Most troops don’t, either. Most don’t even see combat. I’m all for holding troops responsible at an individual level, for acts they personally carried out, but the contradiction I see is that “fuck all troops forever” is the exact same rhetoric as “lock up every criminal and throw away the key.” It doesn’t make any sense to talk about prison abolition for a civilian who assaulted their partner but then talk about gulags for a troop who has a desk job at some base in Kansas.
Because literal act itself is not what we charge troops with. Its serving a war machine which irradiates cities. Those desk jobs serve the immiseration of the global south, they are not just harming their community, they are destroying other people’s communities. Also i didn’t even say throw em in gulags ever last one, I said gangs don’t irradiate cities.
The point of comparison is moot, they are not comprable. Soldiers participating in an international crime and a crime against humanity are not the same as a domestic abuser. I don’t give a damn where you come down on what to do with them, my objection is to the conflation of gangs with the US military. Helping a gang wont make you on some level responsible for Fallujah
I am talking about what to do with troops, and I’m saying we should treat them about as we treat other people who’ve committed crimes. They’re closely comparable. Military crimes have their own unique dynamics, but at the end of the day they aren’t that special. You mention irradiated cities, but there are tons of cities poisoned by non-military actors. Even that type of widespread, long-lasting damage happens in other contexts.
Soldiers participating in an international crime and a crime against humanity are not the same as a domestic abuser.
Look at how you’re describing it: an international crime, a crime against humanity, war crimes. Fundamentally, we’re talking about viewing these bad acts the same way we view more ordinary crimes, like murder, arson, burglary, etc. There are variations in severity and type (as there are with ordinary crimes), but it’s not some entirely different concept.
Those desk jobs serve the immiseration of the global south
Sure, but we already punish people who indirectly further ordinary crimes. If you fix cars for a gang, or manage money for the mob, or buy a getaway car for a group of bank robbers, you can get charged with a crime even though your actions in isolation may have been a lot more mundane than directly harming someone. But (generally) you aren’t going to face the same penalties as someone who is more immediately responsible for the harm.
