We need to reconsider the Geneva Convention.

OK, flowing off from the death penalty thread, I have been doing some googling and I found a potential problem.

There are a few categories of people on the battle field.

Soldiers are people who wear uniforms. Everyone know who they are and if you mess with them, they can kill you.

Mercenaries are not soldiers and they are not supposed to be killing people. Even so, if you are waiting on line for something in Iraq, the dude ahead of you who has battle fatigues on is probably someone that you do not want to piss off.

Unlawful combatants are people who are fighting but not bothering to wear uniforms.

With that much of a background, what about the people who operate predator drones or other robotic equipment? Granted, the predator is currently only operated from military bases halfway around the world. Thus one would assume that soldiers wear uniforms to work. Even so, there is potential for “private military contractors” to have teleoperated gear.

So the question that comes to mind is this:

If it is operated by some guy who wears jeans and a t-shirt to work then, well sure, he is a mercenary. That much is no different than if he was a merc out in the field. However, is he an unlawful combatant for dressing in street clothing for a day at the office killing people half way around the world?

Is me sitting on my ass playing FPS games different from some other dude doing the same thing different because his target really bleed?