Free Republic

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2006 – Assessments from Helmand Province, Afghanistan, do not conclude that non-combatants were killed as a result of operations against extremists on July 12, according to coalition officials. Extremists likely fabricated reports of civilian deaths as a propaganda ploy to discredit coalition forces and the government of Afghanistan, officials said today. "We take great care to prevent and minimize any damage to property or injury to law-abiding citizens," said Col. Tom Collins, a coalition spokesman for Combined Forces Command Afghanistan. "We will continue in our operations to defeat those who attempt to impose their will upon the...

On November 8, 2004, a U.S. federal judge ruled that the Bush administration had improperly ignored the Geneva Conventions in establishing military commissions to try detainees at the Guantánamo Bay U.S. naval base as war criminals. Ted Lapkin's timely article delves into the complexities of the Geneva Conventions, and how much they should apply to the war on terrorism. —The Editors. From Manhattan to Mindanao, Islamist zealots draw no distinction between combatants and non-combatants. Jihadists target women, children, and the elderly without even the pretence of discrimination. In June 2004, an Al-Qaeda affiliated group distributed a video proudly documenting...