[QUOTE=Argent Towers]
All I know is, Blackwater is a pretty badass name for a mercenary/security service or whatever you want to call it. Are their uniforms like, black with a picture of some kind of sea serpent or dragon or something on it? It would be really badass if the back of their armored vests had like, a picture of a giant barbarian warrior holding a gigantic sword with a half-naked blonde woman lying on the ground with her arms wrapped around one of the warrior’s massive gigantic legs, with like a huge skull in the background or something.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Aeschines]
I heard once that, according to age-old rules of war, mercenaries not in the uniform of the nation they serve can be executed on sight like spies.
Is that the case and could, then, Blackwater thugs in Iraq be executed on sight by their opponents as mercenaries?
[/QUOTE]
“Rules of war” as a concept for constraining both sides to equal behaviour has no meaning. A given party may elect unilaterally to adhere to a code of conduct during the conflict, or apply a standard to a losing side post-conflict, but war is…war. To the death, even.
Whatcha gonna do if the other side cheats? Kill 'em? Ignore your own rules and join 'em in cheating?
Whatcha gonna do if the other side cheats?
[/QUOTE]
Try then for War Crimes if you win.
Someone described the use of Q ships by the Germans in WWI as “A successful tactic if you win, a very bad one if you lose.”
Is that the case and could, then, Blackwater thugs in Iraq be executed on sight by their opponents as mercenaries?
[/QUOTE]
How might you recognize one? They don’t exactly advertise. I have seen security contractors up close, and the company name will be either small and discreet, or non-existent. Unless the guy is wearing a company t-shirt or something…
ETA- unless they are flying a little bird, I guess- IIRC they are the only company that flies them.
I said: “… People from outside the “Coalition” and so are not considered officially protected by the US military as citizens.”
[QUOTE=Ravenman]
What does this even mean? Do you have some kind of cite that the military treats non-US contractors as “non-protected,” and what that term means?
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The US military is routinely assigned the task of helping or guarding US citizens when the need arises. Other foreign nationals may also be given US military assistance. E.g., the recent war in Lebanon. The US helped evacuate many US and foreign civilians from the warzone. Note that the extension to non-US nationals was purely a humantarian act on the part of the US govt. The US nor it’s armed forces is in no way obligated to help such people. If they said, “…but we won’t take the the Irish.”* then that’s just that.
But note that the Lebanese civilians weren’t afforded such help.
Hence, if you’re just some soldier/civilian of fortune from some random other country running around Iraq, don’t expect the US military to come to your aid when you get in trouble.
