Reply #48: My Purpose Was Not To Uphold the Argument, Sir

[The Magistrate]

Merely to present fairly what some believe the case.

My own view is that a current and explicit Security Council resolution ought to have been obtained.

Illegality, however, is no strong portion of my opposition to the Iraqi venture. Aside from the technical question of its inauguration, there is not much sensible charge of illegality about its conduct. Mere one-sidednesss in battle is not a crime of war. There was every effort, most of them effective, taken to reduce civilian casualties in the bombing campaign, and again, mere instances of civilian death despite this do not prove crimes of war were committed, or even make any particular reason to suggest crimes of war were committed. Allowing the breakdown of civil order into looting was certainly a violation of an occupying power's defined duties, and there have certainly been instances during the occupation where U.S. soldiers have killed civilians out of hand in a manner that is clearly criminal. Several instances of firing automatic weapons into crowds, and some rather hair-trigger sentries at checkpoints, come to mind readily.