“What is it, Battles?”
“It’s the matter of prisoners of war,” I
began.
“What about it?”
“Are we taking any? Or has an order come
down not to take any?”
“You mean are we shooting insurgent
prisoners?”
“Yes, that’s what I mean. I came upon an
incident an hour or so ago in which I saw four insurgents lined up
and shot in the back.”
“I think the directive is to leave the
treatment of prisoners to the discretion of the local unit or field
commander.”
“So we are executing prisoners of war? Is
that what you are saying?”
“I didn’t say that. I said whatever
treatment or punishment that is meted out is up to each unit to
decide.”
“What about gathering intelligence from
prisoners? Is that no longer a priority?”
“Gathering intelligence from these monkeys?
Most of them are illiter
