Your thoughts on the Colombian...

[T@T]

military using the red cross emblem to rescue hostages? can and will this endanger people in the future? As much as it was a great story that these 15 people were finally free I suspect this may hurt future projects and their help worldwide for the red-cross.

Your thoughts?

Full story

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americ...oss/index.html

[Slava]

That whole situation was pretty crazy from the video that I saw! Its great that these people were rescued, but you do have to wonder how this will affect legitimate aid workers around the world in the future.

Although it worked, it looks a bit short-sighted.

[CaptainCrunch]

Its not like the red cross logo has prevented people from taking shots at them when they enter a danger zone.

In a hostage rescue, you do what you do to get the people out with a minimum of casualties.

Maybe people won't shoot at red cross labeled vehicles if there's a possibility that they'll fire back.

[Azure]

Big deal.

If it worked....good for them.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Its not like the red cross logo has prevented people from taking shots at them when they enter a danger zone.

In a hostage rescue, you do what you do to get the people out with a minimum of casualties.

Maybe people won't shoot at red cross labeled vehicles if there's a possibility that they'll fire back.

Or maybe they'll start shooting at them pre-emptively for fear of being fired upon.

But I guess if you're already violating the sovereignty of your neighbours, a lesser Geneva convention violation isn't much.

[octothorp]

Columbia has apologized for this; it's good to see them step forward and admit fault here so quickly. As a one time slip up it's not really a big deal, but if it becomes common practice in any way shape or form, it pretty much completely undermines the effectiveness of the Red Cross.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americ...oss/index.html