Article

2003-11-09 Iraq

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Posted by Fred Pruitt 2003-11-09 09:51|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 "U.S. troops have arrested 18 people in connection with last month's fatal missile barrage against Baghdad's Al-Rasheed hotel..."

Unfortunate to see the word âarrestedâ used here. These are military operations, not police actions. âArrestedâ brings all sorts of images of court trials and rules of evidence and Judge Judyâ¦

...donât need no moâ confusion, a la Guantanamo, as to how the enemy should be treated in the battlefield, whether in this, the second operational theater of the war on terrorists, or ~~Damascus~~ ~~Riyadh~~ any future battlefield.

Posted by Hyper 2003-11-9 10:18:26 AM|| 2003-11-9 10:18:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 I'm with Hyper. If the U.S. military is using the word "arrested" instead of "captured," they need to stop. We are still at war; you don't "arrest" opposing troops, you capture (or, in the case of these particular opposing troops, preferably kill) them.

I'd like to think it's the media using the word and not the military, but the way the upper levels of the Pentagon (a) have been infused with PC and (b) are resisting efforts to reform/update our military, I suspect I'm wrong. Sigh.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2003-11-9 10:30:20 AM|| 2003-11-9 10:30:20 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Actually, we shouldn't consider these sandfleas 'combattants', but terrorists. You can either 'capture' terrorists or 'arrest' suspected terrorists. The difference is significant: if they're foreign combattants, the Geneva Convention rules apply. If they're terrorists, I'm not sure if any rules should apply. If you go outside the bounds of just actions by committing terrorist acts, you shouldn't expect to be treated by the conventions established for actions within those bounds.

Drain 'em dry, whack & stack 'em, and let the world know. Also let them know we don't give a happy rat's a$$ what the rest of the world thinks about our behavior. This is a war against the United States (actually western civilization, but there are just too many idiots who refuse to accept that). Unless you are our ally, you have no say in this war.

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-11-9 11:27:01 AM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2003-11-9 11:27:01 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Regardless of the final disposition, I am happy to see 18 apprehended. Apprehension of locals would be impossible in a civilian population that was sympathetic to their cause.

Posted by Super Hose 2003-11-9 1:27:58 PM|| 2003-11-9 1:27:58 PM|| Front Page Top

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