Quote:
Originally posted by Trooth
I would not want one coalition soldier to think twice about protecting themselves, nor their comrades in a choice between themselves and OBL. That is not my point. My point is not that he should be captured alive. My point is that should he be captured alive he should be tried, in public, with all the rights that he can be accorded. No show trials, no military tribunals. A proper trial. Let the world hear the man speak. Let the world hear his views. He will be convicted, not just by evidence, but by his own "teachings". Much as Saddam's image in the Arab world is lessened by the fact that he is alive, OBL's and Saddam's would be reduced to nothing by having to answer of their crimes.
If OBL wants to start waving the dangerous end of an AK at a collection of well armed squaddies i would want them to gun him down as quickly as possible to protect themselves. If Saddam had been blown all over his spiderhole by a standard issue grenade i would not have lost a moments sleep for the man. If a US soldier had died trying to capture him alive i would have.
I was, perhaps misguidedly, under the impression that the military were tools of the polticians. Therefore if OBL were to be captured military thinking is somewhat irrelevant to what the politicians want.
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We have a major disconnect here. There are rules governing how a military can behave, even during combat. There are also rules dictating how a military can and cannot be used, even by the President of the United States or the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
If OBL is captured, he is handed to the rear echelon who then must go through procedure for processing him. If OBL is determined to be a EPW, then he is headed off to a PoW camp. If he is not, then he is handed over to law enforcement agencies to which is no longer our problem.
If he is an EPW, then OBL is subject to War Crimes as well as Crimes Against Humanity to which a death sentence can be applied. Under the Articles of the Geneva Conventions, only the Detaining Power military or an authorized civilian judical authoriy, the EPW and his legal representatives who may be a fellow EPW or an appointed defence councel, and a representative from a Protecting Power (example Red Cross/Red Crecent) may attend the proceedings.
No one, not even the President of the United States nor the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom can change those rules.