Noncombatants in the Dominion War

[Captain Picard's Hair]

The Negh'Var attack on the Pasteur got me to thinking about non-combatants in the Dominion war. It doesn't seem that the Founders, Vorta, or their Jem'Hadar foot soldiers would care much for civilian casualties or the wounded officers and crewmen and their doctors, etc. This is particularly interesting since this war took place entirely on the Federation's turf - the whole idea from the start was to avoid letting the bulk of the Dominion in the GQ have any influence. Of course, it's not clear how much the Founders would empathize with any losses that would be incurred by races under Dominion rule in any wars there.

It's also unfortunate that we didn't see anything much of the impact of the war on aspects of the Federation aside from it's military. How much of the Federation's day-to-day infrastructure was destroyed or damaged?

[Sionnach Glic]

It's pretty much impossible to tell. We don't know how indiscriminate the Dominion was when it came to capturing planet.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

I was afraid that'd be the answer. It is one of a few interesting dimensions of the War which we never got to see much of (but then, we never saw much of this sort of thing in peacetime Trek either)

[Sionnach Glic]

Aye, unfortunately they were rather scarce on the details of how planets were affected.

[KuvahMagh]

Well we know from 'The Quickening' that the Dominion is willing to use Biological Weapons a a Planet full of Civilians who disobey them as an example and that these weapons affect the planet for generations.

We also know from 'Rules of Engagement' that Klingons kill all of their enemies regardless since they see it as an Honorable Death.

While the second example doesn't really apply to the Dominion it does tell us that even the local powers do not see the 'laws of war' the way we do now. I'm sure the Dominion is much the same way.

They were also ready to kill Military Officers instead of taking them prisoner, as our current laws require as seen in 'The Changing Face of Evil' when Weyoun plans on destroying the escape pods, he is only stopped by the Founder who wants a psychological victory as well. The exchange seems to indicate that their destruction would be the normal course of action.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Presumably they'd have no problem killing medical ships then.

[kostmayer]

Didn't they wipe out all the colonies that had been founded on the opposite side of the wormhole? There was a scene where a Jem'Hadar hands Major Kira a Bajoran PADD that had be taken from one of their colonies, who had 'fought most bravely'

[KuvahMagh]

True, well despite the fact that we didn't see what happened to these colonies I think we can pretty safely assume that they were no Risa.

Also, at one point Weyoun and Dukat are talking about a possible Dominion Victory, Weyoun points out that holding the Federation will be difficult given its size and that if any rebellion were to start it would be on Earth and it therefore must be eliminated.

[Deepcrush]

The only people I've ever seen with any kind of Law Of War has been the UFP. Most everyone is the kill everything type.

[Tsukiyumi]

...Most everyone is the kill everything type.

So WWII Soviet analogs, then?

[Deepcrush]

and German and Japanese and American (against Japan until ORDERED otherwise).

[Tsukiyumi]

True; I was thinking more of the "who killed more of their own people" statistics. All of us were damned savage in that war, but there really wasn't any way round that. It was, by its nature, a brutal conflict.

[Deepcrush]

True, but for the Dominion it doesnt' really count or as I see it. Those were all conquered worlds, so they were killing those they have defeated in war. I never saw them killing off mass numbers of Jem'hadar or Vorta.

[Tsukiyumi]

True, but for the Dominion it doesnt' really count or as I see it. Those were all conquered worlds, so they were killing those they have defeated in war. I never saw them killing off mass numbers of Jem'hadar or Vorta.

They executed a number of Vorta, for sure. The Jem'Hadar seemed pretty expert at executing themselves.

[Deepcrush]

True but those were disloyal persons. I dont' recall any mass killings of random people.