Discussion » Questions » Death and Dying » Why is it in most all countries you get imprisoned for killing someone and yet when governments go to war no one that kills gets prosecuted

Why is it in most all countries you get imprisoned for killing someone and yet when governments go to war no one that kills gets prosecuted

Is there differnt rules for murder...? depending on who commits it...

Posted - May 26, 2019

Responses


  • 5391
    This isn’t true. 
    Believe it or not, there are rules in war.
    Killing combatants, someone on the other side who is aiming to kill you and your mates, is not illegal in war.

    War crimes are a real thing, in fact, we can examine the Nuremberg trials of 1945-46 where Nazis (the ones who hadn’t yet killed themselves) were convicted and hanged.
    In this current time, there is word that the POTUS is considering pardoning convicted war criminals here in the US, just in time to disgrace Memorial Day. 
      May 26, 2019 5:38 AM MDT
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  • 19942
    So much for our Dear Leader who professes to adore the military.
      May 26, 2019 7:59 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    Do you think for instance that every German man that was forced or conscripted to go fight a war that they themselves were against had any choice but to go and kill on someone else's say so...
    What makes killing legal and or illegal ....

    Americans centuries ago went to war with the Indians of the Americas just to steal their land and minerials ,England rap'ed the world for centuries before.....
    Why is it right to kill if you're powerful and wrong if you are weak ?
    England wanted to wipe out the entire aborigin population of Austraila  ,just to steal their country.. 

    I always thought that the victor gets to write the rule books...

    England stole part of Ireland many years ago.....our government still wonder why the southern Irish get upset when we refuse to return it to its rightful owners....is that legal or illegal ? 
      May 26, 2019 8:34 AM MDT
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  • 5391
    A key to waging war is to convince the masses that a war is necessary, or desirable, or just. 
    Achieve that and the carnage is imminent. Right is subjective. 

    In the case of Germans in WWII, I believe they were thoroughly convinced of the righteousness of their cause, at least for a while. They were misled by a powerful message to join the movement. I would say to you that there is a point of no return. 

    It is the victors who claim the spoils, rule the conquered and write the history. I wish we could count how many wars were fought just for those things. 
      May 26, 2019 3:37 PM MDT
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  • 2657
    Yes, through propaganda and desperation over the depression (Germany hit particularly hard with years of sanctions) many kinda looked at a charismatic Hitler as a savior and the supposed righteousness of His cause. Apparently antisemitism was already common as well.

    https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-great-depression
    The Great Depression also played a role in the emergence of Adolf Hitler as a viable political leader in Germany. Deteriorating economic conditions in Germany in the 1930s created an angry, frightened, and financially struggling populace open to more extreme political systems, including fascism and communism.

    https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nazi-rise-to-power
    During 1930–1933, the mood in Germany was grim. The worldwide economic depression had hit the country hard, and millions of people were out of work. The unemployed were joined by millions of others who linked the Depression to Germany's national humiliation after defeat in World War 1. Many Germans perceived the parliamentary government coalition as weak and unable to alleviate the economic crisis. Widespread economic misery, fear, and perception of worse times to come, as well as anger and impatience with the apparent failure of the government to manage the crisis, offered fertile ground for the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.

    https://www.ushmm.org/learn/introduction-to-the-holocaust/ethical-leaders/background/causes-and-motivations

    Antisemitism and Support for Nazism

    Cultural explanations focus on values, beliefs, and prejudices, particularly antisemitism of various forms, including Nazi antisemitism.

      May 28, 2019 6:09 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    If you declare war on some one who has stolen everything you own ,is it ok to declare war on them and try to kill them ? 
      May 26, 2019 8:38 AM MDT
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  • 5391
    I can’t imagine any case in which war is OK. It isn’t OK to kill other people, but war is the ultimate insanity. Is it right (or sane) to want to kill someone who merely stole from you?
    I’d say no. This post was edited by Don Barzini at May 28, 2019 2:09 AM MDT
      May 26, 2019 3:23 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    Insanity is the only answer excepable I think....thank you for answering..:) 
      May 26, 2019 3:45 PM MDT
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  • 13257
    Was it not right for the US to fight for and win its independence from England with the state of affairs in the colonies? And was it not right for the Allies to fight and subdue Germany, liberate the concentration camps, and bring the Nazi war criminals to justice at Nuremberg? Of course it was. 
      May 27, 2019 12:11 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    Was it right for the English and other European countries to steal America from the Indians that already lived there ...All nations take/ took what they wanted back then and no care about what was right or wrong...
    Might is right and it's still those with the most powerful weapons that rule the world....
    What happens next in the world when a nuclear country out grows its land mass .....Will it then want or need to take land from its neighbours... .?  
      May 27, 2019 3:31 AM MDT
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  • 13257
    Sorry, but when a country and its leaders commit genocide, such as Germany with Hitler and the Nazis, then normal bets are off and its enemies become justified in taking necessary action.
      May 27, 2019 4:40 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    What about Airel Sharon killing men ,women ,childred and babies when he was a general in the Isreals Army and what it's still doing to the Palestine now.....They take what ever land they want from people unable to defend themselves and the whole world just sits and watches......
    All wars are about oil ,minerals and money ....
    No one fights over and land that is barren and worthless.  

