Combat Wounded, Combat Dead
8th November 2009
If al-Qaeda is an amorphous enemy, an idea made situationally manifest by the will of its adherents, and he was in fact an adherent of its violent agenda, then he is the enemy, his actions were acts of war, and they bled and died under enemy fire.
Is any of the above very likely to be offically recognized? No. No matter what is learned about his motivation, in all likelihood he will be treated as a murder defendant in either a civilian or a military court … possibly with an insanity or bullying defense such as we’re already seeing explored on his behalf … rather than as a committed jihadi, an unlawful combatant, a terrorist, a deserter who aided and abetted the enemy, and a traitor who took up arms against his nation.
And that is the saddest part of the whole affair.