![]() Some of the tactics reportedly employed by Iraqi forces, like deploying bombs on combatants while posing as civilians, clearly violate the laws of war. The law prohibits the killing or injuring of the enemy by treacherous or perfidious means: by feigning surrender or incapacitating wounds and then opening fire, for example. International law makes distinctions between lawful ruses - such as the use of camouflage, decoys and misinformation - and unlawful deceit. But an ambush by combatants dressed like civilians is clearly illegal. For example, an ambush by itself does not breach the laws of war. Stealth, subterfuge, hit-and-vanish tactics and other standard guerrilla stratagems might offset the advantages of outsized, high-tech enemy forces. It is not hard to see why Iraqi forces, like other irregulars before them, have resorted to guerrilla tactics. In Yugoslavia, Tito's Partisans pinned down thousands of German troops who could otherwise have been deployed against allied forces. Military historians credit resistance movements in occupied France, Yugoslavia and the Philippines with hastening the defeat of Germany and Japan in World War II. Some guerrilla attacks, whether considered lawful or not at the time, have become the stuff of heroic lore. Special Forces are undertaking guerrilla-style missions in Iraq. During World War II, British Commandos and American Rangers assisted indigenous resistance movements behind enemy lines in German-occupied Europe and elsewhere. and British armed forces have also relied on guerrilla-style tactics. These guerrillas, like today's Iraqi irregulars, carried out ambushes and then melted into local communities, imperiling civilians in the vicinity. ![]() Since 1945, British forces have battled irregulars in Palestine, Borneo, Aden, Northern Ireland and elsewhere. Refusing to fight in orderly formation or uniform, the Maquis - the prototype guerrilla force - harassed and sniped at their enemy, rarely took prisoners and depended on Spanish civilians for supplies and other logistical support. The Viet Cong could trace their military lineage to the Spanish Maquis, who waged clandestine warfare against Napoleon's armies during the Peninsular War between 18. Concealing weapons and feigning civilian status, Viet Cong guerrillas were able to launch surprise attacks - and then vanish instantly. forces would be familiar with guerrilla tactics, having confronted them when they were young soldiers in Vietnam. Many of those who are commanding the U.S. The minister, Mohammed Saeed Sahhaf, said the attackers would mount "martyrdom operations in a very new, creative way." But the pilots' planes were clearly identifiable as enemy aircraft - and so their suicidal missions breached no rule of international law.Īs if raising the stakes, Iraq's information minister vowed on Friday that there would be an "untraditional" attack on allied forces who had just secured Baghdad's airport. To be sure, Japanese kamikaze pilots undertook suicide missions during World War II, targeting American ships. These attacks should not surprise us: The annals of modern warfare are filled with examples of regular and irregular forces who rely on stealth and civilian disguise to counter the superior force of an invading or occupying power.īut if guerrilla tactics are commonplace in contemporary interstate wars, the use of suicide bombers dressed as civilians is not (although they are a familiar feature of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict). ![]() Both attacks relied on what appeared to unlawful deceptions: Friday's bombing, at a checkpoint 130 miles northwest of Baghdad, reportedly involved a woman crying in distress to lure soldiers the earlier attack near Najaf was apparently carried out by a noncommissioned Iraqi army officer posing as a taxi driver. ![]() Americans were understandably shaken by the two suicide car bombings last week that killed seven U.S. ![]()
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