A couple weeks ago, I wrote:
On the battlefield, our enemies seem somewhat immune to losing. So logically, we have to kill all of them rather than just 60%, assuming the remainder will go home. Corpses may not be capable of getting discouraged, but they do tend to just lay there rather unthreatening.
This need to kill runs counter to the technological focus of network-centric warfare that holds we can precisely disable our enemies and stun them into defeat. You know the drill. Shock. Awe. Getting inside their decision-making loops.
But the fact is, against fanatics, clean warfare isn't possible. They don't believe they are defeated even when their fellow jihadis drop all around them.
So we can grant no quarter. Our Supreme Court may keep trying to limit our ability to hold those jihadis we capture, but we are under no obligation to accept the surrender of unlawful combatants.
We can still kill our enemies, can't we?
Robert M. emailed the following article:
Conferring unprecedented legal status upon these murderous transnational outlaws is unnecessary, unwise and ultimately suicidal. It exalts monsters. And it provides the anti-American pack with living vermin to anoint as victims, if not heroes.
Isn't it time we gave our critics what they're asking for? Let's solve the "unjust" imprisonment problem, once and for all. No more Guantanamos! Every terrorist mission should be a suicide mission. With our help.
We need to clarify the rules of conflict. But integrity and courage have fled Washington. Nobody will state bluntly that we're in a fight for our lives, that war is hell, and that we must do what it takes to win.
Our enemies will remind us of what's necessary, though. When we've been punished horribly enough, we'll come to our senses and do what must be done.
This isn't an argument for a murderous rampage, but its opposite. We must kill our enemies with discrimination. But we do need to kill them. A corpse is a corpse: The media's rage dissipates with the stench. But an imprisoned terrorist is a strategic liability.
We need rules of engagement that let our troops kill the enemy. Any jihadi we fail to kill this year is just another jihadi we will have to kill next year.
As Peters notes, most of the enemy won't have information we need to get to stop future attacks. So if our enemies want to wage war in court rooms over every damn detail of confinement, just kill them all.
Let Allah sort them out.
