Reply #10: People, soldiers must be taught to kill. The enemy, the opposition must be dehumanized.

[elocs]

In WWI they found that many soldiers would not shoot at the enemy, the Germans, to kill them, that they would shoot high. So the enemy was dehumanized to make them the evil, baby-killing Hun.

Then consider the famous Christmas truce of 1914 when British and German troops spontaneously stopped the war on the front lines of the western front to celebrate Christmas. The British generals went ballistic over it because a soldier is supposed to kill the enemy and they took steps from stopping it happening the next Christmas. Here's a great McCartney video that captures that moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVK_mJrLbmY

Innocent civilians have always been killed in wars either through reckless indifference or by accident. That has been true in all wars and not just the current ones. Peace would be nice in a perfect world but reducing civilian casualties through reckless indifference is good too and is particularly appreciated by those whose lives are saved.