Re: poly: Egan's Diaspora

Hal writes:
>Even in times of war, atrocities and horrors which were once routine are
>no longer tolerated. Recently several Vietnam veterans were decorated
>for their role in halting the My Lai massacre, where American soldiers
>killed the civilian population of a Vietnamese village. Officials in the
>Bosnian war are hunted as war criminals. We all know that such atrocities
>have occured throughout history. But over the past few decades there
>is a sense that even during war, such things are unacceptable.

Such atrocities have never been acceptable when done by the other side,
and are embarrasing when done by one's own side.

Is there any evidence that U.S. troops are really any less shy about killing
ememy civilians now than in Vietnam? I don't think they got near enough to
enemy civilians in the gulf war for us to know. The sure weren't shy about
killing defeated soldiers.

Robin Hanson
hanson@econ.berkeley.edu http://hanson.berkeley.edu/
RWJF Health Policy Scholar, Sch. of Public Health 510-643-1884
140 Warren Hall, UC Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 FAX: 510-643-8614
Received on Mon Mar 23 17:47:31 1998