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Warren Stupidity

(48,181 posts) Sun Jul 19, 2015, 02:17 PM Jul 2015

If McCain is a Hero are the people we sent to Guantanamo Heroes too? [View all]

I've read here that John McCain is a hero because he was captured and tortured during the viet nam war. I happen to think McCain is a war criminal, but that it was also wrong to torture him or anyone else. However, if those arguing that a person is a hero for enduring capture and torture during a war, even if that war was undeclared, even if the operations that got that person captured, bombing of a country that was not at war, was a war crime, then it seems to me, inescapably, that everyone we captured and sent to Guantanamo and tortured there were also heroes.

11 votes, 0 passes \| Time left: Unlimited
	McCain is a hero but the people we sent to Guantanamo aren't.
	5 (45%)
	McCain is a hero and so are the people we sent to Guantanamo.
	0 (0%)
	McCain is not a hero and neither are the people we sent to Guantanamo.
	6 (55%)
	McCain is not a hero but the people we sent to Guantanamo are.
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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74 replies

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Highlight:

If McCain is a Hero are the people we sent to Guantanamo Heroes too? [View all] Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 OP

All soldiers are mostly victims of manipulative warmongers of various grades and motives and times. Fred Sanders Jul 2015 #1

Rec. n/t PowerToThePeople Jul 2015 #2

to me a war hero is someone who will give their life to stop a war olddots Jul 2015 #3

Victims. nt OnyxCollie Jul 2015 #4

McCain was in the military of his country fighting a war it was engaging in treestar Jul 2015 #5

Most of the people we put in guantanamo didn't do anything. Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #7

McCain was part of what his country was doing treestar Jul 2015 #9

uh, we hung people after Nuremberg for that defense. Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #10

There wasn't a Nuremberg after Vietnam treestar Jul 2015 #16

nor would there have been one after WWII if Germany hadn't been forced into an unconditional Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #19

I don't think many people think we committed war crimes treestar Jul 2015 #26

You'd be wrong. My Lai and similar massacres were most certainly war crimes. riderinthestorm Jul 2015 #29

Lt Calley was tried treestar Jul 2015 #30

Maybe there should have been. Exilednight Jul 2015 #61

Here you have some hope treestar Jul 2015 #64

So Kennedy and LBJ should have been prosecuted for war crimes? Lurks Often Jul 2015 #21

The air war started under LBJ. Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #24

I think poster is trying to equate war crimes with going to war treestar Jul 2015 #27

Blowing up civilians is a war crime. Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #34

See my #36, civilians dying collaterally in a military attack is not a war crime. nt stevenleser Jul 2015 #39

The intention of much of the air war was to demoralize the civilian population. Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #43

So now "demoralizing" is a war crime. Well a lot of folks have committed war crimes on me during my stevenleser Jul 2015 #48

no Steven, blowing up villagers to demoralize the survivors is a war crime. Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #52

Neither of us lived through World War I or the civil war either. Can we not have opinions about stevenleser Jul 2015 #54

cite to the international law treestar Jul 2015 #62

Crimes against peace are an international crime and were one of the charges in Nuremberg. redgreenandblue Jul 2015 #49

Attacks against Al Qaeda and ISIS would not be crimes against peace. They have attacked us and other stevenleser Jul 2015 #50

The nazi troops also were not charged with crimes against peace. redgreenandblue Jul 2015 #74

armchair legal analysis treestar Jul 2015 #63

Why are you defending the Iraq war? redgreenandblue Jul 2015 #70

What? treestar Jul 2015 #72

It is a crime to start a war, and the US did that. nt redgreenandblue Jul 2015 #73

"Blowing up civilians is a war crime" Lurks Often Jul 2015 #44

That person and others here would agree with that. Problem is, international law does not agree. stevenleser Jul 2015 #46

yes absolutely. The drone war which indiscriminately targets civilians as long as the alleged Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #53

It's not a war crime. Your wishing it doesn't make it so. nt stevenleser Jul 2015 #55

I do give you credit for not being a hypocrite, even if I disagree. Lurks Often Jul 2015 #56

Do you have cites to international law? treestar Jul 2015 #57

Correct. And the UN has ruled on this kind of stuff. They issued a statement after shock and awe stevenleser Jul 2015 #40

There were lots of war crimes committed by the US military in Vietnam YoungDemCA Jul 2015 #65

No we hung them for being war criminals and committing war crimes. Their defense didn't work. stevenleser Jul 2015 #35

Results... Major Nikon Jul 2015 #51

facepalm treestar Jul 2015 #66

Are you saying everyone who fought for the US in Vietnam is a war criminal? XRubicon Jul 2015 #6

No. I'm saying our bombing campaign qualified as a war crime. Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #8

so bombing a country that was "not at war" is a war crime XRubicon Jul 2015 #11

Yes actually. Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #14

Interesting XRubicon Jul 2015 #18

We committed war crimes in WWII - the fire bombing of Dresden, Tokyo and the nuking of Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #20

Wasn't North Vietnam the aggressor in the same way as North Korea was? Reter Jul 2015 #38

Has that been decided by any international tribunal? treestar Jul 2015 #58

No, it would not qualify as a war crime. Shock and awe was not a war crime either. Folks wrote stevenleser Jul 2015 #36

Hero. BlueStater Jul 2015 #12

Nah. I don't worship the military. Sorry that you do. Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #15

I don't "worship" anyone or anything. BlueStater Jul 2015 #17

"Other" H2O Man Jul 2015 #13

"Spiritually advanced individuals" -- I like it a lot. pacalo Jul 2015 #22

Maybe, sort of depends on who is doing the veneration HereSince1628 Jul 2015 #23

They might be somebody else's hero. n/t gollygee Jul 2015 #25

This is why he is heroic Kurska Jul 2015 #28

That is a fair point. I can't say for sure I would have done the same thing. I like to think I would stevenleser Jul 2015 #37

So how about the wrongly imprisoned guantanamo inmates? Warren Stupidity Jul 2015 #42

They may be heroes to people in their home towns. treestar Jul 2015 #67

And the US doesn't plan on giving most of the prisoners at Guantanamo trials, KitSileya Jul 2015 #68

There is some attempt to give them trials treestar Jul 2015 #71

Did you even read my post? Kurska Jul 2015 #69

Other Lordquinton Jul 2015 #31

McCain isn't a hero... he's a war criminal. harrose Jul 2015 #32

Did you see the show? XRubicon Jul 2015 #33

Post removed Post removed Jul 2015 #41

You can be a heroic POW but being a POW does not automatically make you a hero CBGLuthier Jul 2015 #45

They are all a hero to someone. nt. NCTraveler Jul 2015 #47

I'd imagine nations and cultures choose their own heroes LanternWaste Jul 2015 #59

Those hailed as a hero or heroine depends on the person or culture asked. Xyzse Jul 2015 #60