Amnesty Int'l

I've always been under the impression that Amnesty International was an anti-American bunch of kooks, so I was pretty happy when they decided to just come right out and confirm it for everyone. When I was reading Reuters' efforts to legitimize AI's nonsensical claims I found one line that I particularily liked. The perfect non-sequitor used to slander our nation.

President Bush dismissed as "absurd" the Amnesty report, which also said the United States was responsible for an upsurge in global human rights violations, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the description "reprehensible."

"The administration's response has been that our report is absurd, that our allegations have no basis, and our answer is very simple: if that is so, open up these detention centers, allow us and others to visit them," Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Zubaida Khan told a news conference.

"Transparency is the best antidote to misinformation and incorrect facts," said Khan, who is here to meet with Japanese officials.

The United States holds about 520 men at Guantanamo, where they are denied rights accorded under international law to prisoners of war. (emphasis mine)

The United States holds about 520 men at Guantanamo, where they are also being denied rights accorded under international law to fishing boat captains.

In order to explain AGAIN why these shitheads we have at Gitmo are not prisoners of war I turn to a really long, but worth the time it takes to read, piece at Eject! Eject! Eject!

Let’s speak to the Perennially Outraged as if they were the fully grown, post-pubescent children they pride themselves on being.

What is the obvious difference between an enemy Prisoner of War, and an Unlawful Combatant? Suppose two of them were standing in a line-up. What one glaringly obvious thing sets them apart?

That’s right! One is wearing a uniform, and the other isn’t.

And why do soldiers wear uniforms?

It certainly is not to protect the soldier. As a matter of fact, a soldier’s uniform is actually a big flashing neon arrow pointing to some kid that says to the enemy, SHOOT ME!

And that’s exactly what a uniform is for. It makes the soldier into a target to be killed.

Now if that’s all there was to it, you might say that the whole uniform thing is not such a groovy idea. BUT! What a uniform also does -- the corollary to the whole idea of a uniformed person – is to say that if the individual wearing a uniform is a legitimate target, then the person standing next to him in civilian clothes is not.

By wearing uniforms, soldiers differentiate themselves to the enemy. They assume additional risk in order to protect the civilian population. In other words, by identifying themselves as targets with their uniforms, the fighters provide a Sanctuary to the unarmed civilian population.

Anyone who wants to treat illegal combatants as POWs wants to reward people who committed war crimes by intentionally putting civilians at greater risk by not differentiating themselves from civilians. To honor this filth with the respect that we give to SOLDIERS taken prisoner would be an insult to anyone who ever wore a uniform.