The people who killed Margaret Hassan should hang. The people who beheaded truck drivers and engineers should hang. The people who executed captured policemen should hang. Insurgents who used tactics such as false white flags and phony surrenders shoud be shot out of hand when cornered -- you get one chance at surrender -- and if they were captured by some fluke, hang them too.
This is not because I like executions. It is not becuase I am blood-thirsty. No. Not at all. It is becuase the longer we go on pretending that we are not at war to the death in Iraq, scuffing over the atrocities committed by our foes -- playing by the rules they ignore and not holding them accountable when we can -- the longer we will face them, and the greater their numbers will grow. It is not decisive action that attracts people to their cause -- it is its lack. We've tried good cop for over a year. It's time for bad cop.
So, for the al Qaedas who behead hostages, for the Saddamites who kill civillians at whim, for guerillas who blow up school buses and policemen -- all of which are forbidden by the Geneva Convention and capital crimes by the Articles of War -- for them a quick trial and a quick hanging, and may Allah have mercy on their souls.
The next week will tell us whether the resolve at Fallouja signals a new policy in Iraq, or if the old policy of arrest and containment will return as the norm. As President Bush said last September:
We cannot show weakness in this world today, because the enemy will exploit that weakness. It will embolden them and make the world a more dangerous place.Posted by Kevin Murphy at November 16, 2004 02:31 PM | TrackBack