Saturday, July 22, 2006

Not what they meant by "winning hearts and minds."


I'm fairly sure this violates something in the Geneva Conventions:

Four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering suspected insurgents during a raid in Iraq said they were under orders to "kill all military age males," according to sworn statements obtained by The Associated Press.

The soldiers first took some of the men into custody because they were using two women and a toddler as human shields. They shot three of the men after the women and child were safe and say the men attacked them.

"The ROE (rule of engagement) was to kill all military age males on Objective Murray," Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard told investigators, referring to the target by its code name.

I'm guessing that's why they called it "Objective Murray." Calling it "Objective Kill All Military Age Males" might have aroused a few suspicions.

1 comment:

catnip said...

This is nothing new, unfortunately.

And:
The indiscriminate use of artillery is a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions, which state (Part IV, Article 48):combatants “shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants, between civilian objects and military objectives and, accordingly, shall direct their operations only against military objectives.”