[gavinlit]

I'm sure these types of tactics come as no great surprise. If you invade a country and you have superior technology, firepower, communications and numbers the opposition will generally not line themselves up in neat ranks on an open field ready to be decimated. It makes much more sense to retreat back into 'regular' society and engage the enemy in a long running guerrilla type method. Not particularly pretty, and not particularly good for the local people but then, neither is bombing or long range artillery, which is somehow seen as more honourable.

Capturing of civillians and execution is not very nice and yet it's difficult for the western forces to really complain too much. Pot calling the kettle black really and thats the difficulty when you throw the rule book out the window. You lose all rights to point the finger and complain. So to be blunt, if you invade a sovereign nation and simultaneously ignore all previous conventions regarding detention/detainment you can't really expect people to be too sympathetic when some of your own civilians suffer casualties that are 'against the rules'.