Wil's Rant

I read an good article in the Star Tribune on the ethics of war in Iraq as it currently stands. They make you go through one of those registration things to read it however, a pain in the ass if you ask me. The article is worth the effort though so you might give it a read. The piece deals with several issues that I have discussed hear before. One of them is the fact that the war is considered illegal by the U.N. and by most legal experts outside the U.S. Another issue is the incredible number of civilian deaths there and the fact that this is so systematic that it can be considered the result of policy rather than fortunes of war or accident. The killing of the wounded soldier in the mosque is also mentioned. All the world was horrified by these images but the article points out that this is a very common practice in the marines and should not come as any great surprise. My question would be what where the conditions surrounding this action? There are many times in combat where you don't have the luxury of taking prisoners. At such a time leaving them behind alive would threaten the safety of your men. Under such circumstances you might have no choice but to finish the job, so to speak. This is especially true of special operations groups and recon forces. They simply do not have the time and manpower to take prisoners or treat wounded enemy soldiers. So judging a soldier who has taken this actions really comes down to whether the situation he was in afforded the possibility of taking the injured prisoner into custody? If not, then he really had no choice. I am much more concerned with the welfare of all the women and children who were not attacking and who have been killed due to the American's liberating them. The author also deal with the little problem of trying to criticize the government or the military in the U.S. these days as being viewed as unpatriotic or outright the actions of the enemy as Ann Coulter so intelligently put it. In any case, I found it to be a good piece much worthy of a read.