I'm listening to US officials condemning the tactics of enemy forces in southern Iraq and I'm wondering if they really expected these guys to stand up for a "fair" fight. All day they've been throwing around the Rules of War (along with some pretty creative interpretations of the Geneva Conventions) as if this war were some kind of basketball game. Torie Clarke even compared the Iraqi resistance to terrorism.
Obviously these kinds of tactics - dressing as civilians, or pretending to surrender - have awful consequences for future encounters, and will probably cost Iraqi civilian lives in teh long run. But terrorism? I can't really imagine Iraqi soldiers fighting a pitched battle against American forces - but maybe that's what US officials mean by a fair fight? Sounds more like a slaughter to me.
By the way, let's not forget who started this war. How do you suppose Americans would react to an attack on the US homeland? I'm guessing we'd find the bastards responsible, lock them up at an offshore military installation, and feel totally justified in taking away their civil rights.
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