Libya intends to try two Russian citizens for serving as mercenaries for deceased dictator Moamar Kaddafi and working to shoot down NATO aircraft. The two men came to Libya last year, two months before the Kaddafi government was overthrown. The two Russians face the death penalty.
Twenty Ukrainians and 3 Belarussians might be sent back to their homelands rather than face execution.
The Libyans seem to want to kill the Russians as payback for Russian support of Khadaffi rather than for violating laws of war. If all the Russian mercenaries did was man anti-aircraft weapons, how is that a violation of any laws of war?
The UN is thinking about regulating private military outfits. Somebody should regularize them since, as I've written in this e-book--private military forces are a growing part of our world that won't go away any time soon.
Never forget that when four military contractors we hired were killed and strung up on a bridge in Fallujah, Iraq, in early 2004, many on the left here damned them as mere mercenaries and said they got what they deserved.
Unless we provide protections for those who fight clean, we give any mercenary the incentive to win at all costs to make sure their employer wins and can protect them. What kind of perverse incentive is that?
