The US Department of Defense released its "Law of War
Manual," within which the Pentagon states clearly that journalists may be
"unprivileged belligerents," which leaves those reporting on the
military in any capacity open to be treated the same as spies - or even
terrorists. "Unprivileged belligerent" is a legal term that can be
applied to combatants (people who are not soldiers in a state-sanctioned
military) in a conflict, who are given even fewer protections than combatants
openly participating in war. "Unprivileged" means the suspect is not
entitled to the rights afforded to prisoners of war under international law and
can instead be held as a criminal suspect in a category that includes suspected
spies, saboteurs, and guerrillas. Pentagon spokesman US Army Lt. Col. Joe
Sowers of the Pentagon's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, stated,
"The fact that a person is a journalist does not prevent that person from
becoming an unprivileged belligerent."
By reporting on the US military in a way the Pentagon
interprets as "dangerous," journalists could be left open to
censorship, incarceration or even the death penalty. "Reporting on
military operations can be very similar to collecting intelligence or even
spying," the Pentagon's manual states. Thus, by its newly crafted logic,
the Pentagon is officially requesting that journalists "act openly and
with the permission of relevant authorities." According to the manual, it
is up to the Pentagon to decide whether or not the actions of a journalist in question
are "spying."
Todd Pierce, a retired major in the US Army Judge Advocate
General (JAG) Corps, wrote "That means journalists can be killed as can
any enemy soldier in wartime. 'Subject to detention' means a journalist deemed
an unprivileged belligerent will be put into military detention if captured. As
with any enemy belligerent, however, if 'capture is not feasible,' they would
be killed if possible, by drone perhaps if in a foreign country."
"This broad and poorly defined category gives U.S.
military commanders across all services the purported right to at least detain
journalists without charge, and without any apparent need to show evidence or
bring a suspect to trial," Frank Smyth, the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) senior adviser for journalist security wrote.
Chris Chambers, a Georgetown University communications
professor stated that the manual actually gives US forces "license to
attack" journalists.
Reporters Without Borders (RWB) published an open letter to
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter soon after the manual was published. In
the letter, RWB Secretary General Christophe Deloire wrote, "This
terminology leaves too much room for interpretation, putting journalists in a
dangerous position. Likening journalistic activity to spying is just the kind
of ammunition certain repressive countries like Iran, Syria and China would
seek out to support their practices of censorship and criminalization of
journalists".
Vanessa Gezari, the managing editor at the Columbia
Journalism Review, she found it "very threatening." She said, "I
believe it contradicts at least the spirit of customary battlefield
relationships, if not the letter."
The National Press Photographers Association's general
counsel Mickey Osterreicher said of the manual's language, "It's
speculative, it's ambiguous, it's arbitrary."
The New York Times released a highly critical editorial
addressing the manual, calling the Pentagon's justifications for its proposed
treatment of journalists "ludicrous."
The manual conveniently grants itself the right to overlook
other human rights treaties by stating that the rules of war supersede human
rights treaties. It says: "These apparent conflicts may be resolved by the
principle that the law of war is the lex specialis during situations of armed
conflict, and, as such, is the controlling body of law with regard to the
conduct of hostilities and the protection of war victims."
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