Oxford Laws of War on Land Convention Quotes

In the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars the U. S. government was much criticized for not treating captured Taliban and others as prisoners war. This Article is their main justification. The Taliban and Al Quida did not meet most of the criteria and therefore the convention did not apply to them.

In the 2004 Iraq war, some accused the United States and Britain of failing to perform this obligation. However, in those instances where they did, others claimed the right of resistance including bombing their own co-religionists and fellow citizens. Likewise, many of the same forces that castigated the allies for not ensuring public order and safety often also castigated Israel for enforcing public order and safety in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Justice Department and the White House were arguing that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to terrorist groups. See {589865}.

Washington, though a military officer at the time, was very concerned with protecting the rights of citizens from abuse by the military for he had seen much of the abuse. The third amendment for example was later written to protect people from the military. The Constitution also requires that Congress make such rules for the military. Note that Washington, our first senior military officer at the time, wanted Congress to make detailed rules for the conduct of soldiers. In the 20th and 21st century, as the imperial presidency developed, there was a political view that only the military officers and the Commander in Chief should make the rules and regulations for the soldiers. However, there was no question but that the Founding Fathers saw this as a legislative branch function. Congress and Presidents have contested for this power every since.

This Biblical quotation has been used to justify and legitimize military conscription.

He himself became a victim of the Civil War when Oliver Cromwell ordered him beheaded in 1658

This audacious general and Queen of one of the Roman Provinces conquered most of the area including Egypt. Then she declared her independence from the Roman Empire itself. A master of multilateral coalition leading, she was able to attract nearby provinces to join her. The Roman Emperor Aurelian himself set out to subjugate Zenobia—the Roman, Latin name. In the first battle, the Romans won a tactical victory for some territory but lost many men. The Emperor asked Bat Zabbai to surrender, but she refused in this famous reply. She was counting on the fact that the Romans would not accept the high losses she was inflicting. See Aurelian’s letter to the Roman Senate {606345}. The Romans did however did pay the price and eventually conquered Bat Zabbai and brought her to Rome as a captive. However she was very much admired by Roman society and after she pledged to not revolt against Rome, she was allowed to live in Rome—but not go back to Syria where she might raise another army. She became a major celebrity of Roman society and married a Roman Senator. Her exploits although well known at the time lapsed into obscurity in that later Roman Christian society did not see her as a fitting Christian female example, and when Islam developed in Syria, she was not considered a model Muslim woman. So a key figure in Roman history was ignored by most of the cultures until recently where the original documentation of the time has been made more widely available.

The President had earlier threatened to execute Confederate prisoners, if the South implemented its threat to execute any Union Negro soldiers they captured. The threat seems to have worked. See Lincoln.

When the Union army began using Blacks as recruits, the South threatened to execute any Negro soldier they captured. Some Southerners opposed execution but favored enslavement of captured Northern Black soldiers. The Lincoln threat seems to have worked, although Lincoln opposed executing Southern officers in retaliation for the atrocities at southern prisoner of war camps

Braddock’s hubris caused him to underestimate the Indians as military opponents and shortly after this statement Braddock led his “disciplined troops” into an Indian ambush at Fort Duquesne, and the Indians made an impression that he and the English troops never forgot.

Calley was the officer who gave orders to kill men, women and children of My Lai, a Vietnam village which Army intelligence felt had been sympathetic and given help and assistance to the Viet Cong. Calley was convicted by Court Marshall, but was released after serving a very light sentence. No one above Cally was held in any way responsible.

MacArthur had been the Commander of our Military Forces in Korea. He had a huge ego, and he wanted to cross the border and attack China since Chinese Troops were aiding the North Vietnamese. He had previously assured the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President that the Chinese would not send troops into Korea, but he was then wrong. And when they had attacked, they had erased the territorial gains that MacArthur had previously gained. The Joint Chief’s of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State had decided upon a strategy which this time did not follow MacArthur’s strategic advice. The President approved the strategy, but MacArthur spoke and acted contrary. The President met with MacArthur and reiterated the strategy that the President approved. But MacArthur did not follow the orders of the Joint Chiefs. At the time, he and Eisenhower were America’s two most famous military leaders, and of the two MacArthur was senior and thought that he should be President. After he was fired, MacArthur addressed a Joint Session of Congress and gave his "Old Soldiers Never Die" speech which was his first active step towards the Presidency. It was a very sentimental speech with little content and nothing about why he had disobeyed orders. He was totally shocked when it was Eisenhower who was selected to run for President and not him.