Israel (now broader Mid East discussion)

SamAndreas said

I don't understand this whole "war crimes" concept. I never have.

A war is made of continuous criminal acts so to speak. It's what it is. Speaking of "war crimes" is kind of like saying "war-war."

Why would one say the word "war" twice?

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If I set the rules, I would agree with you. I don't set the rules though (probably just as well on balance), so I'm speaking in the context in which we live, where some things that would be clearly considered crimes in any other context are somehow A-OK if you label them 'war', but at least some things are still seen as going over a (far too distant) line and still count as crimes.

That said, even if we still considered it all crime, there would still be distinctions to be made. Shoplifting and murder are typically both crimes, but they're not the same.