The rules of war have evolved over time as humanity has moved towards
enlightenment. Back in the middle ages wars might evolve one castle
against another castle; kind of like two miniature kingdoms that had
declared war. All members of each opposing castle, were considered
enemies and subject to the same set of rules of war. This meant that
even the maids and stable boys were pawns of war, even if they never
engaged in any actual combat, and if captured they were subject to the
same harsh treatment as the warriors, including execution by poling or
other means, including torture to death. There was no concept of
non-combatants.
Over time rules of war evolved where non-combatants were not considered
as enemies, and only the armys of each opposing side meet on the
battlefield of war. Later the laws of war were refined to standardize
treatment of combatants that had been captured, so that the enemy
combatants would be treated in a manner like any the warriors would want
to be treated if they became captive.
Some day humanity will evolve to a place where war will be obsolete, but
for now I would not recommend any reversing of the rules of war back to
a more primitive time in the past, even if it got some high political
office holders off the hook.
Regards,
LelandJ
Hal Kaplan wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Leland Jackson
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 12:19
To: [email protected]
Subject: [OT] Detainee Abuse Charges Feared
It appears to me, based on the sponsorship of legislation that would
shield the Bush Administration against prosecution of war crimes under
the Geneva Convention begin proposed by Attorney General Alberto R.
Gonzales, that the the Bush Administration established policy it knew to
be illegal in its treatment of prisoners. Below is an except from
today's Washington Post with a link to the entire article, but the
entire article may require registration.
My guess is the Bush Admin will spend the last two years of its term
trying to clean up any incriminating evidence, including Top Secret
Documents, so as to leave a sanitized environment for a new incoming
Admin for 2008. We may never know the full extent of the threat posed
by neo-conservatives against the American Constitution and Bill of
Rights, American freedoms, and the American Way of life.
======================================================
That is not the plan, IMHO. Shrub is not running this operation,
someone else is calling the shots and he is just the puppet. Regardless
of who is "elected" in 2008, the neocon elements will make every effort
to prevail and continue on the present course. Their timetable may get
adjusted but the objective will remain. I am not condoning this, just
giving my opinion.
As for the treatment of prisoners, we must remember that members of
alQaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, PLO, etc., are NOT acting on behalf of a
government that is a signatory to any treaty. I still don't know how
these groups get away with what they are doing but they do not deserve
any protection or consideration that might be given to a soldier of an
established military organization of a sovereign nation. After all,
there are rules for these games.
What I was wondering is why can't we convince the FBI that these groups
are from Montana or Waco and just cream the crap out of them as they
have done before.
HALinNY
[excessive quoting removed by server]
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