War and the rules of war

Originally Posted by Gecko3

The problem with these "Rules of War" is that lately, we haven't been fighting enemy armies, where soldiers are easily identified on the battlefield. We're fighting guys who dress up pretty much like the local populace, and who then exploit that by firing at uniformed soldiers, who are unable to fight back effectively. And if we kill civilians by accident, then it just looks terrible to the rest of the world. New rules have to be devised to engage these types of people, who are blurring the lines of "enemy combatant" They also resort to terrorist tactics, instead of fighting conventionally, like setting up roadside IED's (improvised explosive devices), and for the most part, are pretty indiscriminate as to who they kill, whether it's a enemy soldier, or an innocent civilian, or even children (you have to wonder what kind of mind thinks it's okay to kill kids).

That's why the US won't give those guys in Guantanamo Bay any POW rights, because they're not part of any army, in a standard uniform using standard equipment issued to them by a standing government. They're just guys who showed up and started fighting against the US or its allies. Some people are having a hissy fit about this, but again, why should we offer them that protection/status if they refuse to follow the rules set by a global community?

You are so right about these points.

If these people are not willing to officially organize in a way to communicate (through words) with other organizations/governments, then all bets are off. The reason people organize/fight/communicate/bargain is to get what the group wants. These people don't organize officially, don't communicate with dialog, and don't bargain but deliver ultimatums. So really, all these groups do is fight. There is no civility or consideration on there part, just blind hate-death to their foes.

These people aren't interested primarily in getting their way, but in destroying there opposers. That is a big difference. For instance, we entered WWII not to destroy all Germans, or Germany itself, but to stop Germany from oppressing others, conquering the world. BIG DIFFERENCE.

So I totally agree that these "psuedo-civilian-soldiers" are not under normal protections, because they don't stand for anything but killing.

Jam it back in, in the dark.