The right and wrong way to kill a man

The verdict handed down to Capt. Robert Semrau yesterday shows that even in a fight with the Taliban, the military wants to play by the rules.

Capt. Robert Semrau was demoted and dismissed from the Canadian Forces yesterday for doing something Canadian soldiers do all the time in Afghanistan: he shot a Taliban fighter. The problem is that the man was wounded, unarmed, and possibly already dead. But the verdict of the military court has many Canadians confused because Semrau was previously acquitted of murdering the man, and it was never determined exactly what happened.

“Either he killed a wounded man, or he violated a corpse, or he didn't,” writes Eric Morse in the Ottawa Citizen, “[so] what was Capt. Semrau guilty of?” Not even the judge seemed to know for sure. “Surely, an assumption is being made here that goes beyond the pale,” writes Morse, and “in law, military or civilian, ‘something happened’ just isn't good enough.”

The Toronto Sun’s Joe Warmington is spitting mad (again), declaring that “Semrau should get a medal and then be sent back to Afghanistan to kill as many of those Taliban bastards as possible.” In a tooth-and-nail fight with a savage enemy, the last thing we want is for Canadian soldiers to be worrying about being court-martialed, but “that’s what this firing of Semrau accomplishes,” Warmington says. He suggests that the military judge who sentenced Semrau should go over to Afghanistan to take his place. Let’s hope he’s not holding his breath on that one.

For some perspective on the "soldiers’ code," see Paul Robinson’s excellent column, also in the Ottawa Citizen. Throughout history, warriors have had a grudging respect for some of their enemies. In theory, that respect for common humanity now extends to everyone, and under Canadian Forces guidelines, “respecting the dignity of all persons is the highest priority, higher even than serving Canada.” That likely accounts for Semrau’s discharge. And while the soldier argued during his trial that he shot the Afghan out of mercy, Robinson asks, “How would one of our soldiers have behaved if faced by a fatally wounded Canadian? Would he have at first abandoned him and then shot him, as Semrau did the Afghan?” Probably not.