The Patriot
Today as I drove to work I was thinking about the movie, “The Patriot”, with Mel Gibson. In particular I was thinking of the scene where he goes to free his men who have been captured. He rides into Cornwallis’ camp under a white flag to offer a trade - his men, for the British men he has captured. While the negotiating is occurring, the man who killed Mel’s son walks in and almost kills Mel himself. He is stopped by Cornwallis because Mel rode in under a white flag to trade. The rules of war dictate that he is protected. The trade is made, and it is quickly discovered that the captured Bristish soldiers were really just scarecrows. Outraged, Cornwallis orders Mel to be killed or captured. Mel, of course, escapes. So why am I sharing this? It’s because I couldn’t help but think about the war in Iraq. Except this time we are the Brits. Here’s what I mean: We are so tied to the rules of war, proper conduct and the Geneva Convention that we can no longer fight on the level of the terrorists. The American Revolution began to change the rules of warfare - no longer were officers protected, no longer were they assured that they wouldn’t be ambushed or tricked. In order to win aganist a larger army the colonists had to fight smarter. The Viet Cong learned this in the Vietnam War - they participated in guerrilla warfare, we tried (and failed) to fight back within the normal rules of war. The same thing is happening today. We must fight smarter.
Now, I am in no way advocating that we start using suicide bombers or placing weaponry in the middle of civilian areas. While there is some intelligence to those methods, there are certain things that are inhumane and just plain wrong. I am saying, however, that we need to come up with a strategy where we level the playing field. Deciding not to fire on a group of Taliban because they’re meeting in a cemetary (which is not against any rules of war) is ridiculous. It’s not like there’s going to be any collateral damage to worry about, everyone else who is there is already dead. Unfortunately, I am not a war strategist and do not have any great answers to this problem, but I believe that it is something that needs to be addressed and it doesn’t seem to be.
Oh, and about the whole torture thing, let’s not forget which side is cutting off people’s heads and willing and wanting to kill millions of innocent people (mainly Americans). Oh, and they don’t care if you’re against the war - they want you dead too. It’s worth a little a discomfort to protect our country. And let’s not forget that the terrorist who gave up the information about the London plane bombings was not interrogated by the US (thank goodness or who knows what would have happened) and I can guarantee that they did a little more than putting them in a cold room with loud rock music playing). Was it worth all of those lives? You make the call.