new weapons require new rules for war

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/10/AR2010111005500.html

The above Washington Post article was written November 11th. I bookmarked it because I knew it to be very important regarding worldwide conflicts now and in the future. I finally found it again here in December. The article talks about "This is just one example of the problems regarding drones and satellites that affects almost all nations directly or indirectly now and in the future"

Anyway, it seems in this example the Saudis were having a cross border dispute between themselves and the Houthis in Yemen. However, their bombing of the Houthis was killing too many civilians and causing them problems because of this. So, they first turned to the U.S. which first approved and then disapproved of giving the Saudis Satellite information so less civilians would die. So, the Saudis turned to the French who approved to lessen the civilian deaths. So, the Saudis were so successful with this information that soon the Houthis were asking for a truce.

All this example was not to single out either the Saudis or the Houthis but to illustrate the ethical problem of all these devastating weapons worldwide including real time satellite tracking photos and even real time video of events on the ground and how they quickly end conflicts and wars in a devastating way whenever they are used worldwide. Even if you look at the way that the U.S. assasinates Taliban leaders one can see that even though it may eliminate U.S. potential and real enemies that it creates a loss of local tribal leaders in these areas as well. Often these leaders have no idea about 9-11 or about even why the U.S. is in Afghanistan or Iraq because they aren't educated in that way necessarily. So, when people are assasinated without even knowing what other nations are fighting them for it makes all this stuff even more murky and confusing to everyone.

For this reason and thousands of others rules need to be established so warfare is more fair and less like the cloak and dagger of spies the way it is now becoming where people perish with no knowledge of why they even are being killed often. There needs to be more clarity worldwide in regard to the rules of war.

I know in the present world of terrorism where the innocent are often killed on a whim it is hard to stay focused on the Geneva Convention. But if no lives mean anything to anyone, then soon your life and my life won't mean anything either without more fairness worldwide established within some ethical framework.

begin quote from Washington post article at top of page:

The "laws of war" may sound like an antiquated concept in this age of robo-weapons. But, in truth, a clear international legal regime has never been more needed: It is a fact of modern life that people in conflict zones live in the perpetual cross hairs of deadly weapons. Rules are needed for targets and targeters alike. end quote.