motorfirebox

Interesting concept that popped up at Small Wars Journal recently: "combatant with combat immunity" versus "combatant without combat immunity". It's a dissection of lawful vs unlawful combatant, in the context of the division between military action and law enforcement. A combatant with combat immunity--a lawful combatant--has legal immunity to charges of murder, assault, kidnapping, and a host of other crimes while acting in the capacity of combatant. That is, he's allowed to kill, wound, and capture enemy combatants, break their shit, and take (capture, not loot) their stuff. A combatant without combat immunity is, obviously, someone who acts in combat but doesn't have legal immunity.