depends on if you take into account that they won the damned war. Critics like to not count that part. If you balance Hiroshima and Nagasaki against continued conventional warfare to a conclusion, they look a lot more proportional.

won the damned war.

Under certain very soecific conditions: Japan must give Northern Territories, Korea, South Seas Mandate, Formosa, but gets to keep Hokkaido. His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor Syowa will lose power, but will not be tried, imprisoned, let alone murdered. Japanese people will not be enslaved.

Change any of these arbitrary conditions, and surrender comes at a different time. Perhaps if guarantees to the Emperor were less doubtful, only Hiroshima would be annihilated. If Potsdam declaration mentioned the Emperor by name as a war criminal, perhaps a couple of more cities would be irradiated.

These are largely quibbles, especially when applied to Hiroshima. The point is that weighing the civilian lives lost at Hiroshima against the immediate military advantage of destroying Hiroshima's military infrastructure rather than against the actual, plausible, objective of ending the war without a full-scale invasion is unreasonable.

I wouldn't count myself as a critic of the atomic bombings. It was a war crime in a war that was war crimes from beginning to end. Was it justifiable (in the moral sense) on the basis that not dropping the bombs would have resulted in ultimately a far worse outcome for all involved? Personally, I think so. But under the modern Law of Armed Conflict, such a bombing would not even be close to passing muster.

Sure, in hindsight it probably won the war, but all military acts are designed to win the war in some sense. That does not give all actors carte blanche to do anything they want on the basis that it may just be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Ostensibly, the military infrastructure of Hiroshima was the true target of the bombing. the ~100k collateral civilian deaths caused by the bomb would certainly not be considered proportional to the military value of destroying those enemy assets.

Yes, I think you are correct. But on the other hand, modern standards for warfare are much higher due to precision weapons. As you suggest, from what I understand Allied tactics in the Second World War were not unusual when contrasted with the Axis tactics.

Mind you, this isn't necessarily a moral justification for the actions - I just think it's important to understand that our standards are and should be higher because we can be more discriminating.

What is "proportionate" in this context? If I have 1 000 soldiers and the opponent has 10 000, then they kill 100 of mine, is it proportionate to kill 100 or 1 000 in response? Adjust as needed for civilian casualties.

From what I understand, there's no limitations in a time of war on striking enemy combatants. Although there are certainly political questions of proportionality, from what I understand under international law if I sink your rowboat you are entirely justified in sinking my aircraft carrier.

The question of proportionality kicks in when you're considering civilian collateral – so for instance you are probably not justified in nuking downtown Los Angeles to destroy a single military rowboat. But you probably would be justified in launching a conventional strike on San Diego to hit the military base there if it is calibrated to cause as few civilian casualties as possible while achieving its desired military effect.

Note that I am not a lawyer though.

Yes, that's exactly what it means. Now, how many civilian casualties are acceptable per military target is very wishy-washy, depending on the country and their situation, and for good reason! We don't want soldiers to say, "Well, per international law, if I have two civilians with me at all times (or five for two soldiers, nine for three, and scaling up), we're legally and/or doctrinaly unassailable."

It's a bad idea to impose a kill limit on your own troops

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