My answer is no
One mans terrorist could be another resistance.
If America or my country was invaded and we resisted we would not want to be classed as war criminals.
Tony
>>>If America or my country was invaded and we resisted we would not want to be classed as war criminals.
Now that is an interesting perspective.
If America or my country was invaded and we resisted we would not want to be classed as war criminals.
There is another, more important distinction, though.
An insurgency or "resistance" does not intentionally or necessarily target innocent civilians. Terrorism does -- civilian men, women and children (see Beslan) are considered valid targets.
Resistance forces who confine their targets to the occupying military forces (or administrative officials) are not covered by the Geneva Convention, but they are not committing war crimes, either.
Attacks directed against civilian targets do not qualify as war crimes? Then I guess hospitals, schools and churches are legitimate military targets and attacking them should not be punished.
I do not consider the attacks against the Marine Barracks in Lebanon, nor the attack against the USS Cole to be acts of terrorism. They were clearly acts of war, but they were directed at military targets. Any war crimes attached to them would be in the methods of attack, i.e. by combatants not wering uniforms, and not the attacks themselves.
The detainees being tried are being tried for their association with attacks on civilian targets. Those acts are definitely worthy of consideration as war crimes.
try this one: one mans rape could be anothers sexual fantasy.
evil is evil. this is not resistance
I'd have to agree with this 1000%!
I think terrorists are rightly classified as enemy combatants. This category does not preclude their being shot in the midst of "battle" even though they may be unarmed or unaware of being hunted. We kill enemy soldiers without remorse or mercy when we are in a clandestine operational mode. They kill our guys in the same way. That's the nature of war.
For that matter is it a crime against humanity to kill the enemy via artillery of any sort, or land mines? Or tanks at 4000 meters? Those are all examples of killing without "seeing" the enemy. In fact, some noncombatants may be killed at the same time as we are mowing down the pagan enemies of our country. Tough. That's war. We don't sanction our soldiers for "collateral damage." But we don't specifically target noncombatant civilians for mass slaughter as was the case with Sept. 11th. WE don't do that because we're supposed to be the good guys. WE don't do that.....yet. Before it's really over with, we may have to do that to insure our survival. It's still war. A new kind of war?.....Or an ancient version with modern technology?
No quarter asked and none given.
It's still WAR and active enemy combatants are subject to getting killed without mercy. We didn't make these rules, they did. But we're going to win.