What is an Enemy Combatant?

[blogslut]

In 1942, the Supreme Court define as thus:

Unlawful combatants are likewise subject to capture and detention, but in addition they are subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals for acts which render their belligerency unlawful. The spy who secretly and without uniform passes the military lines of a belligerent in time of war, seeking to gather military information and communicate it to the enemy, or an enemy combatant who without uniform comes secretly through the lines for the purpose of waging war by destruction of life or property, are familiar examples of belligerents who are generally deemed not to be entitled to the status of prisoners of war, but to be offenders against the law of war subject to trial and punishment by military tribunals.

Now, as we all know, every law is a double edge sword.

How will our supposed enemies define the enemy combatant?

What about those private contractors that PBS' Frontline referred to as:

"...servicing U.S. military supply lines, running U.S. military bases, and protecting U.S. diplomats and generals."

As the Frontline program details:

"..."Private Warriors" also explores a very different kind of contractor -- the private world of security teams that work for firms like Blackwater, Aegis, and Erinys. They provide armed protection for U.S. government officials, government offices, military installations and even military commanders"

How will our enemies categorize these American men and women? Will they be capture and tortured? Will they be protected by the Geneva conventions?

***Link to Frontline story: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/warriors/view/

[SteppingRazor]

1. Just to play devil's advocate...

those security types wear uniforms with distinguishing insignia -- one of the key traits to be treated as a prisoner of war, per the Geneva Conventions

[blogslut]

4. ahhh, true

But will our enemies see it that way? They are civilian uniforms.

[grizmaster]

2. As of the day this passes they can consider me an "enemy combatant"

because I won't rest until Our Constitution and habeus corpus are restored, and torture in our names is ended.

[grizmaster]

3. dupe

got an error message first time

[EnfantTerrible]

5. After today

it's any one of us.

[yourout]

6. According to Bushco....

it's anyone who is not at least two of the following.....Rich, White, Repubican, Christian.

[sui generis]

7. basically anyone who has invaded your country

- if china invaded would our yahoos care much who was wearing a uniform and who claimed to be rebuilding infrastructure? They're all invaders when you're an insurgent.

[SteppingRazor]

8. Our "yahoos"?

Hell, if _anyone_ invaded our country, I wouldn't give a damn about uniforms either.

[sui generis]

9. I guess that would depend

if things got bad enough and the EU invaded I'd probably hold the door open, as of today.

I am so disappointed that the natural evolution of democracy appears to be plutocratic dictatorship and religious oligarchy.

I agree with you to a point. I wouldn't strap a bomb to my ass and wander into a relief worker's tent, and it is extremely doubtful I could bring myself to shoot someone who was unarmed or apparently a civilian, no matter what kind of advantage I thought it would confer.

It would be a very sad day for us. And it's a very sad day for others, every day, for real. I have no idea on what besides pure hubris we can make any claim to moral authority.

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. When we fought the British during the revolution.............

how many of our soldiers wore a uniform of any kind. In actuality, quite a few of our colonial soldiers caught, either by surrender or just trapped, were given no quarter, primarily by the Hessians. Many were bayoneted on the spot. What is interesting is that Gen. Washington insisted that british and Hessian soldiers we captured were treated with respect and not ill treated. A lot of our soldiers wanted to treat the prisoners in kind so they were not very pleased. Washington wanted to show that we were a civilized and humane people (enlightened) and also believed that many of the prisoners would warm to our cause if treated well. A nation ruled by free men.

[blogslut]

11. What would Washington think

were he able. Sadness