I suppose it comes down to where to draw the line between taking military action against enemy combatants and aprehending criminal suspects. Very murky indeed in these days of asymetrical warfare.
No more murky than it has been in the past. We’ve been doing stuff like this for decades, so the idea that this is something Bush cooked up is nonsense. (Not saying you are saying that, but others in this thread have.)
If we want to argue the rightness or wrongness of this policy, that’s fine. But the legality is, I believe, so firmly established as to be beyond debate. Some of the other actions that Bush has taken (like the NSA wiretapping) are questionable, legally, but not this one.
Hmmm. You seem to be pretty much spot on given that apparently standard 155mm (6.1") shells cost $1000 a couple of years ago.
Basic infantry training for the UK army cost £27 000 in 2005-06 (about $54 000 at today’s rates).
Assuming that fully-trained helicopter-riding guerilla-chasing US squaddie will have cost a lot more than that, I can certainly see the advantages of blatting off a truckload of shells rather than going mano-a-mano. Particularly since a sizeable number of infantry firing fully automatic weapons in a thicket isn’t exactly going to do much for local property values either.
Id also like to make a point about the alleged guilt of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
Just because you decide to go on holiday in Pakistan to see relatives ,go to a wedding,maybe do a bit of bird watching like we all do,and you happen to accidently wander off into Afghanistan whilst following a sighting of the Lesser Spotted Grebe
and being so engrossed in your bird watching you are oblivious to Coalition Forces fighting a pitched battle with Al Quieda terrorists in your close vicinity ,
and you just happen to be carrying an Ak47 and 10 mags plus an RPG
(for self protection against any maneating Yeti you may come across in the mountains where you didnt actually intend to go in the first place)
or unluckily for you some real terrorists have just happened to rapidly dump same coincidently within yards of your birdwatching party ,
then the Americans treat you as some sort of suspected terrorist !!
Is this what the War of Independance was fought for ?
What value the human rights of these so obviously innocent people ?
And some of these people are British citizens !
They should be released immediately on those grounds alone,because they are obviously as loyal to Queen and country as any other Brit and it goes without saying that they share our cultural and ethical values.
(Before any grammar nazis or those wishing to distract from the point Im making jump in .
The breathlessly long sentence IS intentional .)