re: #110 Targetpractice

Indeed. What makes the use of such weapons so horrific is the aftereffects, the insidious and indiscriminate nature of radiation and how even those who were not directly caught in the blast will still die slow, cruel deaths as consequence of being in the same area.

Suppose the Assad regime were using biological weapons instead and the casualties were not dead in minutes or hours from chemical gases, but instead were packed into hospitals as they coughed up blood and broke out in sores. Would we expect people to be as indifferent to the suffering?

You’re trying to create a calculus of horror based on suffering, and no one can (or wants ) do the math on the agony of individuals at ground zero vs the fringe of an incendiary firestorm. If you want to argue morality, don’t argue physics, chemistry, and biology. I don’t want to see us start another deathfest, and don’t care if it’s about bludgeons or ion cannons.