On Sun, 9 Apr 2017 14:41:09 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 4/9/2017 12:09 PM, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 4/9/17 11:47 AM, wrote:
On Sun, 9 Apr 2017 07:36:04 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:


So, what if next time Assad merely has his planes drop 25 barrel bombs
on civilians, and kills a few hundred, including 50 "babies." What will
Trump do? Not cry over the dead babies? Not send in 59 cruise missiles?
Would those babies be less dead than the ones he cried over?


Why is this so hard for you to understand? Chemical weapons are banned
by international law, period. Bombs, including barrel bombs are not.

Assad's use of them is horrible, killing innocent people and babies is
horrible and he should be caught and tried as a war criminal but the
ordnance itself is not banned by international law.


It is an interesting dichotomy. Sarin and mustard is illegal but
napalm and white phosphorous is legal. For that matter nuclear weapons
are legal.
It makes you wonder.



When you are dead as a result of military action, you are dead. Does it
really matter what specifically was the weapon of choice? Oh, and we
used chemical weapons in Vietnam and who knows where else. Remember
Agent Orange?


Agent Orange is in the same category as napalm. It's not technically a
"weapon". Both are defoliants. Not saying they don't cause harm to
people. The difference between them and the purpose of nerve gas is
what makes the latter illegal according to international law.


Napalm is not a 'chemical' in the sense of spreading across a wide area. Napalm was used as both a
defoliant and a weapon during the Vietnam war. Napalm was not spread by helicopters as was Agent
Orange. I used it as a defoliant in one area, but we dropped 55 gallon drums of the stuff to
defoliate and to set off secondary explosions from booby traps and mines.

We didn't get them all, either.