An Uncomfortable Partnership...

...that I was surprised lasted as long as it did.

"The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism," Powell, a retired general who is also a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in his letter.

Powell said Bush's bill, by redefining the kind of treatment the Geneva Conventions allow, "would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk."

Considering what those bastards would do to our boys if they get captured...and considering that this is an undeclared war not being fought against nation-states that can be held to something like the Geneva Convention, but instead against irregular, state-sponsored, but not directly state-oriented, movements, it makes the whole concept of what to do with the prisoners a miasma.

I think that tying the hands of the military, in instances where those they face don't have their hands tied as well, is stupid.

SIDENOTE: And yes, on the Taliban gathering at the funeral in Afghanistan the other day, the military should have smoked that ass.

This Department of Defense aerial photograph shows a formation of about 100 suspected Taliban fighters in its sights in July 2006, which the US military decided not to attack because they were in a cemetery and likely burying their dead, a US military official said. The image was first aired by NBC News which said military officers were frustrated at not being given permission to attack because of rules of engagement barring attacks in cemeteries.(AFP/DOD)