Quote Originally Posted by Thorne View Post
Yes you did. I caught that when I read back through the thread. And as I stated above, my comments were not intended as a personal attack against anyone, and I apologize if I made it seem so.


It would depend on the circumstances, of course. If the general is trying to destroy a threat to his nation, his culture, his people, isn't he doing better than the pacifist who advocates paying tribute to the enemy to keep him at bay? The nurse is concerned with relieving the suffering of individuals. The general wants to stop the causes of that suffering.

But basically this is the old argument of giving a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach him to fish and he can feed his family forever.
If the enemy is a country completely incapable of being a threat to a superpower and the superpower attacks it anyways and then trades food for oil (at a bad rate) in a closed market where other countries can't make better bids, then it seems to me the general is perpetuating that suffering. Particularly since the government was involved in installing the dictator its now removing in the first place.

But we digress.