Can Weaker Countries Break War Rules?

April 11, 2003 — -- U.S. Army Spc. 4th Class Jim Doyle never saw a single conventional battle during his year in uniform in Vietnam, but rather a nerve-wracking succession of sneak attacks, trip wires, land mines and a never-ending field of combat where "the unexpected is the rule."

"You never knew who the enemy was because they all wore civilian clothes," Doyle says. "The guy who cut your hair during the day might be setting the booby trap at night."

But though it was "somewhat frustrating" when "one side is playing by the rules and the other side isn't," he understands why the enemy did it.

"In some cases, the only way to fight back … is with guerrilla tactics," says Doyle, now public affairs chairman for the Vietnam Veterans of America. "I can see how that is a very effective method of warfare when you're faced with the overwhelming numbers and equipment that the Iraqis are, at this point."

Clearly, rules of war that bind both the United States and Iraq forbid tactics such as sneak attacks by civilian-clad fighters melting into crowds, or attacks from the cover of civilian centers like mosques, schools or hospitals. U.S. officials plan to prosecute as war criminals Iraqis who have been attacking American soldiers in such ways, or who ordered the attacks.

Fighters violating the rules can legally be denied rights afforded to conventional prisoners of war, and possibly even face execution, some argue.

But despite the clear-cut legal conventions, in weaker countries, under certain circumstances, some can see ambiguity.

"The question does arise as to whether the U.S. can claim that combatants cannot use the only means of warfare that offer them any chance of success," says Anthony Cordesman, ABCNEWS' senior military analyst.

Many Arabs see the U.S.-led war in Iraq as a David and Goliath struggle, waged without proper international approval, with high-tech bombs that can kill civilians, and which therefore might allow for the bending of traditional rules of war, says ABCNEWS analyst Fawaz Gerges, chairman of Middle Eastern studies and international affairs at Sarah Lawrence College.