Do you think it was correct that Confed destroyed Kilrah?

Do you think it was *right* that Confed destroyed Kilrah?

  • Yes

    Votes: 55 75.3%

  • No

    Votes: 18 24.7%
  • Total voters
    73
J

Jochen

Rear Admiral
Originally posted by Mekt-Hakkikt
I am pretty sure that the millions of dead Kilrathi civilians on Kilrah would complain if they were still alive. And I wouldn't say that they wouldn't have the right to do it.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning the right of the Kilrathi species to exist/survive, but Confed only destroyed Kilrah because they had no other choice to avoid their own extinction, and it was no easy decision for Paladin, Blair and all other involved... the Kilrathi on the other hand have no respect at all for the right of other species to exist and IIRC they already had extincted multiple species before the war against Confed... if they hadn't been so ruthless, maybe Confed would not have even considered this "last solution"

More opinions on this?
 
Like Tolwyn said in the WC4 novel, there was no way for humanity to win the war without a miracle like the Behemoth and the T-Bomb. I agree with that. We were desparate and the war was not going well.
I would much rather not have killed Kilrah (heck I'd much rather have the war ended by diplomatics but we all know that wasn't going to happen, especially after Fleet Action), but with all the info I have available on the Terran-Kilrathi war I don't see any other solution.
So I voted yes.
 
I'll agree. I'd have prefered diplomacy (I think the Kilrathi are pretty bad ass, so I disliked killing them, you really can't when you have respect for something), but due to the fact that any time humanity (a country or the race) has it's back pinned to the wall, we get the most vicious as well as the most desperate/cunning, I'd say it was to be expected.

I don't see it as wrong, I guess you could kinda say it was a sucker punch, but then again, you could also see it as mankind manipulating a weakness of the Kilrathi to their own gain. (Without an Emperor, the Kilrathi stopped fighting, so it must have worked.)

Overall, I'd say that yes, I do see it as a necessary way of continuing man's existance in the universe. (Even if I'd have prefered the war to end another way, realistically that couldn't have happened with the Kilrathi mindset.)
 
Hi

It was necessary, but I wouldn't say it was right.

If there had been any other choice, Confed should have gone with it. Unfortunately, the story makes it clear that Confed would be exterminated if the Kilrah wasn't destroyed.

There were millions of Kilrathi who probably had little or nothing to do with the war effort but were killed anyway. Thrakhath and the Kilrathi military probably deserved it as they escalated the war by using Bio weapons in Fleet Action and in WC3.

Given what would happen to Humanity, I would order the strike, but I am not sure if I could live with it after.

Cheers
 
I'll agree with panther. It was maybe necessary to destroy Kilrah in order to end the war before the Kilrathi's fleet reached Earth but it surely wasn't right. Given all the unrest within the Empire (I wonder who actually supported Thrakhath and the Emperor) maybe the Terrans should have exploited that. But sadly, it appears in WC3 that they really hadn't any other chance in delaying the fleet.
Still, I think after that victory the Terran can't say anymore that the Kilrathi were the brutal, cruel and barbaric enemies whereas they were the pure good.
 
I'll go with Mekt and panther on this one.
It was necessary, but I wouldn't call it right... if you think about it, there's hardly anything right about war.

--Eder
 
I'll agree that you really shouldn't be able to call the Kilrathi cruel either. While using Bioweapons might be a more painful way to die (I've never died on a planet that was shaken apart-nor disease, so I'm going on speculation here), it would seem that the disease could eventually be cleared away after time, etc., while you can't very well REMAKE a planet.
 
well Kilrah was destroyed in WC III and was suddendly "re-built" by the time Prophecy occured ;) Okay, i know, not really true but oh well, you get my point :)
 
It was either us or them. Killing innocent cats on Kilrah is the same as if the Kilrathi fleet had made it to Earth. They would not have hesitated to kill innocent terrans when they began to bombard the planet. They had already demonstrated that eairlier after they declared a false truce.

Blowing the whole planet does seem exccessive, but what was the alternative. Live with the Kilrathi bossin us around? I think not.

On the flip side, the Kilrathi were in the same boat. Kill thousands or even millions of terrans with a strike on Earth or live with the fact that Confed would be the high and mighty ones in the universe. I dunno.
 
