Close, but no cigar to the eyeball
The occasion for the special regime at Guantánamo Bay was supposed to be that the Geneva Conventions and other international law did not cover what the Americans call ‘unlawful combatants’. In fact there is a perfectly clear category that would seem to cover fighters picked up in Afghanistan, and Iraqi insurgents, with a respectable legal pedigree – francs-tireurs. This means people dressed like civilians who shoot at your soldiers. Under international law, you can execute such people out of hand, in the field. But you can’t torture them; so perhaps the classification was rejected for that reason.
By Hugo Grinebiter on July 20, 2010 11:57 am
• Posted in: RESISTANCE IS USELESS!, The World-Empire and the Terrorists
2 Responses to “Close, but no cigar to the eyeball”
“…you can execute such people out of hand, in the field. But you can’t torture them…”
Interestingly, this is the basis of some Right-Wing criticism against Obama’s highly successful policy of “decapitation” by Predator plane assassination. The right-wingers argue that the USA is failing to extract useful information.
What I would like to see (as long as its closure is being blocked) is a few select domestic terrorists being sent to Guantanamo.
I would applaud the shock effect of such a measure!
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