There is no Black and White in War
There is no such thing as a good guy or a bad guy—there are only two sides...
In war, there is no such thing as a black and white, good guys versus bad guys scenario. It's not as simple as that. War is messy, complex, and nuanced. To paint one side as purely good and the other as purely evil does a disservice to the reality of the situation.
In any war, there are going to be civilians caught in the crossfire. That's inevitable. And both sides are going to make mistakes. War is brutal, and it's important to remember that there is no such thing as a clean war. Even the supposed "good guys" are going to do things that are morally ambiguous at best.
Take, for example, the United States' involvement in World War II. The United States entered the war after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. At the time, the American public was behind the war effort. But as more and more information about what was happening in Europe and Asia came to light, that began to change. The American people started to see that even though they were fighting against countries like Germany and Japan, that didn't mean that their own government and military were blameless.
There were incidents of racism and sexism within the ranks of the US military. Japanese-Americans were rounded up and put into internment camps. And even though the US government knew about the Holocaust happening in Europe, they did not do much to stop it or help those who were suffering. So while the US may have been fighting on what they considered to be the right side of the war, that doesn't mean that they were perfect. Far from it.
Wars are never simple or clear-cut affairs. There is no such thing as a good guy or a bad guy—there are only two sides, each with their own motivations and their own flaws. To try and label one side or the other as purely good or evil does a disservice to both sides and to those caught in the middle.
OPTICS: Syria