Instead, my core answer here is surprisingly simple: A “war crime” is, in its oldest and clearest form, the category of acts that destroy the infrastructure by which wars can be ended
How do prohibitions on torture of POWs destroy the infrastructure by which wars can be ended?
How do prohibitions on torture of POWs destroy the infrastructure by which wars can be ended?
I think that phrasing is slightly bad. Will edit! The main case here is that torturing POWs makes surrender less appealing.