Before bombarding a city...

[battery]

If I were a military commander charged with assaulting a city under hostile control, I would give a 30-day advance warning to its occupants.

Every civilian is hereby given a choice. He can elect to retain his status as a civilian by leaving the city, or he can give up that status by staying behind. Everyone who remains in the city will naturally be considered as enemy combatants, informants, and assistants. Those in uniforms will be treated according to rules of war. Any person found without a uniform will not enjoy such protection. If captured, he will be executed just like a spy.

A real civilian in a combat zone must not interfere with war operations. His motivation is to stay out of harm's way. Any action inconsistent with this goal will put his civilian status in doubt.

Obviously this goes against the Geneva conventions. But do think about why soldiers want to capture cities. From a military standpoint, a city provides a bunch of hideouts for infantry, making them almost impervious to tanks, artillery, and airstrikes. It is absurd to put "civilians" into the equation. These so-call civilians aren't pure civilians at all! They stay in the city because they want to provide aids to their soldiers. Actual civilians would take the first opportunities to flee the city, because they don't want to be trapped in a besieged city with water, food and electricity supply cut off. My moral standard is that anyone caught assisting combatants directly is a valid miliary target. Feeding soldiers makes you part of the logistic staff. Treating wounded soldiers makes you part of the medics corps. Putting out fire on military assets makes you part of damage control. Calling 911 to report artillery and gunfire makes you part of the milltary intelligence service. All these practically makes you a soldier.

[Bridget]

Or you could, you know, not occupy foreign countries and bomb everything in sight. Yeah, go ahead and give the enemy a thirty-day notice to just pack their shit up and leave, so when you get around to the actual bombing, you are just hitting innocent people who can't just pack up their shit and leave.

[battery]

Originally Posted by Bridget

Or you could, you know, not occupy foreign countries and bomb everything in sight. Yeah, go ahead and give the enemy a thirty-day notice to just pack their shit up and leave, so when you get around to the actual bombing, you are just hitting innocent people who can't just pack up their shit and leave.

This is what the allied forces did in the second battle of Fallujah. Because there was no way to distinguish civilians from insurgeants, they basically told everyone there to leave or get killed.

[Crazycarl]

Yes, leave your home and all your posessions behind and trek over a dangerous warzone to some god-forsaken refugee camp, or we'll kill you as a spy. In a time of war, people are doing everything they can to survive, and sometimes that means hunkering down in your home and waiting for it to blow over.

Not to mention the idiocy of giving the enemy a month's warning of when and where you are going to attack. Even if the civilians did try to evacuate en masse, the enemy would keep them there by force to keep the city running.

[GenghisTron]

It's not our business, period.

[battery]

Originally Posted by Crazycarl

Yes, leave your home and all your posessions behind and trek over a dangerous warzone to some god-forsaken refugee camp, or we'll kill you as a spy. In a time of war, people are doing everything they can to survive, and sometimes that means hunkering down in your home and waiting for it to blow over.

When you invade a foreign land, your responsibility as a soldier is to avoid killing civilians. Survival of civilians depends on their culture, level of preparation, mental and physical toughness, and other things of their own doing. You are not there to feed them.

Originally Posted by Crazycarl

Not to mention the idiocy of giving the enemy a month's warning of when and where you are going to attack. Even if the civilians did try to evacuate en masse, the enemy would keep them there by force to keep the city running.

If your own military is using you as a human shield, you have a tyranny. You are morally at fault for not overthrowing the tyranny with your own blood, but rather letting the problem grow until it finally affects your neighboring states. Oh don't tell me it cannnot be done. The Egytians did it. The Libyan are attempting to do it. There is one thing in common about these people: they are willing to die to set their government right. You want to live? Well you'd better have gut, money, and wisdom. Nothing comes for free. Anyway I digressed. If your soldiers hold you a gunpoint to make you perform military duties, you have the choice to refuse. You can do the right thing by adhering to rules of war, ie, don't participate unless you are in uniform.

[Bridget]

Yeah, it's that easy.