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Full Idea
It is hard to see how just combatants could become legitimate targets simply by offering violent resistance to unjust attacks by unjust coombatants.
Gist of Idea
You don't become a legitimate target, just because you violently resist an unjust attack
Source
Jeff McMahan (Killing in War [2009], 1.3)
Book Ref
McMahan,Jeff: 'Killing in War' [OUP 2009], p.16
A Reaction
It is, however, hard to criticise a soldier who is dragged into fighting for an unjust cause, and then kills just defenders in the course of the fight. Once the bullets fly, normal morality seems to be suspended. Just survive.
Related Idea
Idea 23874 Armies and businesses create moralities in which their activity can do no wrong [Marx, by Weil]