Two questions:

1) Do the Geneve Conventions protect terrorists? This is a question of fact.

2) Should the Geneva Conventions protect terrorists? This is a question of opinion.

I'll let Ace answer the latter first:

There are many reasons to object to extending Geneva Convention protections with full force to those, like Islamicists, who delight in cruelty and inhumanity. But one reason is psychological in nature, and nevertheless worth considering.

We cannot agree with the Islamists that we are subhuman and only they are entitled to honorable and humane treatement. We must insist, particularly with these racist thugs who consider those who do not share in their creed to be animals, that honor is based on reciprocal conduct and by compact.

We cannot agree that their status as fervent Islamists makes them our superiors and creates obligations towards them that they do not extend in return towards us.

For, if we do, are we not confirming their racist beliefs? Are we not telling them that we are, just as they believe, inferior to them by God's decree, and as such, fit only for slaughter or subjugation?

So, the answer to #2 is no, terrorist [my word] ought not be covered by the Geneva Conventions. But are they covered? This is a question of fact.

The Conventions apply to all prisoners of war. Should we consider Islamist insurgents prisoners of war? Let's see if they meet the conditions of a prisoner of war according to Article 4:2 of the Conventions:

(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance...

(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.

Posted by: Rusty at 07:02 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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The Pulitzer is a joke. Always has been. It's the journalism equivalent of the Academy Award. No, worse. It's the journalism equivalent of the Daytime Emmys.

Like the Oscar or the Emmy, it is simply an in-house award. The Oscar & Emmy represent what Hollywood think, not what America thinks. Or did you actually believe most Americans are impressed with gay cowboys as art?

The Pulitzer represents what the media thinks about itself. It's a pat on the back to reporters who report what other reporters want to hear.

It is masturbation. No, it's a circle jerk. Nothing more, nothing less.

So, why is it that Dana Priest got a Pulitzer for doing nothing more than report what had been reported before? Previous reports had not seemed to hurt the Republican administration, her's did.

Can the Pulitzer committee be so crass as to use a political calculus for determining worthy recipients? You. Bet. Your. Ass.

This is the Pulitzer committee. These are who they give the Pulitzer to: Pulitzer Prize Given to Terrorists

Color me unsurprised.

Posted by: Rusty at 01:02 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Last December we debunked a terrorist produced video claiming to show that al Qaeda controlled the streets of Ramadi. Today, Bill Rogio debunks another 'major' offensive in Ramadi over the weekend.

It's interesting how a 'major' offensive can be carried out by the exact number of terrorists that can fit into a Toyota Corolla. It's also interesting to note the similarities between the video produced by a CNN 'stringer' (linked by Bill) and the video I have produced by a 'stringer' for the Islamic Media Center from which the image shown below was captured.

For your enjoyment, here is an image from our earlier debunking:

Thanks to Michelle for the link to my post and for bringing Bill's discovery to my attention. I didn't think I was going to have time to post anything else today-- and I really dont-- but I couldn't resist.

Posted by: Rusty at 05:18 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Remember our good friend Bilal Hussein? He's an Iraq stringer who works for the AP and who's up-close and personal photos of terrorists in Iraq helped to gain that organization last year's Pulitzer. Well, he's back in the news. This time as part of an expose of how photos are staged, faked, & doctored by pro-terrorist stringers employed by the AP, AFP, Reuters, and Getty Images.

On one forum that I frequently visit, some of these doctored photos discussed in the article have been used to justify killing American soldiers in Iraq. In all cases they are used by Islamic extremists to justify their hatred of America and recruit new jihadis. Thus, the images used by the AP & other organizations--which are often staged and sometimes fake-- lead directly to the deaths of American troops and will eventually help justify the next act of terrorism against American civilians.

Via James Joyner here are some of the highlights of the National Journal article:

Thanks to digital technology, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the most photographed in history. Photographers with digital cameras have provided, almost instantaneously, an enormous flood of accurate, dramatic, and even shocking images to people around the world. But the daily downloads of news photos include some that are staged, fake, or so lacking in context as to be meaningless, despite the Western media's best efforts to separate the factual from the fictional....

The photo editors for Time and The New York Times' Web site declined to comment. Other publications printed images of damage from the missile strike that seem entirely accurate. For example, Newsweek and The Washington Times published wide-angle photos of locals standing beside houses that had obviously been severely damaged. The New York Times print edition published the same wide-angle photo on January 18.....

The problem sharpens when no Western reporter is on the scene, but a photographer, usually an Iraqi stringer, is. Photo editors, or even local Western bureau chiefs, have trouble judging the veracity of the images that come from such an event. Last October, for example, The Washington Post printed a striking image of four caskets, purportedly containing dead women and children, and a line of mourning men on a flat desert plain outside the town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The photo, provided by the Associated Press, accompanied an article that began this way:

Posted by: Rusty at 04:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I'll admit it, I'm a Dan Simmons fan. Both Hyperion & Return to Hyperion deal with the time paradox problem & I loved both books. Incidentally, one of the major heroes of the Hyperion series is a Muslim.

On that note, what if some one was to come back from the near future and warn you about the coming War with Islam, Eurabia, & a future global caliphate? And what if it was your society's own damn fault that they are enslaved in the future because they were so self-critical and unwilling to engage in the ruthlessness needed to win a war?

A brief conversation between Dan Simmons and a traveller from the future---read the whole thing:

I tried to relax. “What do you want to talk about?” I said.

“The Century War,” said the Time Traveler.

I blinked and tried to remember some history. “You mean the Hundred Year War? Fifteenth Century? Fourteenth? Sometime around there. Between . . . France and England? Henry V? Kenneth Branagh? Or was it . . .”

“I mean the Century War with Islam,” interrupted the Time Traveler. “Your future. Everyone’s.” He was no longer smiling. Without asking, or offering to pour me any, he stood, refilled his Scotch glass, and sat again. He said, “It was important to me to come back to this time early on in the struggle. Even if only to remind myself of how unspeakably blind you all were.”

“You mean the War on Terrorism,” I said.

“I mean the Long War with Islam,” he said. “The Century War. And it’s not over yet where I come from. Not close to being over.”

“You can’t have a war with Islam,” I said. “You can’t go to war against a religion. Radical Islam, maybe. Jihadism. Some extremists. But not a . . . the . . . religion itself. The vast majority of Muslims in the world are peaceloving people who wish us no harm. I mean . . . I mean . . . the very word ‘Islam’ means ‘Peace.’”

“So you kept telling yourselves,” said the Time Traveler. His voice was very low but there was a strange and almost frightening edge to it. “But the ‘peace’ in ‘Islam’ means ‘Submission.’ You’ll find that out soon enough”

Great, I was thinking. Of all the time travelers in all the gin joints in all the world, I get this racist, xenophobic, right-wing asshole.

“After Nine-eleven, we’re fighting terrorism,” I began, “not . . .”

He waved me into silence.....[snip]

Posted by: Rusty at 02:55 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
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