:: Event Horizon ::

:: Friday, March 28, 2003 ::

British: Iraqis Fire on Basra Residents
How odd it is to find that allied forces care more about the welfare of Iraqi civilians than the Iraqi forces do. So, why, in most of the rest of the world, are the allies depicted as heartless killers of civilians?

:: Joel 1:22 PM [+] ::
...

U.S. General Accuses Iraq of Killing POWs
That there should be rules for war seems like a bit of contradiction in terms, as war is most often seen as chaotic. But there are indeed rules, time tested and valued for one single reason: the rules of war were created to spare innocent life. Civilized nations abide by the rules of war to allow a clear distinction between civilians and combatants, but what happens if you are fighting an enemy that is not civilized? Iraq has desecrated the internationally known and respected “white flag of surrender,” by allowing troops to surrender and then later pick up arms to attack. How can allied forces accept the surrender of Iraqi forces under such conditions? In a noble gesture to civilized norms, allied troops had been in the habit of accepting the surrender of Iraqi forces, confiscating their weapons, and then sending them back to their villages and homes. It is difficult to see how this practice, meant to underscore the role of allied forces as liberators rather than conquerors, can continue in the face of Iraqi duplicity. And what of the Iraqi practice of dressing their forces as civilians? They don’t even have the decency to wear uniforms. Worse, when they do have them, they cover their uniforms in bedouin robes, making it all that more difficult for allied forces to distinguish between soldiers and civilians. Coalition correspondents are now reporting the Iraq is using women and children as human shields as their troops open fire on allied positions, as well as conscripting civilian males and threatening their children if they do not fight for Saddam.

Allied forces have tried to spare innocent civilian lives by using precision guided weapons to target military installations, they have tried to maintain critical infrastructure (water and electricity in Baghdad, for example, have not been cut off), they have tried to treat captured prisoners humanely according to the Geneva Conventions, even as allied POWs held by Iraq are executed and tortured. The allies have tried to pursue a “friendly liberators” strategy that is being turned into a strategic disadvantage by an enemy that fights without honor. At some point, war planners are going to have to take a hard look at these self-imposed restrains. Where does the moral responsibility lie to protect civilian lives if the enemy makes it impossible to distinguish between civilians and combatants? Is it better to wage a long and protracted war pursuing a “friendly liberators” strategy that places a high value on avoiding collateral damage or to wage a short but merciless war that achieves a decisive victory?

:: Joel 3:33 PM [+] ::
...

The Command Post
This is an excellent resource for news on the war. They started out as a humble group blog hosted on Blogger and now have moved up to their own domain, same great service though. The idea is simple enough, bloggers post the breaking news of the war, citing their sources and linking back to the professional news organization. It is a realtime record of breaking news and a must read for war bloggers.

:: Joel 2:50 PM [+] ::
...

Columbia Univ. Faces Suit Over Biosphere
I toured this facility when it was the original biosphere and was impressed with the effort. I always thought it was a shame that it did not attract more R&D capital from industry or from NASA. If we ever seriously plan to colonize the moon or Mars we will need much more advanced closed system engineering than we have now.

:: Joel 1:24 PM [+] ::
...

I'd Like To Diss the Academy
I am boycotting the Academy Awards. On a day when there are Americans being held as prisoners of war in Iraq, I could not stomach the self-satisfied limousine liberals of Hollywood spouting their peace platitudes. I really hope this clash of culture between Hollywood's Saddam sympathizers and the rest of the country will hit Hollywood right in their box office pocketbook. I will not patronize any movie featuring actors, actresses, stars or starlets, who support Saddam, bash Bush, or support appeasement of dictators.

:: Joel 8:04 PM [+] ::
...

I was a naive fool to be a human shield for Saddam
More reality shocks for antiwar types who actually talk with real Iraqis and find out that Saddam is a tyrant and his people look forward to being liberated from his oppressive rule.

:: Joel 2:25 PM [+] ::
...

The Geneva Conventions
A very good HTML version of the Geneva Conventions, including keyword searches, is available on the International Committee of the Red Cross website. The treatment of POWs is covered under the 3rd Convention, dated 12 August 1949.

AP: Arab TV Shows Captured American Soldiers

:: Joel 12:08 PM [+] ::
...