Replies

Are you claiming that Iraqis who place IEDs are lawful combatants? Interesting viewpoint.

Much like those who place land mines (US). Yes.

Wow! How many Iraqi civilians have our land mines killed?

I think you just veered off into moral equivalence idiocy with that comment.

Unless we catch them in the act, we have only our speculation that they are the ones.

If our troops come under fire and catch a man in civilian clothes walking away from the scene with gun shot residue on his hands can we detain him?

You can't possibly believe that we get it right 100% of the time?

You can't possibly believe that we get it wrong 100% of the time?

Wow! How many Iraqi civilians have our land mines killed?
I think you just veered off into moral equivalence idiocy with that comment.
Be careful, that pedestal is awful high there.
That I know of, we haven't placed any land mines in Iraq, however, we placed many, along with booby traps in Vietnam, Korea, etc. Although the population in rural areas was much less, I'm sure you don't want to get into how many civilians, even children got killed by our stuff. The only difference is the setting. This war is taking place in an urban environment.
What do you think an IED is? It is a land mine placed by those who don't have the resources to commercially produce one.
Are they useful? Sure. Are they indiscriminate in who they kill? Absolutely. We (US) simply have a different moral view on what is an acceptable risk to civilians than our enemy does in Iraq.
Are you suggesting that our guys who place booby traps in Vietnam were not lawful combatants?
Now THAT is a truely interesting viewpoint. Especially when that is what Hanoi would love to have claimed.

You can't possibly believe that we get it wrong 100% of the time?
?????? Where on earth did that come from?

If our troops come under fire and catch a man in civilian clothes walking away from the scene with gun shot residue on his hands can we detain him?
Absolutely. The topic is not about detaining folks though. Neither (as I understand it) was the ruling.