<p>*Andrew Baldwin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>oh wait, he’s in the navy he’s whacko*</p>
<p>Wow this guy’s resume is beastly lol.</p>
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<p>You’re a joke to the human race.</p>
<p>At least I haven’t killed members of the human race.</p>
<p>Doesn’t make you less of a joke.</p>
<p>Well, killing people is a very serious issue.</p>
<p>Killing people (or attempting to do so) makes you a lesser person? That is an entirely naive and laughable position. War is a reality. It always has been and always will be.</p>
<p>Killing is only acceptable in self-defense, PurdueEE. Fighting a war of aggression doesn’t fall under self-defense by any means.</p>
<p>Why accept war as an inevitability, and the crimes committed therein? By doing so, we have taken the first step towards making it a reality; ourselves.</p>
<p>What, exactly, are wars of aggression? What is the requirement for a war being a war of aggression? Would preemptively attacking North Korea to stop their nuclear weapons program, if they continue to run tests and make threats, be a war of aggression? There is a clear motive for self-defense, but ultimately America and its allies would be the ones to make the first move. There’s really no single answer to this and it depends on your point of view.</p>
<p>Also, soldiers are just following orders. They are not the ones that choose what wars to fight.</p>
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<p>That is only your opinion.</p>
<p>Unlike North Korea, Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Also, it’s illegal to obey an illegal order.</p>
<p>How do you know when an order is illegal? Like I mentioned with the NK example, things aren’t always straightforward so it’s next to impossible to know when something may or may not be illegal. It boils down to a matter of viewpoints.</p>
<p>When the Secretary-General of the United Nations says so.</p>
<p>[BBC</a> NEWS | Middle East | Iraq war illegal, says Annan](<a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3661134.stm]BBC”>BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq war illegal, says Annan)</p>
<p>Pretty sure that would fall more under the jurisdiction of the ICJ, not the UN Secretariat.</p>
<p>LeviG has to be doing this on purpose. No one can actually be this stupid, not even on the internet.</p>
<p>Kid, you’re younger than 20 and likely living in a comfy suburban home somewhere. Just so you know, your thoughts don’t matter. At all.</p>
<p>It’s so ironic that you consider killing “only acceptable for self-defense” when the reason you’re able to speak so freely is because soldiers died (and killed) for your right to do so.</p>
<p>^ I am sorry pandem, but I cannot seem to understand your thought here. How were/are American soldiers protecting our right to speak freely? I don’t get it, is someone threatening to take away our freedom? A foreign body? If anything, reduction of freedom would be, and is happening from the inside.</p>
<p>And I do agree that soldiers are not at fault for following orders. If a war is to be deemed illegal, I don’t think that makes the soldiers criminals. But war crime is a separate issue, as are the humanity issues brought up earlier in this thread.</p>
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<p>Why does this always get trotted out whenever someone criticizes the military? It’s really no better than “OORAH The troops can do no harm!” And wars (although not the one in Iraq) can be fought in self-defense. For example, the resistance against the American occupation in Iraq is in self-defense.</p>
<p>Man, they really must be cutting history out of the curriculum these days. I guess you think Britain just rolled over and let us have our independence? Or that Hitler lost the war himself? Millions of people have fought and died so that you can sit in your comfy chair and spill whatever nonsensical opinion you have. You’re dishonoring the entire military, past and present, when you claim that the actions of a few reflect on the whole, and that soldiers are no more than “killers”.</p>
<p>Please, tell me what you think would happen if we suddenly abandoned our military bases worldwide? I’m curious to see how you think it would be beneficial to the US in any way whatsoever. </p>
<p>If you’ve got a problem with the wars we’re fighting now, fine. Blame the politicians, not the footsoldiers. They’re merely following orders.</p>
<p>pandem, the American Revolution and World War II were fought for the purpose of defending our country.</p>
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<p>They’re following illegal orders, which is illegal.</p>