http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=KMM

Great post Regulus…couldn’t agree more.

The enemy we fight has murdered and in many cases mutilated American fighting men taken prisoner under the LOAC we are now entitled to treat the enemy the same way on the battlefield.

I agree with your post, except for the emphasized part.

The Law of Land Warfare (perhaps the same as or part of the Law of Armed Conflict you refer to) doesn’t really specify how unlawful combatants are to be treated so much denying them the legal and procedural protections set forth in those laws.

Once a bandit, brigand or terrorist is identified as such then it’s up to the detaining force to deal with him under its own rules; historically since ancient times captured fighters who have refused to distinguish themselves from civilians have been treated about the same as spies (i.e., summary execution).

What our own rules should be concerning unlawful combatants has been the subject of debate ever since we started taking them prisoner, but “An eye for an eye” isn’t one of those rules. It may feel pleasurable in the moment to stand somebody up against a wall and fill him with lead, or to watch his eyes bulge as he jerks and twists at the end of a rope, but in the long term such activity blurs the distinction between us and what we’re fighting not only in the eyes of the locals but to our own people as well.

Take up the White Man’s burden–
Ye dare not stoop to less–
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.

The foreign enemy wants the Iraqi people to see us as occupiers, oppressors, torturers and murderers who make up the “law” as they go along. Our domestic enemy wants to convince the American people of the same thing. They work tirelessly toward this goal, because they know that that’s the only way they can win.

Shall we indulge them by giving them real instead of trumped up or imaginary examples? Would that honor the memory of SSG Maupin – or have some other effect?

War is an ugly and frustrating business, made even more so when the enemy can engage in any kind of barbarity and we can’t. But the veneer of rationality and civilization is what distinguishes us from them in a guerilla conflict, and mustn’t be shed no matter how great the temptation or provocation.

My condolences go out to the Maupin family, but I am relieved that they have recovered his remains.
Rest In Peace Matt.

Here’s hoping a smart bomb instead of a scholarship is the only reward for the killers of yet another promising young soldier.

This family is in my prayers.

As for those in our Government that believe those we catch on the battlefield are entitled to Geneva Convention protections I strongly urge them to read the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC). It indoctrinated into everyone man and woman in the U.S. Military and in the U.S. Air Force an annual training requirement. The enemy we fight has murdered and in many cases mutilated American fighting men taken prisoner under the LOAC we are now entitled to treat the enemy the same way on the battlefield. For our trolls the savages our men and women fight overseas do not wear uniforms or badges that identify them as lawful combatants therefore they are not entitled to Geneva Convention protections.

On March 31st, 2008 at 8:35 am, 30 pcs of silver said:

All gave some. Some gave all.

R.I.P.

May God steady his family and keep them!

Amen.

R.I.P.

May God steady his family and keep them!