It's all just sophistry. In the end, it's only a war crime if you lose the war. Might might not make right from a moral standpoint, but it generally gets its way regardless.
US definition and treatment of war crimes has been highly hypocritical, but the concept does have some effectiveness in restraining the worst abuses of civilians. As far as America goes, anyway.
The idea of war crimes can only ever be applied to the losing side unless you have the moral fiber to hold yourselves accountable. The US is actually pretty good at doing so on the individual scale, but we won't ever call the bombing of Dresden a war crime, even though we killed plenty of civilians hitting legitimate military targets.
It's all just sophistry. In the end, it's only a war crime if you lose the war. Might might not make right from a moral standpoint, but it generally gets its way regardless.
US definition and treatment of war crimes has been highly hypocritical, but the concept does have some effectiveness in restraining the worst abuses of civilians. As far as America goes, anyway.
The idea of war crimes can only ever be applied to the losing side unless you have the moral fiber to hold yourselves accountable. The US is actually pretty good at doing so on the individual scale, but we won't ever call the bombing of Dresden a war crime, even though we killed plenty of civilians hitting legitimate military targets.