"The mediators asked us to save the lives of four alleged terrorists wanted by the Americans who were wounded in combat," Scelli was quoted as saying. "We hid them and brought them to Red Cross doctors, who operated on them."
They took the wounded insurgents to a Baghdad hospital in a jeep and an ambulance, smuggling them through two U.S. checkpoints under blankets and boxes of medicines, Scelli said.
The Italian Red Cross just condemned Red Cross employees and volunteers to work in the crosshairs of the enemy. And of our forces, too, for that matter.
Think of what the Red Cross did. They used the Red Cross symbol to carry unlawful combatants through US checkpoints where American soldiers schooled in international law let the symbol of neutrality through. Now American soldiers know that the Red Cross symbol can hide wounded enemy terrorists. Why would they be wrong to wonder if an ambulance carried live terrorists? Or bombs? Or weapons? Keep that in mind when an incident happens and a Red Cross vehicle is fired on by our side. Keep this in mind if the Red Cross complains that we search them thoroughly and delay their work.
And consider what it tells our enemy. Now they know for sure that the Red Cross isn't really neutral. If the Red Cross will do this for us,they will reason, what are they doing for the Americans or Iraqi government? So the enemy will feel free to use ambulances secure in the knowledge that we do it too. The enemy will shoot at Red Cross vehicles and employees, knowing the Red Cross is no neutral force.
The Red Cross is now just a symbol of another group that takes sides in conflicts and which may work for you or against you. Red Cross workers will die because of this short-sighted move.
The Red Cross is an aim point now, conveniently painted on hostile vehicles.
