At war with the law in Iraq

LAST WEEK'S killing of Abu Musab Zarqawi may mark a turning point in the struggle against terrorism and the insurgency in Iraq. But the fact that he was killed by a pair of U.S. bombs, rather than captured and turned over to the Iraqis for trial, does no favors for Iraq in its struggle to establish the rule of law. Nor does it help that the bombing killed five others -- maybe terrorists, but maybe innocent civilians.

Under the laws of war, Zarqawi was undoubtedly a legitimate target. Enemy commanders are fair game. And no one outside his family should shed tears for Zarqawi, who maimed and murdered hundreds with ruthless brutality. Moreover, there may have been valid military reasons to blow him up rather than capture him. According to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, military officials feared that going in on the ground risked Zarqawi's escape, even though U.S. and Iraqi forces had surrounded the house Zarqawi was in and, indeed, had taken over the entire village.

Nevertheless, there is something disturbing about targeted killing when capture is possible. Suppose that police in the U.S. surrounded the house of a domestic terrorist -- let's say John Allen Muhammad, the Washington-area sniper. We would be outraged if the police simply blew up the house and everyone in it. Everyone knows that the police shouldn't act as Muhammad's judge, jury and executioner, and no one would accept the explanation of "collateral damage" for the deaths of the other people in the house. Ruby Ridge and Waco were disasters, not victories.

In an essay in "The Future of the Army Profession," Tony Pfaff (an Army lieutenant colonel and a veteran of the Persian Gulf and Iraq wars) explains that the professional morality of police and warriors differs sharply. In Pfaff's words: "Police are always looking to use the least force possible. But Marines and soldiers are trained to defeat enemies.... They are always looking to use the most force permissible." The gap between police ethics and warrior ethics creates tough decisions in Iraq, where U.S. troops function as both warriors and police, where some adversaries are enemies and others are criminals, and where innocent civilians are everywhere. Pfaff asks the crucial question: "Do civilians have a right to expect the kind of protection U.S. citizens would receive if the same kinds of operations were conducted in the United States?"