Destroying war criminals saves everyone

(JNS) — The concept of proportionality in warfare is well-defined. It measures civilian casualties and collateral damage against military necessity. There are people who don’t like that, who prefer to think that every operation in an ostensibly “civilian” area and every civilian casualty is a war crime, but it isn’t. Anyone who says otherwise is either ignorant of or lying about international law.

There is another concept in warfare that is less well-defined: the motivation of the parties to the conflict. It is more of a “you’ll know it when you see it” concept, but a no less important element...