should Insurgents be considered as humans?
487722
They are human beings like you and I, the only difference is their outlook at life. They don't have any regard for life or anything. Death is nothing to them. Through death, they believe they can become heroes or go to paradise.
812015
According to the Geneva Conventions aka the Rules of War, a uniform of some kind that distinguishes you from non-combatants is required. This is one of the reasons the Iraq War is so difficult. US Soldiers stick out like sore thumbs, but the insurgents blend right in with the civilians. For the US it's like a doctor figuring out who in a group of people has cancer just by looking at them.
14451
This is not exactly a Law & Ethics question.  Nevertheless, no, Iraq is not bound for its own self-destruction, at least no more so than when Saddam Hussein was running the country and slaughtering his own people.
26644
I find it distubing that you would label such ilk as freedom fighters.. thats my opinion.. everyone has pointed out why.. \n\nas to terrorists being labeled as such.. because generally "freedom fighers" commit acts of TERRORISM\n\nthey use methods of unconventional warfare .. ergo. they will do anything it takes even if that means killing innocents intentionally.. which american soldiers have not done in iraq.. \n\n\ni doubt you will change your opinion.. as far as im concerned there is no way possible to rationalize with someone like you.. but here is the wikipedia take on terrorism..\n\nalso.. forcing extremest islamic law on other individuals is hardly fighting for "freedom".. do you realize what these people want to do to us?.. or are you so blind to it all..\n\nwhy dont you ask Daniel Pearl or Nicholas Berg what they think of your freedom fighter analogy.. ?
440549
the best way to war against someone is to take their humanity away. huns, japs, gukes, ruskies, pinkos, commies, whateveer the iraqis are...all meant to keep them from being people. the stupid masses would never support this or any war without 'the bad guys'. thats why theres so much anti muslim, arab, middle east hatred being bred in our movies, tv, radio, culture & politics. propaganda man.
740097
Your example would work better if Russia or England or China was the invader, but it's a valid point.\n\nPeople blame the Iraqi insurgents for fighting in a civil war, against a govt they didn't elect which was established when an enemy country unilaterally invaded and deposed the ruling govt. Whether we like them or not, it's fair to ask if they have reasonable grounds for defending their country against hostile occupying forces.
3252
You see — there are 26 million people in Iraq whose freedom we are fighting for, against terrorists and insurgents that want a return to power and oppression, or worse, a state of fundamentalist tyranny. \n\nSome of whom we fight are international terrorists who hate the fact that in our way of life we can choose who will govern us, the method in which we worship, and the myriad other freedoms we have. We are fighting so that these fanatical terrorists do not enter the sacred ground of our country and we have to fight them in our own backyard.
1005017
While the killing of any human being is deplorable and according to my religion one of the gravest sins (I am a Christian), attacking soldiers in an armed struggle is not terrorism. If the attack had been on a disco or a pizza restaurant, as the Palestinians have done before, then it would be terrorism. But attacking army posts, IMHO, in the context of armed conflict is not terrorism. It is however, an act of aggression and should be responded to by a similar attack i.e. not on civilians but on armed groups of Palestinian militants.\n\nBTW, if they kill the soldiers after they have captured them then that is a war crime and should be punished as such.
988091
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/\nhttp://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182\n\nthough I think they may count insurgents as civi's.\n\nI am sorry, but I am more concerned about the monitary value of this war than the iraqi lives lost. Unfortunately it is not equaling up for me. I think we should pull out before this poor excuse for a economic boost kills our markets even more.\n\n9/11, USS Cole, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania *2, OK City, and so on are facts of life. It is part of being the most powerful nation on Earth, you piss off alot of people to get there.
995116
Country X is supporting terrorism through their inaction. If they won't do something to stop the deaths of millions of your people, you should be well within your rights to hold them accountable for the actions of their citizens, rebels or not. If you have to take them out just to fight the rebels on their home turf instead of yours, then so be it.
652762
It is a question of methods.  You and some others suggest there is a moral equivalence between terrorists and freedom fighters; that it is a question of perspective.\n\nSuch views are mistaken.  Terrorists attack civilians.  They attack non-combatants.  They deliberately kill people who are simply going about their ordinary, everyday lives.  As the name implies, they do that to cause terror among such people.  Terrorists attack women and children in markets; they blow up people on busses, they bomb churches and mosques.  Terrorists are cowards, thugs and murderers.\n\nTrue freedom fighters, such as the French Resistance in WWII, attack the enemy army.  This is much more dangerous and requires much more courage than blowing up women and children in a market or on a bus.\n\nThe Boston Tea Party was more akin to civil disobedience than to either terrorism or freedom fighting.  They simply dumped some tea into the harbor to make the point that they didn't want to pay taxes on it.  It was a way of saying we would rather not have the tea than pay unfair taxes on it.\n\nGandhi's entire Resistance movement was based on civil disobedience; he did not fight at all.  When the British outlawed making salt, he went down to the sea and made salt.  He did not bomb a church.  He did not blow up a market.\n\nWhen the US colonies decided to rebel against England, they formed a government and an army with officers and uniforms and flags.  They fought in the open against the British troops who were trying to suppress the rebellion.  That makes George Washington a soldier, neither a terrorist, not a freedom fighter.\n\nThere are a great many people in history and today who resist tyranny with dignity, courage and honor.  There are many who seek to impose their will by murder, terror and intimidation.  To attempt to equate the two with some relativistic mumbo-jumbo dishonors the lives of those who fight with dignity, courage and honor and reveals your own incapacity to make true distinctions.
1047555
take the body of every 'insurgent' killed, smear it in lard, wrap it in pig skin and bury it face down.  Do that a few times and it will reduce the number of willing insurgents by 95%,
181947
No, that would just mean the extinsion of human kind, we would just need to defend us and destroy the arsenal of the enemy.
1055946
To give you a simple answer......................We are the good guys and the insurgents are the bad guys.  Good guys are held to a higher standard.
1111816
First off, I'm not going to fully accept this story until I see something about it in the news on pbs. (hasn't happened yet)\n\nWith that said, I see 2 problems:\n1. We can't make deals with the insurgents. Only the new Iraqi government can and if they accept it then we should.\n\n2. Are the insurgents willing to accept the new Iraqi government as the controlling power in Iraq... even after we leave?\n\n3. From reading your link onthe story, it appears to only be a portion of the insurgency. So that would be a problem.
227101
The United States military does not target civilians intentionally. Thats what the terrorist do! And yes there was terrorists there before we took Iraq. To be an "Insurgent" you must be a member of a political party. What political party do the so called "Insurgents" belong to? Answer, none! The terrorist hide behind the innocent! If you cant figure that out, your in need of an EDUCATION DEVOID OF LIBERALISM! Would I send my son there? If he wanted to go then I would support him. I can't force him to do anything. He will have to make that choice on his own.
367979
Yes, the VC (Viet Cong) could have been called enemyk combatants. An enemy combatant is any individual who is fighting against the U.S.