Walking Man, I know you were just asking this question out of curiosity and not as a complaint against Busse or against serrations or anything, so please don't take the following rant as pointed toward you, as it is not--nor anyone else on this forum, whom I mostly see eye to eye with. Sorry guys, I just have to get this off my chest sometimes, or it will build up...
Does anyone think those terrorists in Iraq who SAWED and HACKED American NONCOMBATANT citizens' heads off in front of an Al Jizzeera film crew while they screamed in pain were in violation of any international human rights regarding torture, mutilation, or murder?!? Do these same people care whether those murderers had serrated edges on THEIR knives?
What kind of SICK, WARPED sense of fairness is this, that prefers to show these neck hacking, mosque hiding, women- and children-bombing dogs more concern, more compassion, more sympathy, and more benefit of the doubt than our own young American men and women who are risking their lives to free Iraqi people from a mad, megalomaniacal, murderous tyrant and now to establish a new constitutional, representative government of and by the Iqaqi people, particularly considering that 99% of said American armed forces are conducting themselves honorably, and themselves showing compassion and kind treatment to the local people whose freedom they have just won and are now defending?!?
The United States, and most of the western world as well, has many enemies, and the Geneva Convention rules of warfare DO NOT automatically apply to every one of them because many of our enemies DO NOT MEET THE CRITERIA set forth by the Geneva Convention itself in order for its rules to apply. This is where the general public doesn't have a clue. The U.S./Bush policy against terrorist groups who are openly hostile to our citizens is not wantonly violating Geneva Convention rules; Geneva Convention rules DO NOT APPLY here, and people need to stop assuming that they do! That's no less absurd than assuming that regular traffic laws apply on a NASCAR racetrack.
The unwashed masses love to recite DNC talking points about how the Bush admin. is blatantly ignoring Geneva Convention rules with regard to engaging the terrorists, but almost none of these people are even the slightest bit aware that there is a list of criteria that a group of combatants must meet before they may qualify for Geneva Convention treatment by the other side. One is that they must wear an easily recognizable/identifiable uniform (WHICH AL-QAEDA AND THE OTHER TERRORISTS REFUSE TO DO; ALWAYS CHOOSING LOCAL STREET GARB INSTEAD, TO BLEND IN WITH THE NONCOMBATANT LOCALS--IF ANYTHING, THIS WOULD QUALIFY EVERY ONE OF THEM FOR TREATMENT DUE TO SPYS AND TRAITORS).
Chainsaws have serrated edges, and every army has them. Do Geneva Convention rules apply to them? Looking at this another way, how many US soldiers have used a knife to saw off a body part of an enemy combatant in combat in Afghanistan or Iraq thus far? What about the serrated blade on the Leatherman's and Gerber multi-tools most soldiers now carry, or the serrated side edge of the US GI entrenching tools? Can we automatically assume that just because a soldier is equipped with or has access to a serrated blade or tool, that it is intended to be directly used against the enemy's physical bodies, or that such devices must automatically be classified as personnel weapons?
Now, peace and love to everyone, and Jerry, keep those serrated edges coming! Especially those wicked, Fear-Of-God-inspiring hand ground ones.
