Free Republic

Outlining the history and particulars of the rules of war.

REPORTER: "You seem to give the Israelis more of a benefit of the doubt than your own president...civilian casualties are mounting..." KIRBY: "They have published online maps of places where people can go or not go. That's basically telegraphing your punches! There's very few modern militaries in the world that would do that! I don't know that WE would do that!" Twitter link

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said that “the idea of innocent civilians being killed was such, at times, abandoned, and not following the tenants of armed conflict doesn’t help Israel in the long term,” and that we need a humanitarian pause so “we can show Israel’s ability to defend itself within the rules of war.” Warner said that a humanitarian pause is in Israel’s interest “to make sure that we can show Israel’s ability to defend itself within the rules of war.”

Five years ago, a particularly gruesome image made its way to our television screens from the war in Iraq. Four U.S. civilian contractors working in Fallujah were ambushed and killed by al Qaeda. Their bodies were burned, then dragged through the streets. Two of the charred bodies were hung from the Euphrates Bridge and left dangling. This barbaric act left an impression that our military did not forget: In a special operation earlier this year, Navy SEALs captured the mastermind of that attack, Ahmed Hashim Abed. But after he was taken into custody in September, Abed claimed he was punched...

War is a game to our politicians now. War used to be something that happened only when we are given no choice. Our leaders pulled together, our country pulled together, and we put all our might in defeating the enemy. When forced to fight, we pulled no punches. Our generals ran the war and told the country what it needed to win. We bombed the enemy, we shot the enemy, and we made sure the enemy suffered as much as possible. Much to my disgust, war now has a series of ‘rules’ designed to hamper our troops and make us...

What other country, when attacked in an unprovoked aggression across a recognized international frontier, is then put on a countdown clock by the world, given a limited time window in which to fight back, regardless of whether it has restored its own security? What other country sustains 1,500 indiscriminate rocket attacks into its cities -- every one designed to kill, maim and terrorize civilians -- and is then vilified by the world when it tries to destroy the enemy's infrastructure.... http://peace-and-freedom.blogspot.com/

"Disproportionate" response? The misuse of civilians as shields and swords requires a reassessment of the rules of war. There is no democracy in the world that should tolerate missiles being fired at its cities without taking every reasonable step to stop the attacks. The big question raised by Israel's military actions in Lebanon is what is "reasonable." The answer, according to the laws of war, is that it is reasonable to attack military targets, so long as every effort is made to reduce civilian casualties. If the objectives cannot be achieved without some civilian casualties, these must be "proportional" to...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21, 2005 – One child was killed and another was injured when terrorists used them as human shields during coalition forces raids of three terrorist safe houses Sept. 20 in Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, officials in Baghdad reported today. Based on tips from concerned citizens and multiple intelligence sources, coalition forces raided two suspected safe houses to capture known terrorists operating in Mosul. The terrorists were believed to have senior al Qaeda connections in the city and northern Iraq, officials said. When coalition forces entered the first terrorist safe house, three terrorists attacked with small-arms fire. Coalition...