Worrying about Unforgivables

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 175519

---  SnapesSlytherin at ... wrote:
>
> The recent discussions on Harry and Co's use of the
> Unforgivables  worries me.? I have seen *far* too 
> many people using the rationale "This is war!? ..."?
> It makes me nervous because we're saying that it 
> doesn't matter was Harry and the Order did or what 
> spells they used or how they accomplished things 
> because they were in a war.? It seems to me like some
> people are saying that the ends justify the means 
> entirely in war, ..
> 
> Oryomai
> Snape Lives.

bboyminn:

I don't recall anyone saying that 'it's war' was
the whole argument in favor of Harry actions, merely
once aspect of the justification.

War itself may not be an act of Terror, but it is 
without a doubt an act of horror. The very essence
of war includes many horrible things. But even the
most horrible and horrendous unrestrained aspect of
war must have SOME /Restraint/. 

In war, it is NOT anything goes, merely horrible
brutal things go frequently and routinely but with
in certain boundaries of humanity. Laying /gut shot/
in the dirt is not a pleasant experience, but it 
occurs all the time in war. 

So, the question isn't in my mind, who did what to
whom, but how far did they take it? I don't see Harry
and Co. taking their action beyond the boundaries
of humanity. I don't see them acting inhuman or with
inhuman disregard. They are excesizing restraint and 
observing reasonable wartime limits. But I do often,
with great regularity and in the extremes, see the DE's
and Voldemort crossing the boundaries into the realm 
of inhumanity.

In the current war going on in the real world, I 
don't think for a second that we should molly-coddle
our prisoners. I think we should be downright impolite
and even mean to them, they are trying to kill us 
after all. But the line of humanity is drawn at 
torture. There are some lines you do not step across.
Partly because it is inhuman, and partly because it
is ineffective and unreliable. And partly because 
doing it (torture) gives your enemy permission to do
the same to you.

So, my point is that the good guys DO exercise restraint,
and do operate within the rules and bounds of war, but
clearly the actions of DE's and Voldemort are marked by
extreme excesses, and are bound by no rules of war or
humanity.

THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE.

Steve/bboyminn