[itishappy]

Calling it "collateral damage" or "manslaughtering civilians" or whatever won't change my argument in the slightest. This isn't a language barrier. Actually, it sounds like the opposite: you're restricting the discussion to people who share your mindset.

Some people feel even stronger than I do and would prefer to avoid being involved in killing even an enemy combatant.

[pc86]

I'm not restricting anything but it's a different discussion entirely.

Discussing 1-how to limit civilian casualties during an otherwise legitimate conflict between two nations is one thing, 2-whether those civilian casualties constitute murder (and 3-by whom) is something else. But through pretty much all of human history, nearly all people have recognized a difference between killing during a war, including innocent civilian deaths, and intentional murder. If you want to discuss #1 you had probably agree on #2 first, don't you think?

[itishappy]

I agree it's an interesting discussion, but I really didn't get any of that from the comment you originally replied to. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) My point was that the word "murder" there is largely irrelevant, the issue is killing in general. For me, there's no definition or level of efficiency that will make me comfortable being able to directly connect my hard work and someone else's death. And trying to frame harm caused by another as blood on my hands due to my refusal to help is ridiculous.