The purpose of war is to destroy, and, even with precision bombs and missiles, some collateral damage still occurs. Inevitably, natural capital and other types of capital are destroyed or impaired. In Vietnam, the foliage of forests was targeted. In the Gulf War, Iraq released crude oil into the Red Sea, which damaged marine life, and set Kuwaiti oil fields on fire, which produced both atmospheric and terrestrial damage. War co-opts natural resources (e.g. natural capital), destroys societal infrastructure, and interferes with a variety of natural cycles and ecosystem services. War is incompatible with sustainable use of the planet since modern technology, including nuclear capabilities, makes war an unsustainable practice. Instead of protecting resources as they become increasingly scarce, these wars (usually poorly masked as terrorist, religious, or cultural conflicts) use natural capital, such as oil, in an attempt to obtain more than would have been possible by peaceful means. The assumption that more will be obtained is weak since sabotage is often difficult to stop. Universal peace and sustainable use of the planet are both utopian visions, but failure to achieve them deprives posterity of a quality life, and even of life itself. We must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which their leaders are on trial is not that they lost the war, but that they started it. And we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into a trial of the causes of the war, for our position is that no grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel L. Jackson, America's Senior Representative at the 1945 Nuremberg War Crimes Trials and the Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
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