Could Bush Be Prosecuted for War Crimes?

[I'm Gone 60]

Adolph didn't like Jews and if Germany had won he would have got away with it.

Yes he would.

Let me ask - would you participate in genocide if you were at war?

Hard to say. On one hand I'm personally not a killer, but if I was at war and removing a group of people would in my mind be to my advantage, yes I would do it.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

so why ask me? do you think my answer would be any different?

Simply trying to keep the thread on track - because you are, yet again, adding nothing to the discussion other than petty personal jibes and inane unintelligent jokes.

Like I said, discuss adult things in an adult way or go back to Kindergarten. Its clear to me at least that you are posting in these topics for personal reasons rather than to talk about the issues at hand.

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

so why ask me? do you think my answer would be any different?

Simply trying to keep the thread on track - because you are, yet again, adding nothing to the discussion other than petty personal jibes and inane unintelligent jokes.

Like I said, discuss adult things in an adult way or go back to Kindergarten. Its clear to me at least that you are posting in these topics for personal reasons rather than to talk about the issues at hand.

are you in a bad mood again? jeesh. take a pill

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Adolph didn't like Jews and if Germany had won he would have got away with it.

Yes he would.

Let me ask - would you participate in genocide if you were at war?

Hard to say. On one hand I'm personally not a killer, but if I was at war and removing a group of people would in my mind be to my advantage, yes I would do it.

Admittedly the question is difficult to answer - as it the people that make such a decision are under extraordinary pressure and in unusual circumstances. So you're answer is probably an honest one.

That said, there are plenty of instances to suggest people who did terrible things in WW2 survived in body, if not in mind and soul, and there were a lot of suicides in the years afterwards because people could not live with what they had done.

Did you read about the SonderKommando at the camps? They were prisoners who were selected on the basis of their fitness to do the physical dirty work, actually running the gas chambers, moving the bodies, shaving the hair, pulling teeth etc. Some people actually volunteered for this because of the fact that they were given better food and living conditions than the rest of the prisoners.

The tradeoff was that each group of 50 men could only expect to live a month or so at most, because at the end of their rotation, those who had not died from the fumes or disease were put up against a wall and machine gunned. Why? Because they were living witnesses to the atrocities and were too dangerous to keep around (and were burned along with camp records).

What really makes you wonder about this is that the numbers of people inside the camp far outweighed the number of SS soldiers guarding them. Not only that but after a while people knew that going to the camps was a certain death, but yet for some reason none of them rose up against the SS. People even turned on each other to play up to the guards. At no point did people think to rise up en masse. If they had done so many of them could have escaped. At the very least they could have damaged or severely destroyed the camp machinery, which would have slowed the extermination and therefore saved many lives.

The point is that mean self interest is the reason why people did nothing, and even chose to collaborate with their murderers. They had not resigned themselves to the fact that in the situation they were, they were all going to die.

The reason I mentioned the Sonderkommando was because a group of them did riot at Auschwitz, they were all killed of course, but in the process they killed a number of SS soldiers (including officers) and destroyed one of the crematoriums. What's the point? Because if all of them had done that it would have made the SS' task simply impossible.

The mistake I guess is in thinking that saving your skin is the same as 'surviving'.

are you in a bad mood again? jeesh. take a pill

You are violating the TOS.

• Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Forums.

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Participate in the topic at hand, or get off the thread.

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

are you in a bad mood again? jeesh. take a pill

You are violating the TOS.

• Restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Forums.

• Make comments in a Post either direct or implied toward another member that are purposely designed to upset, antagonize, make fun of, belittle, or otherwise instigate an argument that takes away from the personal enjoyment of the Service by other users.

Participate in the topic at hand, or get off the thread.

same applies to you fishdude

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

same applies to you fishdude

Do you have anything to add to the topic under discussion?

If so, put your money where your mouth is.

Edited July 12, 2006 by Fishdude

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

same applies to you fishdude

Do you have anything to add to the topic under discussion?

did someone appoint you the thread police? jeesh.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Do you have anything to add to the topic under discussion?

[I'm Gone 60]

The reason I mentioned the Sonderkommando was because a group of them did riot at Auschwitz, they were all killed of course, but in the process they killed a number of SS soldiers (including officers) and destroyed one of the crematoriums. What's the point? Because if all of them had done that it would have made the SS' task simply impossible.

The mistake I guess is in thinking that saving your skin is the same as 'surviving'..

That's something I never thought about before. If you have greater number and are going to be done in sooner or later why not give it a shot.

The other thing about saving your skin is holding people responsible that used the "just following orders" defence. If I'm going to get a bullet in the head for not following an order that I disagree with, I'm going to follow the order no matter how much I dislike it. One reason I'm was never military material, not much for following orders.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The reason I mentioned the Sonderkommando was because a group of them did riot at Auschwitz, they were all killed of course, but in the process they killed a number of SS soldiers (including officers) and destroyed one of the crematoriums. What's the point? Because if all of them had done that it would have made the SS' task simply impossible.

The mistake I guess is in thinking that saving your skin is the same as 'surviving'..

That's something I never thought about before. If you have greater number and are going to be done in sooner or later why not give it a shot.

The other thing about saving your skin is holding people responsible that used the "just following orders" defence. If I'm going to get a bullet in the head for not following an order that I disagree with, I'm going to follow the order no matter how much I dislike it. One reason I'm was never military material, not much for following orders.

Fair enough. As I say its difficult to know how people will act when placed in extraordinary situations and extreme pressure. That said, in order to commit mass murders like those at Auschwitz you have to first dehumanise the victims, which the Hitler had done over a process of years. Looking at other human beings as cattle to be slaughtered rather than human beings is major shift of a person's pyschology and moral compass. The reason I think why saying you are "just following orders" is no defence is because it is simply so against the grain of accepted human behaviour that you can't look at it as anything but totally abhorrent.

I think having participated in something like that, even if you were never charged with a crime, you could never live your life the way you did before. It was not uncommon for WW2 vets to commit suicide or turn to drink in the years after the war.

Edited July 12, 2006 by Fishdude

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

It was not uncommon for WW2 vets to commit suicide or turn to drink in the years after the war.

it should be noted that applies to combat vets from just about every conflict we've been in.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It was not uncommon for WW2 vets to commit suicide or turn to drink in the years after the war.

it should be noted that applies to combat vets from just about every conflict we've been in.

Sure - PTSD