Quote:
Originally Posted by Pierre
Well if anyone end up in court for war crimes they can use this defence from a Kings Counsel.
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The certainly could, and I’m sure the legal gravy train could find a well educated KC (or someone of similar stature in another country) to argue there’s many a plausible alternative.
Doing what you “instinctively” feel is necessary might work at a personal level simply wouldn’t fly at an international one. Nation states have an obligation (to its own people as much as anything else) to act beyond instinct.
If your instinct is to identify all people of a race, religion, state or region as a threat equivalent to a terrorist (or example) it wouldn’t exempt you from an undeniable genocide. There’s many a former Yugoslavian who can testify to the existential threat to Yugoslavia as a collective entity not being a defence.
There’d also be the difficulty (over time) of demonstrating that each action in and of itself was only carried out in an “instinctive” way, rather than a cold, calculated one. An international version of the Tony Martin defence wouldn’t work given the time available to consider each individual action and recalculate the capabilities of the enemy as it diminishes.