subject: End the Marquis of Queensbury Rules of War [print this page] End the Marquis of Queensbury Rules of War
Colonel Gadhafi and Admiral Mullen comment on CNN on March 20, 2011, made me think of the image of British Red Coats during the American Revolution. You recall those masters of outmoded military etiquette, who thought it was right to have their men march into battle shoulder to shoulder wearing bright red coats, while their officers rode horseback behind, confident they would not be targeted. If the officers were killed there would be chaos on the battlefield, at least so went conventional wisdom of the day.This morning Colonel Gadhafi said, "We are not worried. We are not afraid."The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said to CNN's Candy Crowley, Gadhafi is "more and more isolated internationally than he has ever been. Over the long term we expect to see more and more pressure to be put on him."Why is Gadhafi so confident? It appears it is because we have this antiquated value that we won't attack the leader of an enemy state. Please understand that I am not suggesting that the United States adopt a policy of assassination of enemy leaders in general. Consider the genocide in Rwanda to see the consequences of murder of a leader. President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi were killed on April 6, 1994 when the Rwandan President's plane was shot down as it was attempting to land at Kigali Airport. In the following 100 days, approximately 800,000 innocent civilians, Hutus, who supported the President, slaughtered mostly Tutsis.Even a symbolic assassination of a national leader, like the "regime change" effectuated in Iraq, can lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, because old feuds are allowed to come to the surface. Sunni and Shi'a Muslims killed far more of their fellow Muslims in Iraq than western powers ever did. There is a trade-off of horrors in changing the international order by force rather than through normal peaceful processes. While it is true that some regimes will inevitably change by violence, we Americans must have the value, as stated by President Barack Obama that "change will not and cannot be imposed by the United States or any foreign power. Ultimately, it will be driven by the people . It is their right and their responsibility to determine their own destiny."But, that does not mean that the international community will or should any longer sit by and allow crimes against humanity, only prosecuting and punishing the perpetrators in buttoned down legal proceedings and hangings long after the events. Thanks to 7/24 international news media, we can no longer ignore mass murder as it happens. It seems clear that the international community will be expected to move more quickly in future situations. When it does, it should call "military action" what it is. War! That should be the end of the time when murdering leaders can say, "We are not worried." Once the international community goes to war against a murdering leader, as it has against Moammar Gadhafi, he should expect to swallow a Tomahawk Cruise Missile very soon. Why would the international community allow the murder of hundreds or thousands of innocents, when it is clear that cutting off the head of the snake can save them? We wouldn't let a bank robber to continue shooting his hostages after the police have arrived would we?It seems to me that such a policy will give murdering governments pause in terms of how violently they repress their people. Perhaps we cannot stop all repression in the world. Local peoples have to find their own ways to accomplish that. But when the repression becomes so egregious that the international community must declare war on the perpetrators, as it has in Libya, the Marquis of Queensbury Rules should be set aside, and the Tomahawks should come out and be aimed at the murdering leaders. In the name of the Pan Am 103 victims, Moammar Gadhafi richly deserves to be the object lesson for all others, who would pursue such behaviors against their own peoples.
