suspected militants killed

[pinkpops]

Why do they say "US troops killed 14 'suspected militants'"???
Why don't they just say 14 non-Americans or whatever. Or 14 rats?
Is it ok to kill someone you think is a "militant". Is being a militant against the law?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Well there are legal reasons

and why when they started using the word Rebel it had me wondering if the rebels had been recognized as a legal combatant

Militant is neutral

terrorist is very specific as well as pirate

[LibertyorDeath]

2. suspected militants.................. translation

We are killing innocent Iraqi civilians out of sheer frustration and
anger.

Killing is our business and business is good.

[xchrom]

3. it's vague

and they do that on purpose -- keeps the target moving.
one thing i've noticed is the desgnations change over time.
that way the public can't really think of them as people.

[mike_c]

4. they're dead, they were killed by American soldiers...

...ergo they're "suspected militants." What did you think, the Pentagon was going to say "today we shot the hell out of 40 known innocents-- shit fire we rock-and-rolled all over those folks-- too friggin' bad for them! Damn that felt good!" Nope, they were "suspected militants." Don't you feel safer already?