uruloki’s lair

Wretchard of the Belmont Club does a good job covering the aftermath of the mess hall attack and the manner in which the MSM gives the terrorists a free pass:

The enemy chose the weakest point he could find to attack; exploited the known limitations of the American response; and understood that he was to all intents and purposes exempted from the condemnation attendant to attacking the wounded and medical personnel. The chaplain and the medical personnel knew this and did not mill around expecting the Geneva Convention to protect them from those who have never heard of it, except as it applies to their own convenience. They knew the true face of the enemy; a face which bore no resemblance to the heroic countenance often presented by the media to the world. (Emphasis mine)

On the ride to and from airport, I was listening some to Paul W. Smith filling in for Sean Hannity, and the discussion was about attacking a “non-military” target. This is unfortunate that even those who support us in the fight don’t always understand what exactly is a target and what isn’t. The original target, the mess tent, is a legitimate target. The next target, the hospital, is not a legitimate target. Of course, that legitimacy does not matter to our enemies (which is the point of Wretchard’s post), but the people on our side need to know what are targets as well.

A mess tent is a part of the logistics tail of any army. The psychological benefits of taking out something so basic to moral as a mess tent are not to be underestimated. When in combat, it is impossible to maintain a high tempo of operations. An important part of the recovery and preparation to go out and do it again is to have that mess hall, where you can get cooked food and not MREs, and sit with your buddies and relax a little bit. That piece of peace for the soldiers is now broken. This goes just as well for the HQ guys, who (normally) have lesser day-to-day contact with the enemy.

The mess tent does fall under the definition of a legitimate target per the Geneva Convention. Attacking the mess tent was therefore, based upon this and the previous discussion, a good tactical decision by the terrorists. A similar, fictional, scenario can be found in Freehold, by Michael Williamson.

Tags: Life, Politics //