The U.S. Should Withdraw from the Geneva Convention

IRVINE, CA--The investigation of a marine for the suspected "crime" of killing an unarmed Iraqi terrorist is a moral and judicial travesty, said Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.

"The accused marine was completely right to kill a terrorist who he suspected was setting up a booby-trap by faking death--a common terrorist technique used in Iraq. For the marine to do otherwise would have been to risk his life and the lives of his fellow marines to preserve a committed murderer. Yet this is exactly what the U.S. government says he should have done, in the name of the 'rules of war' of the Geneva Convention."

"Throughout the War on Terrorism," explained Dr. Brook, "America has sacrificed its military objectives and the safety of its soldiers in the name of adhering to the Geneva Convention accords, which are based on so-called Just War Theory. Monsters like Osama bin-Laden and his deputies are still alive because we hesitated to bomb them out of their hideouts, for fear of hitting so-called innocents. Hundreds of American soldiers have died unnecessarily due to crippling rules of engagement requiring them to place the lives of Iraqi civilians above their own."

"Now," said Dr. Brook, "we are telling our soldiers that if they kill a terrorist who happens to be wounded or unarmed, they could be court-martialed!"

"America must assert its right to defend its citizens--including its soldiers--by any means necessary," said Dr. Brook. "And as a first order of business, we must withdraw from the suicide pact that is the Geneva Convention."