Civilian Casualties - Does Anyone Care ?

There have always been a certain amount of civilian casualties in war.   Some think it is unavoidable.   But it seems like these days the amount of civilian casualties (by all sides) has reached a level that is intolerable.   Part of this is due to the new technology.   With the new missles, bombs and drones it is easy to attack groups of people from a distance by just pushing a button.   There is also an effort by some to use civilian deaths to pressure their opponents into surrender.

Americans like to think this is something that is done by our opponents, but the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq show that is just not true.   American forces have killed far too many innocent civilians.   While our enemies will attack civilians with suicide bombers, we send drones to attack wedding ceremonies in the hope that a terrorist will be among the many people killed.   Both sides are wrong in attacking civilians.

And it just seems to get worse with each war.   Eminent historian Howard Zinn gave a talk a couple of years ago in Madison (Wisconsin) in which he gave some civilian casualty figures.   Here is how he described the changing ratio of military to civilian deaths:

World War I..........10:1

World War II..........50:50

Vietnam War..........30:70

More recent wars..........20:80 to 15:85

It is hard enough to defend the killing in any war.   But how can these atrocious ratios of military to civilian deaths be defended by anyone?