Human shield

“The difference between the good guy and the bad guy is whether he uses human shield or make himself human shield.”

We read often or hear about how in the wars throughout the twentieth century, and those ongoing, civilians are used in war zones as human shield. Human shield are civilians deliberately placed in a combat zone by one or another side involved in combat. Civilians are placed around potential targets with aim to deter an enemy from attacking. Also, they are used as human shield for purpose of mine clearing before or during the ground attack on enemy.

Beside civilians, in some cases, U.N. troops were taken hostage and used as human shields. One case that immediately comes to mind is war in 1990’s, against Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Serbs were trying to deter NATO airplanes from bombarding their positions around Sarajevo and elsewhere, by using U.N peacekeepers tied to potential targets as human shields.

One wonders, how come everyone is at the end equally guilty? The bad guy and the good guy end up on the same court.