Geneva Conventions; Fighting by the rules

(Screenshot from the 3.24.03 homepage of Newsweek.com.)

Rule 13 of the third Genenva Convention prohibits exposing prisoners of war to public curiosity. It's time to quit this silliness. Neither side is paying much attention to this particular rule of the Geneva Conventions. So stop bitching about it.

Propaganda rules of modern warfare require televising POWs. Time to accept the reality and move on. Remember -- the US televised and photographed Iraqi POWs before Iraq even got its hands on an American.

And given the US has already flouted the conventions in its treatment of captured Taliban, I'm not quite sure what it's bitching about.

And speaking of bitching...

Playing by the rules
The British complained bitterly that American Colonialists didn't fight fair -- they refused to line up out in the open and properly advance on enemy lines as all civilized nations did. They hid behind trees. Barbarians!

Well, how ironic that we now accuse the Iraqis of the same. They hide in cities! They don't come out and face our armor like civilized people! They wear civilian clothes! They fake surrenders! Barbarians!

I am a firm believer that a nation being invaded, its entire existence at risk, has the right (and duty!) to use whatever means it has at its disposal to defend itself. You can't blame the Iraqis for their tactics -- they are hopelessly outgunned. They have to do what they have to do to repulse the invaders.

The US and UK will have to adapt. They'll have to use tactics that mean higher civilian casualties. Now that our armed forces are engaged in this godforsaken war they have to do whatever necessary to win. We, as a nation, will have to endure the world's wrath, a destabilized Middle East, the formation of new anti-US blocs, the inevitable blowback, and other unintended consequences.

Bush's war will be the gift that keep on giving, long after he's been relegated to the dustbin of history. Bush and his neocons gambled everything on the collapse of Saddam's regime and lost. Instead of complaining about Iraqi tactics, these fools need to start dealing with the repercussions.

Posted March 24, 2003 08:06 PM | Comments (144)