Killing POWs is a War Crime

“…During the Ford administration, as the youngest defense secretary in US history, he [Rumsfeld] buried the incriminating files of the Tiger Force that was responsible for dozens of ‘My Lai’ style atrocities in Vietnam…”

“Stories are emerging of a POW “prison riot” in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of almost every single inmate. We may never know why so many were slaughtered. But the details are certainly worthy of an investigation. The scene of the carnage was the Qalai Janghi prison complex, a fort near the northern Afghan City of Mazar-I-Sharif. According to the BBC the riot was “brought under control” with US air strikes.

“None other than Rashid Dostum, a warlord commanding a faction of the Northern Alliance, called in the airstrikes. Dostum has a history that is vulgar even by the standards of Afghan warlords. A week earlier, in Mazar-I-Sharif, there was another scene of mass slaughter after the city surrendered to Dostum. “The word is apparently out that Rumsfeld is indifferent to the fate of any POWs, especially if they appear to include non-Afghans. While this might be satisfactory for Americans who want to see some old fashioned “vigilante justice,” it is a dangerous road to travel for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is that it is a violation of international law to kill a POW after he lays down his arms. Even in Afghanistan. If the various Afghan factions have been jaded by 23 years of war into ignoring some very basic norms of international behavior, it should be made clear to our elected officials that the US is not in Afghanistan to demonstrate that we can behave just like a vengeful Afghan tribe.” — via Middle East Times : War crimes flashback

Apparently, Rumsfeld believes he is and, in fact appears to be, above the law. It seems we’ve tread on this ground before… over and over again.