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Charles Mercieca, Ph. D.

The New Webster Dictionary of the English Language describes enemy as “one hostile to another, one who hates another, an adversary, a hostile force, army, fleet, or the like.” The same dictionary describes combat as “to fight with, to oppose by force, to contend against, or to resist.” Combatant is then described as “a person who combats or is engaged in active war, a person who contends with another in argument or controversy.”
Humane Treatment of Prisoners

This means that in a war each side becomes automatically an enemy combatant to the other side. Those who fight in wars are generally faced with three possibilities. They are either killed or maimed or captured who then become prisoners. According to the Geneva Convention, prisoners ought to be treated humanely. They should be given medical attention when needed and expected to be free when the war is over.

Most of those who fight in wars, which are often waged or instigated by politicians, are simply drafted by their respected government. There are very few nations where the draft has been eliminated for quite a while and that would include the United States. In this country, young men and women are given incentives to join the military by offering them a variety of choices: army, navy, air force, or marines each of which has certain specific missions to fulfill. Those stationed overseas may have the opportunity to witness new cultures.

Besides, quite a few learn a foreign language as a result, which may be viewed as educational. Life in the military is presented as exciting with each branch offering different and unique experiences. Besides, these volunteers who join the military are offered a lot of perks such as receiving free education for a job they would wish to get after they are discharged from the military. All this would be ideal if the military was, by its nature, an instrument of peace and not of war. Military people are trained for combat zones to fight wars by all means.

From the past 6,000 years of recorded history we notice that most wars were waged immorally and illegally. As a result, tens of thousands of innocent people, amounting to tens of millions on a global scale, were massacred brutally. Besides, there have been many abuses like the unnecessary destruction of the infrastructure of cities where numerous people were left homeless while loosing all of their belongings.

Negative Aspects of the Military

Although there seems to be many positive sides of the military, there are also negative aspects that should be brought into the open as a way to enable the citizens become involved actively to have them eliminated. Citizens, especially in democratically oriented nations, have the unique opportunity to put pressure on their elected representatives in the government. Should they turn a deaf ear, then the citizens could put them out of office when the next elections take place.

In time of peace, there seems to be nothing negative to say about the military. Everything seems to be positive and constructive. Military abuses start to take place in time of war. In going from house to house, supposedly to search for terrorists, soldiers were often ordered to “shoot anything that moves!” Young soldiers wrote letters to their parents describing recent painful experiences they had, such as shooting women, children, the elderly and the sick.

Another sad part of the story is found in those that are taken prisoners who are then treated very inhumanely, like animals for all practical purposes. They are deprived from the necessities of life and even tortured, at times to death especially if they happen to be young men. This is not only a violation of the Geneva Convention, which was signed by all nations, but also a violation of the Natural Law, which is a “higher” law along with the Divine Positive Law.

In the Iraqi war, for example, when the American abuses of the Iraqi prisoners came into the open, US authorities at first tried to deny it. Hundreds of Arabs taken to prison by Americans, especially in Guantanamo Bay, were methodically denied adequate nutrition and necessary sleep to the extent that some could not take it any longer and committed suicide. In addition, the United States would not allow such prisoners to communicate with their relatives.

To turn an insult into an injury, the United States would not even allow such prisoners to see a lawyer, which goes against traditional American policy that “everyone is innocent until proven guilty.” When this matter was brought up into the open by several US humanitarian organizations, the US government came with the distinction between prisoners of wars and enemy combatants!

It was stated by the Bush administration that while prisoners had the right to be treated humanely and had the right to have recourse to a lawyer, enemy combatants had no such rights whatsoever! This was an incomprehensible and a strange distinction since, as we have seen earlier, all prisoners of war are, as a matter of fact, enemy combatants.

Concept of Enemy Combatants

The Iraqis who fought the Americans were viewed as “enemy combatants” by the US government same way as the Americans fighting the Iraqis were viewed as “enemy combatants” by the Iraqi government. And these “enemy combatants,” once captured, they simply become prisoners. This explains why many have viewed the distinction brought forth by the Bush administration between “enemy combatants” and “prisoner of wars” as asinine to say the least and vicious to say the most.

When the so called “enemy combatants” were tortured by Americans and were deprived from their vital necessities of life a serious crime against humanity was automatically committed. And another grave crime was also committed when their right to plead their cause and to defend themselves was denied. Thanks to great pressure exerted by many humanitarian organizations, quite a few hundreds of such classified “enemy combatants” had their case reviewed and were found innocent and they were set free.

In spite of this, as long as US government officials continue to hold this asinine or vicious distinction, we are going to continue to have surmountable problems. We are referring here to the distinction between “prisoners of war” who need to have their human rights respected, and “enemy combatants” whose human rights are not acknowledged and are treated inhumanely through all kind of tortures imaginable.

It is not fair that while the helpless people in the world are brought to justice rightly or wrongly, those who occupy position of power can do what they like without ever being brought to justice. No one is above the law. Enacted laws are applicable to all people without exception regardless of the positions they occupy. If we recall, the Hitler lieutenants, who performed so many injustices and so much cruelties, were all brought to justice following World War II.

In conclusion, when we hear of “enemy combatants” we need to keep in mind that we are merely faced with “prisoners of war” who must be respected in accordance with the dictates of the Geneva Convention and also in accordance with the dictates of both the Natural Law and the Divine Positive Law.

Charles Mercieca, Ph. D.
President
International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus
Alabama A&M University

August 15th, 2008 | Category: Activists, Detainee Abuse |  Print This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL