I touched on this in an earlier post, but here’s a Newsday article on our practice of kidnapping family members of people wanted for questioning in Iraq.

Of course this violates the Geneva convention, but when has that stopped us before?

Previous articles have quoted enthusiastic soldiers describing what a useful tool hostage taking has become in Iraq. The previous article I read (which I’m still hunting for) (found it) seemed oblivious to the war crimes being committed. It was literally a puff piece on hostage taking. Who would have thought such a thing was possible?

Update: Relevant quote from the July 28, 2003 Washington Post piece-

Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: “If you want your family released, turn yourself in.” Such tactics are justified, he said, because, “It’s an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info.” They would have been released in due course, he added later.

There is no mention of the Geneva convention in the article.

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