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Entry: Who Guards the Guardians? Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/who_guards_the_guardians#29819 Post contents: Sean, you say, "Are you upset because they won’t play dumb?" No. I just think we should kill them all. That's not playing dumb, is it? I'm all for hard-headedness. But it's a peculiar hard-headedness that evaluates al Qaeda using realist and pragmatic, even cynical principles, and demands that the US act like Marlborough at Waterloo. I don't expect them to play by the rules. But why then should we fight using the tactics and techniques and protections which al Qaeda has not earned by its behavior and which are only appropriate for nation-state opponents that follow the law of war. We're not using cops, because this enemy is overseas. It's overseas but not a nation-state. It's an enemy of unlawful combatants. It uses military means but lacks military honor and structure. This calls for a military solution, even if police are the right tool at home on US soil (which they mostly are, in my opinion). The law of war is self-enforcing. It's enforced by reciprocal conformity by both sides, particularly if they anticipate fighting again some time in the future. There's no good reason to give its protections to terrorists who should simply be wiped out. I wouldn't, after all, want to be sentimental, just like the good ol' IRA was never too sentimental about much of anything. Sent at: 2008 12 02