No matter what side you back, war is a crime

OTTAWA—The western media coverage of one of the most recent developments in the war in Ukraine once again serves to illustrate a total lack of objectivity and balance in their reporting. Two Britons and a Moroccan were captured by the Russian forces, tried as mercenaries, convicted, and sentenced to death. All three had been captured in the city of Mariupol while fighting in Ukrainian Marine uniforms. Both the U.K. and Ukrainian governments were quick to condemn the death sentences for violating international laws that protect prisoners of war. The Russians cite the same international laws, which do not extend prisoner-of-war status to foreign mercenaries. The families of the two Britons claim their brethren are both Ukrainian citizens—not mercenaries. The fact that both Britons had previously volunteered and fought against Daesh (a.k.a. ISIS or ISIL) in Syria would lend some credibility to Russia’s claim that they are indeed soldiers of fortune. In the West, we justifiably regard Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as an illegal aggression against a sovereign state. As such, we empathize with those volunteers who heeded Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s appeal for foreign fighters to help repel the Russian invaders. Scores of Canadians are among those now enlisted in the Ukraine Foreign Legion, and they have the Trudeau government’s assurance that they will not be prosecuted under Canadian law which prohibits citizens from fighting in foreign wars. However illegal Russia’s invasion may be, you can bet that Putin’s loyal henchmen have a different perspective. To them, these foreigners coming to Ukraine to kill Russians would be viewed as a threat to their national security. When the U.S. illegally invaded and occupied Afghanistan and Iraq, there were indeed waves of foreign fighters—Islamic fundamentalists who heeded the call for jihadists to combat the American infidels. For those foreign volunteers captured by the U.S. forces, there was no question about offering them prisoner-of-war status. They were deemed to be “illegal combatants.” The same was true of local Iraqis and Afghans who resisted the U.S. occupiers. Neither the Taliban nor Saddam Hussein ever signed a surrender agreement with the U.S. invaders, so technically those Iraqis and Afghans who continued to resist were still fighting for their sovereign country. For those thousands of Afghans held at Bagram air base and Iraqis at Abu Ghraib, their only crime was to resist a foreign occupier. None of these prisoners were afforded the prisoners-of-war rights as stipulated under the Geneva Convention. As we now know, U.S. officials authorized state-sanctioned torture of many of these inmates and they were held in conditions so inhumane that they would violate U.S. livestock laws. If the Putin spin doctors were clever, they would simply copycat the U.S. by labelling captured foreign fighters “illegal combatants,” clothe them in orange jumpsuits, and ship them to some island off the coast of Russia. Of course, while the western pundits were busy denouncing this latest Russian “show trial” for politicizing prisoners of war, there was no such condemnation for Ukraine doing exactly the same thing just a few weeks earlier. A tribunal in Kyiv found Russian Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin guilty of a war crime for the deliberate murder of 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov, a Ukrainian civilian. After pleading guilty, the court sentenced Shishimarin to life in prison. In his defence, Shishimarin claimed he was ordered to shoot the Ukrainian civilian by his superior, as he suspected Shelipov was giving away the Russian position to the Ukraine military. Given that members of the Russian unit, including Shishimarin, were subsequently captured shortly thereafter, it would seem to support the notion that they felt they were in imminent danger. I would agree with the Ukrainian judge’s finding that deliberately killing a civilian “violates the rules and customs of war.” However, one does not have to look too far back in Canadian military history to realize that the fog of war often blows thick in the heat of battle. In July 2008, Canadian soldiers manning a checkpoint in Kandahar, Afghanistan, fired at an Afghan civilian vehicle when it failed to heed their signal to halt. The Canadians then resorted to firing a 25mm cannon shell into the vehicle, killing two children. There were no weapons found and the vehicle driver was not an enemy combatant. He was the father of the two children. At the time of the shooting, Canadians were part of the U.S.-led occupation of Afghanistan. There were no charges laid against the Canadian soldiers involved because a Canadian military investigation concluded that they had followed proper procedures. When they felt they were in danger, they opened fire deliberately on a civilian vehicle containing children. This was not considered to be a war crime. Hell, it was not even deemed a military offence. We need to remember: war is a crime. Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. The Hill Times