What, if any, should the laws of war be, and more importantly, who is supposed to enforce them? Nations want to win wars, so they have an incentive to turn a blind eye to war crimes done by their own soldiers when those crimes further the war effort. For example, the Americans and British in WW2 never prosecuted their own pilots for killing civilians in Tokyo, but they hypocritically prosecuted the Japanese for killing civilians in Nanking. Likewise, Anglo-Russo-American tribunals in Europe were quick to point to emaciated bodies in occupied Poland, but they conveniently forgot about the emaciated bodies in occupied Bengal. If the laws of war are to be enforced only by the winners and only when it is convenient for them, then why not give up false pretenses and admit that international law is a contradiction in terms?