Several Interesting Lobellian Notes

First of all, today in International Law....we were discussing the Geneva Conventions and more specifically what ought to be 'the line' in determining what types of targets are legitimate targets for bombardment (namely for usage of air power). At one point I made the point that was something to the effect that if you drop a bomb to kill a couple of bad guys, and that bomb kills a lot of civilians - the population is going to be even more pissed off at the U.S. troops....such that basically if there is a lot of collateral damage - the bombing may backfire and leave your troops in a worse position. Okay so here's the interesting/cool part - one of our military experts (of which there are two) absolutely agreed, and noted that when he was in Afghanistan this was a concern that the military took into account when using force....... So for about five seconds I was like "Hell Yeah - I wanna be Secretary of Defense" - and then I was like "Ummm no, all war is pretty bad and it ain't a fun business to get involved in" - but the moral of the story is that sometimes the military does follow international law....albeit only when its expedient and convenient.

Second and hopefully the subject of a later post.....it's come to light that there is another individual who survived (such that he can tell the tale) being extraordinarily rendered by the U.S. - A German citizen who ended up in an Afghani prison - where he was tortured for 5 months - soley because he had a suspicious name. Apparently the ACLU has filed suit in Virginia.......damn 4th Circuit. So this should be an interesting case - I hope to look into it further a little bit later on.

Lastly - and most importantly - I received my first full-out "A" in law school today. That's right folks! Granted it's only a 2.0 credit class, but nonetheless - Foreign Affairs & the Constitution - I own that shit!!!!

Okay - gotta try to call a friend and then find a place to study for IBT.