New Pentagon manual declares journalists can be enemy combatants

[mello]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/21/military-manual-declares-war-on-spies-propagandist/

 

[acptulsa]

The manual defines them this way: “In general, journalists are civilians. However, journalists may be members of the armed forces, persons authorized to accompany the armed forces, or unprivileged belligerents.”



Lumping terrorist writers with bona fide scribes prompted one officer to call the paragraph “odd.” A civilian lawyer who opines on war crime cases called the wording “an odd and provocative thing for them to write.”

Michael Rubin, a Middle East expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said the manual reflects today’s muddled world of journalism.

“It’s a realization that not everyone abides by the same standards we do,” said Mr. Rubin. “Just as Hamas uses United Nations schools as weapons depots and Iran uses charity workers for surveillance, many terrorist groups use journalists as cover.”

Mr. Rubin recalled that two al Qaeda terrorists posed as journalists to assassinate anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. Chechen Islamists went on missions with camera crews.

“Journalists are the new consultant. Anyone can claim to be one,” he said. “No American serviceman should ever be killed because a politician told them they had to take a foreign journalist at his or her word.”

..

 

[specsaregood]

good, finally acknowledging what everybody already knew.

 

[Ronin Truth]

Hmmm, I've often noticed that too, about some journalists.

 

[jbauer]

I guess the better question is: Is there anyone on Earth who is not a potential terrorist?

 

[Natural Citizen]

Right?

 

[jllundqu]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/21/military-manual-declares-war-on-spies-propagandist/

For the last time people.... please don't just post a link... do us the courtesy of at least snipping a few lines form the story and posting it.

SMH

 

[wizardwatson]

I thought the journalists were CIA?

I'm so confused.

 

[Ronin Truth]

I thought the journalists were CIA?

I'm so confused.

Oh, you mean like Al-CIA DUH?

Or more like Project Mockingbird?