I'm sure that the majority of civilians on Kilrah supported the war. They are a predatory society that is quite different from ours. Most of them would probably want to join the military if they could anyways. That does not change anything, but a civilian that is just a bystander and wants no part of the war, in my opinion, does not quite exist in their society.
 
The bombilng run on Kilrah is basicaly a model of the A-bomb atacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And Its the same moral debate that people are still pondering. Was it worth it?... What is evil? Are all kilrathi evil? (Hobbes in wc2 & wc3, melek in wc4 seem to indicate they are not)
 
It wasn't quite the same thing, though. The bombing of Kilrah was the last throw by a side that was on the verge of losing. The A-bombs were a coup de grace from the side that was winning. The reasons for carrying them out were quite different.

Best, Raptor
 
Yeah ... I don't think the Kilrathi are "evil." They are simply a predatory society that is bent on conquest. The only difference I see between the Cats and Japan is that in Japan there were lots of civilians that did not want a war and were simply victims of the government (of course Confed was at he point of eradication). But the Kilrathi are, with a few exceptions, a militaristic race. It is inbred in them to hunt, so to speak. This does not make it right to destory a Cat world without much introspection, but I think the definition of civilian in their society is a bit different than in ours.
 
Just like any military decision, the bombing of Kilrah is a tactical and a moral one. When I first saw the solution to the Kilrathi war in WC3, the first thing I thought about was the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki during WWII (the second thing I thought of while I was on the mission was the Death star proton torpedo run in Star Wars - Right actor, wrong universe). True the situations are slightly different, but the military decision is the same. Do you sacrifice another culture's civilian/military lives to save the lives of your own people?
The answer is going to be yes everytime.
In WWII the justification was that we were saving countless American lives and that, in addition, the only way the honor-obsessed Japanese were going to surrender were with a total and undeniable defeat.
In WC the justification was to save countless Confed lives (in the inevitable Kilrathi victory) and that, in addition, the only way the honor-obsessed Kilrathi were going to surrender were with a total and undeniable defeat. Sound familiar? (oh and by the way, I'm not comparing our asian friends to the blood-thirsty Kilrathi, just the situation).

It's just a judgement call by the military leaders in charge when they have "the biggest gun in the galaxy" (quoting pre-insanity Tolwyn-well maybe just a little insanity).

The greater good must be served . . .(notice how the greater good is usually the worst imaginable decision for the losing side) :(

In the end, the best decision was to use the T-Bomb, whether it was right or not, that's for philosophers, not combat pilots fighting a war.
 
The decision to destroy Kirah, was a "last resort" plan. No one in Confed, neither civilian nor military, believed that the war would come down to it. This goes with all the other black ops that was going on at that time, including the Black Lance. When the Kirathi attacked Earth, most peopel soon realized how far the Cats would go to win, and that the war was an "us or them" situation. The call to let the plans to destroy Kirah, wasn't an easy decision, but at that time it was the only path to take. Confed was both tactically and morally correct to destroy the planet.
 
Originally posted by Bhaktadil
I'm sure that the majority of civilians on Kilrah supported the war. They are a predatory society that is quite different from ours. Most of them would probably want to join the military if they could anyways. That does not change anything, but a civilian that is just a bystander and wants no part of the war, in my opinion, does not quite exist in their society.
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Most of Confed supported the war too, even if they were a bit weary of it. (After all, they had missiles reach Terra, as well as the death of many people and the conquering of countless worlds.) There's little reason for people NOT to want their government to fight back. As for joining the military, most of Confed did the same thing-else we wouldn't have had so many people to throw at the Kilrathi. I don't think your definition of a civilian exists in any society (that we know of), if only because of a desire for defense and protection of your world.

(BTW-There was a group, in one of the novels-can't remember which-that wished to overthrow the government to end the war. Had that priestess in it...any help here, Mekt? LOAF?)
 
I think that rebel group was simp[y an off shoot of the Gorah Khar (sp?) rebels who eventually broke away from the Empire.

Best, Raptor
 
Originally posted by Raptor
I think that rebel group was simp[y an off shoot of the Gorah Khar (sp?) rebels who eventually broke away from the Empire.

Best, Raptor
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They *were* the Ghorah Khar rebels -- the scene he's thinking of is where Ralgha visits Hassa at the temple on Gorah Khar...
 
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