    Hitler was nasty ....Winston Churchill had dealings with Concentration camps during the Boar War....He was part of killing men ,women and children held in concentration camps in Africa but no one ever prosecuted him for his war crimes...
    Im sure most of the German solders never wanted to fight and kill as they were made to...
    The English executed most of the conscientious objectors that didn't want to fight and kill during the first and second world wars....
    Who has the right to do that . .?
      
      May 27, 2019 1:18 PM MDT
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  • 13257
    The Nazis deserved everything they got. None of your other examples approached that scale of genocide.
      May 27, 2019 1:53 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    Im not saying he didn't....Do you feel the same way about the German soldiers that were forced to do it as well...Soldiers that disobey orders in wars get shot on both sides for cowardice and disobeying orders alike....

    Its not a contest.....was Airel Sharon not as guilty because he killed less....Should he not suffer the same fate ...
    Is his crime not worse ,you can't condem one man and and than let off another ....

    If a judge condems a person to death for an horrific murder and then has to preside over his own child's fate for committing the same crime, should the sentences be different or the same....? 
      May 27, 2019 2:11 PM MDT
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  • 5391
    Depends on which side of the conflict you are fighting for, Stu. Personally, I think these battles were necessary, and inevitable. But “right” is subjective. 

    Did King George III and his Redcoats think the American Revolution was “right”? I seriously doubt it. 
    Did Hitler and the Nazis think they were right? You can bet they did.
    Were the Allies right in incinerating Dresden? There are compelling arguments on both sides.
    I would point out to you that the Allies were generally unaware of the Nazi concentration camps until near the end of the war. Of course it was right to liberate them, but is it fair to wonder if it would have expedited the Allied invasion had they known about the Holocaust sooner? This post was edited by Don Barzini at July 28, 2019 9:43 AM MDT
      May 27, 2019 5:05 AM MDT
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  • 7280
    Not all homicides are crimes. However, all killings of humans are included in the homicide definition.

    Without dealing with the question as to whether a just war is possible any longer, there are various examples of legal, state or other legally sponsored homicides---including executions and self defense.

     
      May 26, 2019 4:21 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    I think we all have a right to defend ourselves,depending on the crime and how much force was used...Crimes against money seem to get much harsher sentences then voilent crimes.... 
      May 27, 2019 1:44 PM MDT
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  • 17398
    War is filled with crimes it seems.  Even though many are recorded not all are ever prosecuted.  It's not a subject in which I am very well informed, but for an American, this article is pretty horrifying.

    https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1802
      May 27, 2019 12:01 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    There is so much to read that it's impossible to take it al in...  I'm sure the allies in all wars commits exactly the same thing when they overrun towns and cities....who knows what state of mind soldiers end up with that have witnessed friends and colleagues blown to bits or dismembered....
    Who can commet if you have not been there to witness it first hand....
      May 27, 2019 1:37 PM MDT
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  • 46117
    We go to war TO KILL PEOPLE.  It is hardly sane to prosecute someone who we ordered to go kill the enemy.  WHAT???? 


      May 27, 2019 12:06 AM MDT
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  • 14795
    True....hold those that send you there to blame then....
    It would be far far better for just our leaders to fight it out ...I'm sure that would stop all wars in their tracks...:)
      May 27, 2019 1:40 PM MDT
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  • 46117
    You have a great point because then there would be no war if the cowardly masters of war were to be on the front lines.  



    "Masters Of War"

    Come you masters of war
    You that build all the guns
    You that build the death planes
    You that build all the bombs
    You that hide behind walls
    You that hide behind desks
    I just want you to know
    I can see through your masks

    You that never done nothin'
    But build to destroy
    You play with my world
    Like it's your little toy
    You put a gun in my hand
    And you hide from my eyes
    And you turn and run farther
    When the fast bullets fly

    Like Judas of old
    You lie and deceive
    A world war can be won
    You want me to believe
    But I see through your eyes
    And I see through your brain
    Like I see through the water
    That runs down my drain

    You fasten all the triggers
    For the others to fire
    Then you set back and watch
    When the death count gets higher
    You hide in your mansion'
    As young people's blood
    Flows out of their bodies
    And is buried in the mud

    You've thrown the worst fear
    That can ever be hurled
    Fear to bring children
    Into the world
    For threatening my baby
    Unborn and unnamed
    You ain't worth the blood
    That runs in your veins

    How much do I know
    To talk out of turn
    You might say that I'm young
    You might say I'm unlearned
    But there's one thing I know
    Though I'm younger than you
    That even Jesus would never
    Forgive what you do

    Let me ask you one question
    Is your money that good
    Will it buy you forgiveness
    Do you think that it could
    I think you will find
    When your death takes its toll
    All the money you made
    Will never buy back your soul

    And I hope that you die
    And your death'll come soon
    I will follow your casket
    In the pale afternoon
    And I'll watch while you're lowered
    Down to your deathbed
    And I'll stand over your grave
    'Til I'm sure that you're dead
    This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at May 27, 2019 2:13 PM MDT
      May 27, 2019 2:05 PM MDT
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  • 14795
    Hope you didn't have to write all that...lol
      May 27, 2019 2:14 PM MDT
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  • 17398
    We don't go to war to kill people; we go to war to win.  There is a huge difference between the two goals.
      May 27, 2019 6:58 PM MDT
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