US trains Syrian rebels in Qatar to ‘ambush' soldiers and 'finish off' the wounded

At a secret base in Qatar, the US military is training rebels to raid Syrian government troops and vehicles, as well as to “finish off the soldiers still alive after an ambush,” first-hand interviews in a Frontline documentary have revealed.

The documentary, scheduled to air Tuesday night on PBS stations, offers rare insight into how Washington is fostering the armed insurgency against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

It features interviews by journalist Muhammad Ali with Syrian rebels presented as members of a “moderate faction” who describe a clandestine meeting with their “American handlers” in Turkey, along with the receiving of weapons and ammunition and the subsequent travel to Qatar for training.

At a Qatar base, said to be on the border with Saudi Arabia, the rebels allegedly received three weeks of training in the use of sophisticated weapons and fighting techniques, and also received new uniforms and boots.

“They trained us to ambush regime or enemy vehicles and cut off the road,” a fighter identified only as 'Hussein' told Ali.

“They also trained us on how to attack a vehicle, raid it, retrieve information or weapons and munitions, and how to finish off soldiers still alive after an ambush,” the masked rebel said.

Common Article 3 relating to Non-International Armed Conflict

This article states that the certain minimum rules of war apply to armed conflicts that are not of an international character, but that are contained within the boundaries of a single country. The applicability of this article rests on the interpretation of the term armed conflict.[17] For example it would apply to conflicts between the Government and rebel forces, or between two rebel forces, or to other conflicts that have all the characteristics of war but that are carried out within the confines of a single country. A handful of individuals attacking a police station would not be considered an armed conflict subject to this article, but only subject to the laws of the country in question.[17]

The other Geneva Conventions are not applicable in this situation but only the provisions contained within Article 3,[17] and additionally within the language of Protocol II. The rationale for the limitation is to avoid conflict with the rights of Sovereign States that were not part of the treaties. When the provisions of this article apply, it states that:[18]

- Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria. To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:

- violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;

- taking of hostages;

- outrages upon dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;and

- the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

- The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.

What’s sad is people who discount anything negative a propaganda. There are other sources of this same topic.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/foreign-affairs-defense/syria-arming-the-rebels/syrian-rebels-describe-u-s-backed-training-in-qatar/

Unless PBS is run by the KGB. Do a little research. Open your eyes and don’t believe alot of what this administration tells you.

What is the administration telling me, exactly?

Let's look at what we actually have here.

Russia Today and Frontline - two organizations who I'm sure are always willing to give the US the benefit of the doubt - have found an anonymous source.

This unnamed source says he is angry at the US for not providing him with anti-aircraft missiles.

Then he says that the US moved him around Turkey and Qatar and Syria and trained him to commit war crimes - that seems like an expensive proposition, since I'm sure that he already knows how to shoot a wounded enemy.

This is extremely weak tea - especially when our anonymous source tells Frontline that he does not have any evidence of any of this, and can only show them Russian weapons which he claims were given to him by the US.

On this basis I am expected to sit back and watch idiots badmouth America on FR?

Please. Too much Obama has rotted people's brains.

We are teaching war crimes..

It's only a war crime if the other side wins. Picture this:

Obama has turned loose all the armed alphabet agencies (his civilian defense force as strong and well funded as the U.S. military) on any identifiable conservatives (the resistance) and you've just had a successful ambush, molotoved their MRAP and dispatched most of their number. There are several wounded enemy troops. You can't take them with you and you don't want them able to heal up and rejoin the fight. What do you do?

Correct. That’s exactly how someone who understands the Western way of warfare thinks.

Corrected. But it's not the Western way of war that they are being taught, it is the Anti-Western way. Wounded soldiers don't get air time on CBS/NBC/ABC. Dead soldiers do. Dead soldiers don't come back on the battle field.

In a short war, having lots of wounded soldiers on the other side helps. Not so much in a long war when modern medicine gets them back on the battlefield.

Guerilla wars are wars of attrition, dead is what counts.

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