Dhaka: The Pentagon recently released a book of instructions on the ‘law of war,’ detailing acceptable ways of killing the enemy.

says that terrorists also can be journalists.

The 1,176-page ‘Department of Defence Law of War Manual’, published on 12 June, said, ‘Journalists are civilians. However, journalists may be members of the armed forces, persons authorised to accompany the armed forces, or unprivileged belligerents’.

The manual asked to ‘shoot to eliminate the threat and accomplish the mission’ when ‘an enemy unit manoeuvres within your weapon range’.

The US soldiers are also asked to shoot an unarmed enemy soldier who does nothing but stare at them.

‘Shoot to eliminate the threat. The soldier is a member of a Hostile Force and is lawful target.’

The manual also said members of the armed forces may serve as journalists or in some other public affairs capacity. ‘These persons have the same status as other members of the armed forces.’

Besides, journalists authorised to accompany the armed forces have the status of such persons. According to the manual, reporting on military operations will be considered very similar to collecting intelligence or even spying. 

‘A journalist who acts as a spy may be subject to security measures and punished if captured.’

Legal significance

Army Lt. Col. Joseph R. Sowers, a Pentagon spokesman, explained the reasoning behind the inclusion of ‘unprivileged belligerents’ as journalists, reported the Washington Times.

‘We do not think that there is any legal significance to the manual listing unprivileged belligerents as sometimes being journalists because the manual does not, itself, create new law,’ Col. Sowers said quoted the daily braodsheet.

The Pentagon’s ‘Law of War Manual’ was released by Department of Defence General Counsel Stephen W Preston, who said the thick booklet represents ‘many years of labour and expertise.’

‘The law of war is a part of our military heritage, and obeying it is the right thing to do,’ he wrote in the foreword. ‘But we also know that the law of war poses no obstacle to fighting well and prevailing. Nations have developed the law of war to be fundamentally consistent with the military doctrines that are the basis for effective combat operations.’

The manual also states, ‘The law of war does not prohibit the use of surprise to conduct attacks, such as the use of surprise in ambushes, sniper attacks, air raids, and attacks by special operations forces carried out behind enemy lines,’ and, it added, ‘combatants need not offer opponents an opportunity to surrender before carrying out an attack.’

Professor of Journalism at Georgetown Chris Chambers said that he doesn’t know what ‘unprivileged belligerents’ means, since ‘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’, reported RT News.