Do you think ISIS would keep killing people if they were bombed into oblivion? No. Yet, this U.S. General seems to think differently.
A US army general said indiscriminate bombing campaigns against ISIS would be both illegal and against American values Monday, tacitly rebuking comments made by Republican presidential contenders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz during their campaigns for the GOP nomination.
‘We are bound by the laws of armed conflict. It doesn’t only matter whether or not you win, it matters how you win,’ Baghdad-based Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland told reporters via video.
‘Indiscriminate bombing where we don’t care if we are killing innocents or combatants is just inconsistent with our values,’ MacFarland said.
In recent weeks, hawkish opponents of President Barack Obama’s battleplan to defeat the IS group have called for stepped-up actions against the extremists, even if these lead to higher numbers of civilian deaths.
During a rally in Iowa in November, Trump said he would ‘bomb the s*** out of’ ISIS if he were elected president.
‘I’d blow up every single inch. There would be nothing left,’ Trump said.
At another Iowa event the following month, Cruz said he would ‘carpet bomb’ the jihadist group ‘into oblivion’ if elected.
‘I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out,’ Cruz continued.
Read more: Daily Mail
