又中又英 | No quarter, no mercy | 褚簡寧

　　It was common centuries ago for armies or pirates to show no quarter when they fought their enemies. To show no quarter means to show no mercy or compassion for enemies who have been defeated. Those who won wars in the old days showed no quarter by killing their defeated enemies. The expression "take no prisoners" has a similar meaning. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 made it illegal to show no quarter or refuse to accept the surrender of the losing side.

　　US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently told the media America will show "no quarter, no mercy" in its war with Iran. Experts quickly pointed out that the Hague Conventions make it a war crime to show no quarter. The Geneva Convention makes it a war crime to target civilians and civilian structures such as schools during a war. The International Criminal Court has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes. But unintended civilian deaths during a war are called collateral damage, not war crimes.

　　Collateral damage means the unintentional deaths or injuries of civilians and bombing of non-military targets during a war. Initial investigations show a US missile struck an Iranian school for girls, killing about 170 civilians, mostly children, on the first day of the war with Iran. Some people, including Iranian officials, have called it a war crime. Hegseth said last week that the US military has started a thorough investigation into the missile strike. I think the strike was collateral damage, but the investigation will show whether it was deliberate or collateral damage.

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　　許多世紀以前，軍隊或海盜打敵人的時候show no quarter是非常普遍的。To show no quarter就是指不給戰敗的敵方任何寬容或慈憐的待遇。在古時，打勝仗的人往往毫不留情（showed no quarter）地屠殺戰俘。習語"take no prisoners"的意思相近。1899和1907年通過的海牙公約，規定不留活口（show no quarter）又或拒絕接受戰敗方的投降均屬違法。

　　美國國防部長皮特．赫格塞思最近跟傳媒說，美國在對伊朗的戰爭中會「不留活口、不留情面」（no quarter, no mercy）。專家們立即指出，海牙公約訂明，「不留活口」（no quarter）是戰爭罪行。日內瓦公約則規定，在戰爭期間攻擊平民和平民建築例如學校，都是戰爭罪行。國際刑事法院指責俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾．普京和以色列總理本雅明．內塔尼亞胡犯下了戰爭罪行。然而，戰事期間非故意或有計劃地導致平民身亡則被稱為collateral damage，而非戰爭罪行。

　　Collateral damage是附帶傷害，是指戰事期間非軍方本意而構成平民傷亡，又或轟炸了非軍事目標。初步調查顯示，在美國對伊朗開戰首日，一枚美國導彈擊中了一間伊朗女子學校，造成170個平民死亡，當中大部分為小孩。一些人，包括伊朗官員，都聲稱此屬戰爭罪行。赫格塞斯上星期說，美國軍方會就這次導彈襲擊展開全面的調查。我認為這次空襲屬於附帶傷害（collateral damage），但調查將會顯示究竟那屬刻意為之抑或附帶傷害（collateral damage）。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