Also see: Occupation Iraq: U.S. Routinely Violates Iran and Syria Borders
"War by the rules"
"The 27-page document, labeled SECRET, though much of it is actually unclassified, was obtained and released on February 4 by the Wikileaks website. Wikileaks is an uncensorable version of Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis.
The document has received attention in the mainstream press because it it appears to authorize raids into Syria and Iran. One of the most interesting parts of the ROE is that it indicates that US attacks likely to result in civilian deaths required authorization at the top of the Pentagon, by the secretary of defense. Thus, as the ROE states repeatedly, "If the target is in a HIGH CD [collateral damage] area, SECDEF approval is required."
.... Interestingly, as the Wikileaks analysis points out, all attacks, except those in self-defense or active pursuit, with a reasonable possibility of harming 30 or more civilians needed approval from then defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Presumably such approval would need to be in writing. That means there may be an extensive documentary record of requests for attacks with the potential for resulting in significant civilian casualties.
In theory Congress could demand access to these documents to determine which attacks resulting in civilian casualties were authorized. That could potentially provide the basis for prosecuting possible war crimes committed in the course of the occupation."
To see those war criminals in the dock would be a dream come true!!!
Seeing as Congress would be in charge of the documents, however, means that it will remain a dream, too.
