re: #682 ausador

Yeah right because before that bullshit was passed enemy combatants caught out of uniform were classed as spies and could be summarily executed. They still can be, that rule has not changed, it is perfectly legal to put a gun to the back of their head and shoot them, or to hang them…

But you have never been allowed to torture them first, we hung Germans and Japanese for doing exactly that, but now because we have “high ideals and good intentions” it is ok if we do it too?

So, all you have to do is make up a new word like “unlawful combatant” and then you can write your own rules on how to treat them that include torture? Sorry but I call bullshit Bagua, it isn’t like this is the first time we have ever fought a war against an enemy that didn’t wear uniforms and hid amongst the population either, (see Vietnam).

I don’t think it is as simple as “making up a new word”. For legal issues we need a frame of reference, the current one includes the fourth Geneva Convention, the ICRC and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. What other legal conventions should we consider? Do we just go with how we feel at the time? We are a society of laws and are dealing with a changing world.