soc.history.war.world-war-ii

On Apr 5, 12:30 pm, Roman Werpachowski
wrote:
> On Apr 4, 4:06 pm, narrled...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
> > Don't apologize. I started it, and expected some hair-splitting!
>
> > Supposedly, Wellington prevented an artillery battery from taking a
> > shot at Napoleon before the battle of Waterloo got started, remarking
> > to the effect that "generals had better things to do than shoot at
> > each other." That's very gallant, but even back then I doubt that
> > anyone would argue that it was forbidden or unlawful.
>
> Wellington might have been afraid that if they shot at Napoleon and
> missed (highly probable in those days), the French emperor would think
> it was his "lucky star" or something like that, and use this event to
> bolster up his own and his troops' spirits.

Off topic, I know, but perhaps the Mod will indulge me--that would
speak to a pragmatic rather than ethical concern. If I had to choose
either 1) pragmatism or 2) ethical/legal concerns as THE factor in
preventing or limiting assassination attempts by governments or
militaries in the modern age, I'd go with pragmatism.

Narr