If We Put Hoods on the Terrorists, the Terrorists Will Have Won
Robert Fisk's latest piece of disingenuous casuistry is almost identical to all his previous p.s of d.c.: by placing hoods on al-Qaeda prisoners, we are playing into bin Laden's hands by "turning ourselves into the kind of deceitful, ruthless people whom bin Laden imagines us to be." "We are now," writes Fisk, "the very model of the enemies Mr bin Laden wants to fight. He must be a happy man."
Also in the Independent, Geoffrey Robertson has this apparently unintentionally humorous piece of legalistic claptrap about an unfortunate loophole in the Geneva Convention's definition of "mercenary:"
There are only two categories of combatants who can properly be denied POW status – spies and mercenaries. The latter category is defined (under the 1977 Geneva Protocol) as "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain" and promised substantial "material compensation". Al-Qa'ida fighters, motivated not by money but by the prospect of a fast-track to paradise, fall outside this definition.