(Newswire.net — June 24, 2015) — The Pentagon has released a book of instructions on the ‘law of war,’ detailing legitimate targets and acceptable ways of killing, Russia Today reported.
According to the newspaper, the newly released “Department of Defense Law of War Manual” also states that journalists can be legitimate targets and labels them as ‘unprivileged belligerents,’ which is also what they call ‘terrorists.’
The 1,176-pages of the manual explains that the acceptable ways to combat enemies are: shooting, bombing, stabbing, or cutting, however, the use of poison or asphyxiating gases is not allowed.
The new Pentagon’s manual on war declares sneak-attack and killing retreating troops as legitimate war behavior, and it now specifically identifies journalists as potential targets.
“In general, journalists are civilians. However, journalists may be members of the armed forces, persons authorized to accompany the armed forces, or unprivileged belligerents,” the manual states.
The manual replaced the Bush-era term “unlawful enemy combatant,” with “unprivileged belligerents” which sounds even more vague.
When asked to interpret the term, professor of Journalism at Georgetown University Chris Chambers told RT that he doesn’t know, “because the Geneva Convention, other tenets of international law, and even United States law – federal courts have spoken on this – doesn’t have this thing on ‘unprivileged belligerents’.”
According to Chambers, “It gives them [the US military] a license to attack or even murder journalists that they don’t particularly like,” or that are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Even the Obama Administration’s definition of “enemy combatant” was very vague, meaning any male of a military age who “happens to be there,” Chambers added.
It is unclear though if the US journalists and photo reporters, or colleagues from NATO ally countries can be legitimately murdered if their profession draws them to enemy side to investigate and report.
The Pentagon did not specify the exact circumstances under which a journalist might be declared an “unprivileged belligerent,” but Chambers says he is sure “their legal department is going over it, as is the National Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists,” RT reported.
In the eve of modern remote warfare, the manual also deals with drones. According to RT, “Department of Defense Law of War Manual” is stating that there is “no prohibition in the law of war on the use of remotely piloted aircraft (also called “unmanned aerial vehicles”).”
The manual is the Pentagon’s first all-in-one ‘law on war’ manual. Previously, each military branch wrote their own rules of engagement and legitimate warfare behavior, according the specific nature of the branch. None of them listed journalists as potential traitors, RT reported.