Pentagon rewrites ‘Law of War’ declaring ‘belligerent’ journalists as legitimate targets

It looks to me like the Pentagon has pretty much declared Open Season, on everybody.

The Pentagon has released a book of instructions on the “law of war,” detailing acceptable ways of killing the enemy. The manual also states that journalists can be labeled “unprivileged belligerents,” an obscure term that replaced “enemy combatant.”

The 1,176-page “Department of Defense Law of War Manual” explains that shooting, exploding, bombing, stabbing, or cutting the enemy are acceptable ways of getting the job done, but the use of poison or asphyxiating gases is not allowed.


Surprise attacks and killing retreating troops have also been given the green light.

But the lengthy manual doesn’t only talk about protocol for those on the frontline. It also has an extensive section on journalists – including the fact that they can be labeled terrorists.

“In general, journalists are civilians. However, journalists may be members of the armed forces, persons authorized to accompany the armed forces, or unprivileged belligerents,” the manual states.

The term “unprivileged belligerents” replaces the Bush-era term “unlawful enemy combatant.”

When asked what this means, professor of Journalism at Georgetown Chris Chambers told RT that he doesn’t know, “because the Geneva Convention, other tenets of international law, and even United States law – federal courts have spoken on this – doesn’t have this thing on ‘unprivileged belligerents’.”

This means that embedded journalists, who are officially sanctioned by the military and attached to a unit, will be favored by an even greater degree than before. “It gives them license to attack or even murder journalists that they don’t particularly like but aren’t on the other side,” Chambers said.

Even the Obama Administration’s definition of “enemy combatant” was vague enough, basically meaning any male of a military age who “happens to be there,” Chambers added.

My bold.

So now Journalists, news people, are fair game if someone doesn't like the looks of them or they have written something critical of the regime's activities.

Also, take note of that last part, any male of fighting age who just happens to be in the area.
Because, you know, anybody should know when a plane load of paratroopers is going to land in your back yard.

This should also take care of a bunch of that pesky collateral damage they hate to have to admit to.

"Hey, the dude was two doors down when the Cruise Missile hit, he should have known better to be within a quarter mile of that thing. Bummer for him eh?"


Let's just get it out on the table here and tell it like it is, the Pentagon with this has pretty much discarded a bunch of the Geneva Convention.

Like the Constitution , it must have just gotten to be a quaint old notion that started getting in the way of how they want to take care of business these days.