Comment by Schmerika | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Schmerika | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

> The US doesn't generally intermingle their children with their military bases... I hope.

There's no need to 'hope' against reality. This information is easily available to us both - there are tens of thousands of K-12 students on US military bases, in America and in other countries [0].

> it was obviously a targeting/aiming/intelligence error

... You're still somehow ignoring the 497 other schools targeted within these last few weeks. It's like your brain simply refuses to process that information - perhaps because it would force a perspective shift?

(Spoiler alert: We are the baddies. 498 schools in 4 weeks is pretty unambiguous, especially following the US involvement in bombing basically every school in Gaza.)

> it is war. Shit happens!

War crimes are not excused by 'being at war'. That's not how it works.

Many people here have already pointed out to you the many reasons and the many officials calling the first Iranian school bombing out as a war crime; and I highly encourage you to being to wrap your head around the fact. Defending war crimes is a deeply uncool way to spend your time. It's not good for you, or for the people reading it.

0 - https://www.militaryonesource.mil/education-employment/for-c...

> tens of thousands of K-12 students on US military bases

Well... that's just stupid, and I hope that someone in the DoD has learned from the incident in Iran and will relocate the schools outside of the base perimeters. I doubt that'll happen somehow.

> 497 other schools targeted

a) You'll have to back that number with a reference.

b) Then demonstrate that they were targeted, not just hit. Good luck with that, unless you work for the DoD and overheard incriminating conversations!

> War crimes are not excused by 'being at war'. That's not how it works.

But war is excused!

It's just incredible to me that people are totally unable to grasp that concept that war isn't some friendly board game, or guns at ten paces, all civilised, orderly, and confined entirely to willing participants. It's the deliberate infliction of death and destruction!

> Many people here have already pointed out to you the many reasons and the many officials calling the first Iranian school bombing out as a war crime

They pointed at a error, not a crime.

A terrible, terrible error, but not a crime under international law, to which the US mostly hasn't even signed up to!

> a) You'll have to back that number with a reference.

I did, here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47552783

> Then demonstrate that they were targeted, not just hit.

If you want to believe that 498 schools were hit by accident and not by targeting then you are free to do so. Personally, I think that's a profoundly silly and genuinely harmful choice to make, and would urge you not just to reconsider, but to reflect on how you ever thought such a thing.

> But war is excused!

Well, no. There are long and lasting consequences for wars of the type America has been spending trillions of dollars on for decades. Millions of lives lost. Tens of millions displaced. Massive political and reputational costs. Incalculable opportunity cost.

> It's just incredible to me that people are totally unable to grasp that concept that war isn't some friendly board game, or guns at ten paces, all civilised, orderly, and confined entirely to willing participants. It's the deliberate infliction of death and destruction!

Do you actually think the people who drew up international war crimes legislation were unaware of this? ... Really? Like, they lived through WWII and then just forgot about all the horror while writing up the legislation to try and prevent it ever happening again?

> They pointed at a error, not a crime.

That is a categorical lie. You're lying now. People pointed you to detailed statements explaining why this is a war crime, and rather than address any of those points you insist that these 498 schools are all errors because we can't prove intent. You can't seriously expect people to believe that, so I have to wonder why you're saying it at all.

Maybe you believe this lie, somehow, but it's extremely disrespectful to bs like this. It disrespects the victims of these war crimes, the people who will be hurt by the normalization of these war crimes, and the people spending their lovely Saturday time to educate you.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com