Posted Without Comment:

But the best reason for murdering the [enemy] was that if enough of the brutes had escaped, the whole beastly business would have been to do again, with the consequent loss of [more] lives. That's something the moralists overlook (or don't give a dam' about) when they cry: "Pity the beaten foe!" What they're saying, in effect, is: "Kill our fellows tomorrow rather than the enemy today." But they don't care to have it put to them like that; they want their wars won clean and comfortable, with a clear conscience. (Their consciences being much more precious than their own soldiers' lives, you understand.) Well, that's fine, if you're sitting in the Liberal Club with a bellyful of port on top of your dinner, but if you rang the bell and it was answered not by a steward with a napkin but an Akali with a tulwar, you might change your mind. Distance always lends enlightenment to the view, I've noticed.

George MacDonald Fraser
Flashman and the Mountain of Light