Here's the deal. When we send men into combat we are effectively appointing them to be the judge, jury and executioner. Don't like that? Don't trust them to make those decisions? Then don't send them into combat, simple as that. Second point. What is a war crime? Posing with a dead enemy that you just killed? No, that is not a war crime. Poor taste, yes. War crime, no. Third point. Is killing someone in a combat zone who isn't shooting at you first a war crime? Depends, it's situational. What I know for sure is some desk jockey REMF shouldn't be making rules of combat. Bottom line, war ain't pretty and there's no nice way to do it. The touchy feely, hearts and minds approach gets people killed. Again, if anyone doesn't like this then don't start the wars. Once you send people into a combat zone, they make the rules MF'er, and if you want to have a say, then suit up and show up. Otherwise, kindly just STFU and sip your drink from the comfort of your nice safe home, which is several thousand miles away from the action.
First of all.. suicide is murder H4. And if its root cause is severe PTSD, it is no different than any other irrational action taken on the field of battle. And no... "Society" can't fucking judge war crimes. You would have no more right sitting on this guy's jury than my fucking dog would. War crimes are judged by military tribunals composed of people who have been there, people who know what its like and are therefore qualified and empowered to judge an individual according to..... "society's norms". My post to which you assigned "bullshit" to... was me saying "we".... "we" as in anyone posting here at ET.... have no right to judge. I don't, you don't.... none of us do. You need to expand your horizons a bit H4... your opinion is not always right buddy.
This is why they were convicted in military court and this is why the Pentagon pushed against the pardons; because nuance was already accounted for (except for that one guy who Trump didn't even let go to court). The corpse selfie guy got acquitted from stabbing an unarmed prisoner (in a shitshow), so that wasn't what got him the "war criminal" moniker. And no, soldiers aren't judge, jury, & executioners. This is why there's a rigid chain of command and why mercenaries are viewed poorly by society.
So I guess anyone who's had hardships in their lives gets a pass on murder? That inner city kid who's seen more violence on the streets and at home than most active duty military gets a pass for murder? The refugee fleeing narco violence from Mexico who commits murder gets a pass? Please stop. Also, explain to me how my neighbor's suicide is equivalent to the murder of my direct family member....you want to talk metaphors, fine, just don't give that BS of suicide is murder. Society shapes our military. You think we had military court tribunals 500 yrs ago over war crimes?
Who in the Pentagon? Bureaucrats? Don't throw that BS out here. What did their CO's say? And their CO's? If they said it was a war crime... it was a war crime. Not you.
"7 letter words that begin with S for $200 Alex". "In the English language, this word is ascribed to the murder of oneself". "What is "suicide"? "Correct".