Quote:
Originally Posted by Comrade Joe
A philosophical question for you. I will hold my answer back for now.
If a state has a constant policy of conscription, does that make every citizen a legitimate target for an enemy army ? Discuss.
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Well I know this is hypothetical only, but according to international law, only military members in uniform can be killed in a nation at war (excluding collateral damage). Of course history has proved that this thinking can many times be abandoned in the face of terrible war or fear of defeat such as WWII which suffered nearly the greatest casualties in all of history's combined war due to civilian deaths in "total war". In more recent times terrorist attacks such as 9/11 were aimed at killing many and destroying enemy infrastructure to make an economic attack, which in itself is a measure of total war.
But no this is never justified, because although conscription holds citizens to fight, it does not mean all will fight. Also one must take into account women and children who do not fight.