In general, I don't think the terrorists in Fallujah qualify as illegal combatants if they carry their arms openly.
| 8 | “In general, I don't think the terrorists in Fallujah qualify as illegal combatants if they carry their arms openly.” |
For all the use the term "illegal combatant" gets, it is not found in any of the four Geneva Conventions, nor their subsequent "Protocols". However, the term came in to general use as a necessary way to describe those that are not specifically covered combatants in GC III.
Note in the GC III excerpt below, that "carrying arms openly", is only one of several requirements, including the wearing of uniforms.
--Boot HillCONVENTION III
Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Geneva, 12 August 1949.Part I. General Provisions
Art. 4. A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:
(1) Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict, as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.
(2) Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, [must] fulfil the following conditions:
(a) that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;(3) Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.(b) that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) that of carrying arms openly;
(d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
(4) Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews, war correspondents, supply contractors, members of labour units or of services responsible for the welfare of the armed forces, provided that they have received authorization, from the armed forces which they accompany, who shall provide them for that purpose with an identity card similar to the annexed model.
(5) Members of crews, including masters, pilots and apprentices, of the merchant marine and the crews of civil aircraft of the Parties to the conflict, who do not benefit by more favourable treatment under any other provisions of international law.
(6) Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war.