Noncombatants in the Dominion War

[Sionnach Glic]

Which would then have been visible, or at least mentioned, to some extent in NEM.

[Captain Seafort]

And, for that matter, in DS9. They thought the invasion significant enough to mention, so I'd have thought that atrocities against the population would certainly have got a mention.

[Sonic Glitch]

Which would then have been visible, or at least mentioned, to some extent in NEM.

Only if we saw Betazed or it was useful to the plot. A line like "We're having another ceremony on Betazed where they've finally rebuilt the capitol city." really doesn't add much to the plot. If it was planned that we the viewer were actually going to see Betazed or talk to someone living there, then yes it would've (or w/ trek writers, more like "should've") been addressed.

[Captain Seafort]

Only if we saw Betazed or it was useful to the plot. A line like "We're having another ceremony on Betazed where they've finally rebuilt the capitol city." really doesn't add much to the plot. If it was planned that we the viewer were actually going to see Betazed or talk to someone living there, then yes it would've (or w/ trek writers, more like "should've") been addressed.

Given that a) they were going there and b) Troi was from Betazed, the planet getting trashed, or heavy casualties among the civilian population would have been a pretty natural topic of conversation, even if it were only something along the lines of discussing any new buildings, architecture, memorials, etc. The fact that atrocities were never mentioned in either Nemesis or DS9 is pretty good evidence that they didn't happen.

[Sonic Glitch]

Only if we saw Betazed or it was useful to the plot. A line like "We're having another ceremony on Betazed where they've finally rebuilt the capitol city." really doesn't add much to the plot. If it was planned that we the viewer were actually going to see Betazed or talk to someone living there, then yes it would've (or w/ trek writers, more like "should've") been addressed.

Given that a) they were going there and b) Troi was from Betazed, the planet getting trashed, or heavy casualties among the civilian population would have been a pretty natural topic of conversation, even if it were only something along the lines of discussing any new buildings, architecture, memorials, etc. The fact that atrocities were never mentioned in either Nemesis or DS9 is pretty good evidence that they didn't happen.

Just to be a kill joy, one possible reason it was not mentioned is: The Writers Are Stupid.
Also, after four years how often do you discuss new construtcion that's been finished a long while?

[Sionnach Glic]

Or maybe it wasn't mentioned because it didn't happen.
The burden of proof is upon you to show that these attrocities happened.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Or maybe it wasn't mentioned because it didn't happen.
The burden of proof is upon you to show that these attrocities happened.

Perhaps, after the birth of Lwaxana Troi, nothing the Dominion could have done at Betazed would have been counted as a greater atrocity

[Graham Kennedy]

I can't really see the Dominion inflicting mass casualties for no reason. From what we know they aren't on a mission to eliminate all other life in the galaxy or anything, they just want to have the solids nice and firmly under control. They clearly don't shy away from mass murder when it suits their purpose - the Blight, destroying Cardassian cities in reprisal for rebellion, etc. But we also saw the Karemma and others living under the Dominion's control.

Besides, if they had gone on a mass destruction spree against the Federation, it could hardly have won them friends amongst the rest of the quadrant. All those non aggression treaties might have started to look a little unwise if it became clear that Dominion policy was to conquer and slaughter en masse.

[Sonic Glitch]

Or maybe it wasn't mentioned because it didn't happen.
The burden of proof is upon you to show that these attrocities happened.

I'm not saying these attrocities happened, I'm saying it's possible they did and attempting to explain why it was not mentioned later. Do I have any proof said atrocities occured, none only then the examples listed. I concede that I do not have concrete evidence.

[Sionnach Glic]

Okay then.

[Mikey]

I can't really see the Dominion inflicting mass casualties for no reason. From what we know they aren't on a mission to eliminate all other life in the galaxy or anything, they just want to have the solids nice and firmly under control. They clearly don't shy away from mass murder when it suits their purpose - the Blight, destroying Cardassian cities in reprisal for rebellion, etc. But we also saw the Karemma and others living under the Dominion's control.

Besides, if they had gone on a mass destruction spree against the Federation, it could hardly have won them friends amongst the rest of the quadrant. All those non aggression treaties might have started to look a little unwise if it became clear that Dominion policy was to conquer and slaughter en masse.

Agreed. The Founders' stock-in-trade is having solids live under their governance, even genetically modifying certain species to serve them directly. Why would they change that mindset simply through having expanded their territory?

[Chris Propst]

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.

I think the Dominion strategy during war is probably not any different than many standard modern military forces. The U.S. specifically targeted civilians in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts since they were the basis of guerrilla resistance, and I think the Dominion's considering of wiping out Earth was probably not different. The U.S. wrecked virtually all major cities or towns in North Korea during the war, and this is not really considered a big deal. Putting the Dominion War in a relative scale, destroying Earth would probably be comparable.
Good points about Betazed - clearly it wasn't too wrecked since by virtue of its culture, presumably, it was not considered a high-risk area of resistance as Earth would have been. I think the massacres probably didn't happen - what would the Dominion have to gain from that?
The point of the Dominion was that they were a smart villain. Unlike Shinzon, they didn't want to wipe out Earth and the Federation for literally no reason. They were subtle. If you didn't resist or you didn't have anything they needed, you would probably do pretty well under Dominion rule.

[Sionnach Glic]

Aye, that's my reading of it. As long as you kept your heads down and didn't cause problems, you'd survive.

[Deepcrush]

You wouldn't even have to keep your head down. A lot of those GQ traders talked fairly openly about how much money they make.

[Chris Propst]

It would have been interesting to hear about Federation citizens killing Dominion collaborators after an occupation ends. I could see it happening. Then again, there was plenty else to hear about in DS9, but if the show had been taken further than the Dominion War it would have been cool to these kinds of inevitable consequences of such a conflict.