geogob said:
That is so true. I think that was the first thing I learned about these universal rules.
And for those who thing this has nothing to do with the kind of setting inf is in... just remember the map Irak... the war is "officially" over in Irak for weeks now, so these rules do not apply there (or not all of them anyway).
That is NOT stictly true. So long as the combatants have a uniform they are still covered under the conventions (in fact even out of uniform you have quite a lot of rights under the conventions). The fact that a country is occupied and the occupying forces 'deem' the war to be over doesn't make it so.
The conflict in Iraq will officially be over when a recognised government of Iraq signs a treaty of somekind, be that an unconditional surrender document, something with conditions or whatever. Now last time I looked the government in Iraq just ceased to be, so until they have a recognised government they CAN'T surrender and the conflict continues.
Take WW2 as an example, the Yugoslavs fought the Germans from 1941 to the end...in uniform. The Chinese fought the Japanese and the Dutch fought them both. The 'Free French' fought the Germans dispite the French government signing a peace accord with the Germans in 1940 and they were still covered by the convention.
Also bear in mind the numbers of soldiers on both sides who where miss-treated and not accorded their rights under the conventions. If the Germans had won WW2 there would have been just as many allied commanders at the Oxford trials (or where ever the Germans decided to hold their warcrimes trials).
The winning side writes the history and makes the rules up afterwards, but that doesn't excuse some of the things that have been done....then or now.
As an aside Wars don't have to end. The Korean war is still officially ongoing... the ceasefire has held for decades but no peace treaty has ever been signed and one of the baltic states, I beleive, was at war with Germany from about 1915 through to 1945 due to not having signed anything in 1918 with everone else.
*shudder*