Jim,
Yes, it was a terrible crime for those Iraqi prisoners to have been humiliated and dehumanized just to get some information which might save lives. It was probably a violation of the Geneva Convention (but wait, does that apply to insurrections when you have occupied the country, or only to nation-state combatants? I actually think Iraqi law should apply, but that would still be the Code of Hamurrabi as amended by Saddam Hussein, until we get the new one in place), definitely a violation of the NCAA recruiting rules, most of what Amy Post and Abigail Van Buren have written, and would never be allowed in any locker rooms administered by the YMCA.
However, in the case of Nick Berg, you have a vivid view of exactly what we are up against. This is a street fight, and the other guy has graduatated from using rocks to knives, and our troops are waiting to hear if they have to continue to use kid gloves, just like in all those great 1940s and 1950s movies. Ah, if only Burt Lancaster and John Wayne were still alive . . .
Kb |
