You are right that this is probably not the worst thing they did. I’m absolutely sure the US armed forces are a highly sought playground for psychopaths and people with sadistic tendencies. Furthermore military tends to attract people with a predisposition for authoritarian and/or facist mindset. We saw the snapshots of unspeakable torture - made by people that were so entertained by the atrocities that they just had to make commemorative pictures of it.
But collateral damage is something else: if I blow up a house with a terrorist leader in it, weil the debris kill a bystander? It happens in every war and it’s the main reason why a ‘just war’ still can’t be fought without tainting conscience.
> the main reason why a ‘just war’ still can’t be fought without tainting conscience.
Not to mention a completely unnecessary war sold using lies, and launched in violation of international law (not in self-defense, no UN Security Council authorization).
But collateral damage is something else: if I blow up a house with a terrorist leader in it, weil the debris kill a bystander? It happens in every war and it’s the main reason why a ‘just war’ still can’t be fought without tainting conscience.