It's Not Just Civilian Clothes
It's Who Is In Them

April 8, 2003
by John Gaver

The US military and the major media are loudly proclaiming that Iraq is guilty of war crimes, for having their organized military forces dress in civilian clothes, to escape capture and detention.  Indeed, this specific act is most certainly a war crime and many Iraqi soldiers are guilty of this war crime.  But, the way that it is being hyped, would lead the uninformed to believe that it is a war crime for any person wearing civilian clothes to take up arms against an invading enemy and this is patently false.

I do not want to give any succor to the Iraqi soldiers, who cowardly shed their uniforms and don civilian clothes to escape capture and detention.  They are cowards and guilty of war crimes and should be prosecuted for those war crimes.

But, to protect our rights as ordinary citizens, with no connection to the military, we should be making a sharp distinction between what the Iraqi military is doing and what might happen in the United States, should we ever be invaded.  That's because, if any foreign power were to ever invade the USA, they would face a much more severe problem with attacks from un-uniformed combatants, than what our military is now facing in Iraq.  But, that would not constitute a war crime.  The difference is that in Iraq, our soldiers are facing a few thousand un-uniformed members of the Iraqi military.  An invader of the United States would be facing 50 million un-uniformed civilian gun owners and I would be one of them.

There is no doubt that what the Iraqi's are doing is a war crime, since the people involved are members of the Iraqi military.  It is not illegal for civilians to take up arms to protect their country.  But, that's not what is happening in Iraq.  That is the point that the government and the media should be emphasizing, not merely that some combatants are wearing civilian clothes.

It's not just the civilian clothes.
It's who is in those clothes.

If you haven't seen it, I suggest that you rent the movie "Red Dawn", with Patrick Swaze and Jennifer Grey.  It's a story of a group of Colorado young people, mostly high school students, who band together to fight a surprise invasion of the United States.  Those un-uniformed, civilian gun owners participated in numerous sneak raids on the the Russian/Cuban invaders and set bombs in hangouts for their soldiers.  Yet, what they did in that movie, would not constitute a war crime, since they weren't just wearing civilian clothes - they were civilians.

We must remember and insist that the media recognize, that there is a marked difference between soldiers, who cowardly shed their uniforms to blend into the civilian populous and patriotic, un-uniformed civilians taking up arms to defend their country.  The former are cowards and war criminals, while the latter are heroes.  But, if we allow that distinction to be ignored today, we might find that tomorrow, it will be a war crime for citizens to take up arms to protect their own country.

Let's keep shining a light on the Iraqi war crimes.  But, let's do it for the right reasons.

WOLVERINES!