[termogard]

Originally Posted by Ryzorian

The Death star was a self contained city with over a million people on board. Yes, it was a death machine but it also had large numbers of civilians on board who ran day to day functions.

Recalling the movie, the Death Star was a combat space station with a skilled military personnel onboard. They wore imperial uniform and served various systems and weaponry.
For instance, you can establish various caffe, bars and shops inside an aircraft carrier, but she will be still a warship, not a civilian sea liner.

Originally Posted by Ryzorian

The same is true in any city, civilians run basic operations of a country, they are also the foundation of industry wich builds the tanks, bombers, ships, bullets and guns of the military, they also provide the raw resource for future troops. They are as much a part of "total war" as any thing on the primary battle field.

It's a very dangerous concept and a good justification for any terrorist group. Their leader could tell something like :
"My relatives were killed of american bombs years ago. Here is an american tourist that came to some foreign country. Originally, he lives in a certain american state. The known military plant which builds the bombers also located in that state. Therefore, a tourist is linked to the production of the plant and represents an enemy himself. I have a holy right to kill him"

Originally Posted by Ryzorian

If a nation went to war with the US, primary targets would have to include major cities because those are cites of manaerfactureing. Detroit, Silicon Vally, Dallas, Miami...New York just to name a few. They are important stratigic locations because of what they provide. Hell, my own town of 30,000 is a old cold war Nuke target because we have a major weapons depot right next to us. The plants there made all sorts of tank rounds and asorted missle parts..includeing nukes and the workers who made them, were housed in my town.

During Cold War, Soviets just fully accepted an original American conception of a "total war". Soviet leaders learned lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well, as learned classified information from Operation Dropshot, provided by Soviet intelligence.

quote :

Operation Dropshot was the United States Department of Defense code-name for a contingency plan for a possible nuclear and conventional war with the Soviet Union and its allies in order to counter the anticipated Soviet takeover of Western Europe, the Near East and parts of Eastern Asia expected to start around 1957. The plan was prepared in 1949 during the early stages of the Cold War and declassified in 1977. Although the scenario did make use of nuclear weapons, they were not expected to play a decisive role.

At the time the US nuclear arsenal was limited in size, based mostly in the United States, and depended on bombers to be delivered. Dropshot included mission profiles that would use 300 nuclear bombs and 29,000 high-explosive bombs on 200 targets in 100 cities and towns to wipe out 85% of the Soviet Union's industrial potential at a single stroke. Between 75 and 100 of the 300 nuclear weapons would be used to destroy Soviet combat aircraft on the ground.

Wiki

That's why many US cities and town were primary targets for the Soviet ICBMs.

Originally Posted by Ryzorian

War crimes to me have always kinda been a joke. War is about winning and looseing. Just like a bar fight, their aint no rules, this isn't a boxng match it's a life or death struggle of one national identity against another. Sure people have tried to make it "humane" with geneva conventions and whatever, but really that's stupid...when it comes to brass tacks, nobody is going to follow that anyway, not if it means thier country looses because of them.

When you are above Geneva conventions and other "stupid jokes", someone considers passengers of US civil jets as legitimate targets for violent actions.