Is Thrawn Evil?

[Tychu]

Thrawn is deffinatly evil. I mean for an alien living in an anti-nonhuman society and than signing off your life to this society and in return of getting the highest naval ranking you kill off other people on other worlds. That simply is evil.

[Crown]

Originally posted by consequences
This was the strategy used by the Allies in WWII, most notably during the strategic bombing campaigns: once they realised how difficult it was to signifigantly damage the industrial targets they deliberately attacked the civilian population. Does this make our wartime leaders evil?

Where does on begin to rebute this argument? I could say that the Allies objective was to stop a military aggressive force, which was responsible for the genocidal murder of 6 million non-combatants of it's own citizens. Or I could state, that this action was taken only after the Axis powers demostrated equal behaivour during conflict... But I wont, do you want to know why?

Well whether you do or you don't I am going to enlighten you... Now you have to promise to keep this to yourself, it's kinda of a big secret and well it's best that not everyone knows about this... You ready?

Thrawn was not using WWII technology!!! He was using technology that allowed him to trasverse between the stars, around the Galaxy. Technology that allowed the aiming of an opening no larger that 1 meter square, with a missile that can perform 72000g! Technology that according to Imperial captain Pellaeon, would enable him to target and destroy settlements around the base of Mount Tatiss, without scorching one blade of grass on the mountain its self! Technology that could track a casino vessel while it was underwater and hiding in coral reefs, from freakin' orbit!

Originally posted by Kazuaki Shimazaki
You might notice that this is the ONLY situation you could bring up where he didn't do so. Yes, a BDZ meant zero survivors. But IIRC, he did not even say BDZ, he just used the word "destroying" their world. That COULD mean just bombing them into the stone age.

Destroyed = to ruin; demolish, to put an end to, to kill, to crush or defeat so yes, if he said I destroyed their military, I might buy that, but he said I doubt it (when Pelaeon said that his latest insights into their art would come in useful some day) I destroyed their world! So that kinda eliminates any other possibility.

Originally posted by Kazuaki Shimazaki
Have you considered the drain of military resources to maintain a long term blockade?

What military drain? Their back to the stone age remember? All that is reguired is three reconancance gathering satellites in geosynchronus orbit 120 degrees apart from each other, detects any rocket emissions, we have that technology today i.e. US and Russian early warning sattelites, or other advanced emissions and bang show up and bomb them again. As if it would be a 'great military burden' to blockade one planet for and Empire that controls one quater of the galaxy!

[Kazuaki Shimazaki]

OK, OK, he can ruin them, kill them, crush them and defeat them merely by bombing them into the Stone Age.

In fact, have you considered this possibility? They were building a superweapon, and Thrawn decided that it had to be demolished at the earliest opportunity, with no more chances of failure and at any cost. So he assembled a strike force. The strike itself was clean, but the secondary explosion from the weapon managed to render the planet uninhabitable, thus satisfying a definition of destroy.

[Sothis]

I wouldn't have said evil... never received that impression, but then, I'm going on 2nd hand info.

[Talon Karrde]

People could always make the same case for captured officers or leaders of oppossing countries and regimes. Just because they don't seem evil or neccesarrily fight for that main reason, they still fight for it. Thrawn used the Noghri as his pawns (slaves) and killed many innocent people (although less than Vader or Palpatine would) He may be an absolute genius but his actions are still not justified.

[consequences]

Any military that institutes a draft is using unwilling pawns to further its own ends.