RE: The Geneva Conventions
I pose a question. If you are a boxer, you fight by the rules of the governing body of the boxing sport. If you (as a boxer) get involved in a street-fight outside of any sanctioned match, attacked by a hoodlum, who knows or respects no rules, do you consider yourself bound by the rules of boxing???
The insurgents never signed the Geneva Conventions, they seem to have no regards for the conventions as they have beheaded several of THEIR prisoners. They have shown no regard for holy sites, cemetaries, schools, hospitals, or civiaian casualties. Should we expect our troops to fight with one hand tied behind their backs? I find the limitations on engaging insurgents holed up in a mosque reminiscent of the troops in Vietnam not being allowed to fire on VC moving through the Michelin rubber plantation because the US government had to reimburse Michelin for any rubber trees damaged!