Editorial: Defending freedom

After a rapid and successful beginning to the campaign against Iraq--with coalition airstrikes against Baghdad and other areas of Iraq and in which ground troops have raced across the desert to within less than a 100 miles of the Iraqi capital--U.S. and British forces suffered their first significant casualties this weekend.

In addition to engaging in heavy fighting in several Iraqi cities--notably Nasiriya--the coalition forces lost 12 soldiers from a supply convoy. These soldiers are presumed to have been captured by Iraqi forces. Images of these prisoners have been broadcast on Iraqi television, as have images of what Iraqi television says are dead American soldiers. The hearts of the nation and the world should go out to the prisoners of war, their families and the families of all casualties.

These first reports that Iraq is capturing prisoners of war should raise serious concerns among the civilized world about how these prisoners will be treated. During the Gulf War, Iraq flagrantly violated the Geneva Conventions regarding the humane treatment of prisoners of war, and preliminary reports about these prisoners suggest that Iraq is once again flouting this accord.

Regardless of whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction--which they likely do--the inhumane treatment of its prisoners of war testifies to the claim that the Iraqi regime has no regard for either international law or basic human dignity. Indeed, the Iraqi regime seems to lacks a regard for the basic value of human life.

Moreover, Iraq seems to have no regard for the rules of war. Reports from the front indicate that Iraqi soldiers have been changing into civilian clothes to prevent coalition forces from distinguishing between combatants and non-combatants. Other reports suggest that some Iraqi units pretend to surrender but then do not. When Iraqis resort to such barbarous acts, it becomes far more difficult for coalition forces to minimize civilian casualties.

In contrast to such actions, coalition forces have done an admirable job of limiting civilian casualties wherever possible through extraordinarily precise airstrikes. Coalition forces also have taken several thousand Iraqi prisoners of war and are treating them humanely according to the Geneva Conventions.

This difference between coalition and Iraqi conduct demonstrates the fundamental divide between the coalition governments and the Iraqi regime and provides an example of the reason why the Iraqi regime must be removed. The coalition governments have a track record of respecting individual rights and protecting civil liberties, whereas the Iraqi regime does not even have the decency to treat prisoners of war humanely. But, from a regime that has murdered its own civilians with weapons of mass destruction, nothing more should be expected.

Despite the recent casualties, the coalition must press onward with its just mission to remove Saddam Hussein from power, liberate the Iraqi people, and destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The fight will not be easy and there will be inevitable resistance, but the results will be worth the hard fight, as illustrated by the rejoicing of the Iraqi people who have so far been liberated.