Mark Malone, they were fighting on their own soil against an enemy that had invaded their country and there was an existing Government in Exile that advocated that. A Saudi or Morrocan in the ‘Stan does no get this as coverage.
My understanding is that the Nazis shot the Maquis as soon as they were taken, they even shot Tito’s troops when they were captured in uniform. The Maquis tried to make sure that they wore the appropriate markings indicated by the Conventions by wearing specific clothing and an armband to show that they were combatants. They went out of their way to avoid confusing themselves with the general population when taking action against the enemy. They also stopped fighting when the enemy left their homeland.
AQ can’t have a homeland, all of the land on the planet is spoken for and no one is taking credit for them. They don’t have a government (in exile or otherwise). They act almost exclusively against the population, or hide directly behind them when a fight does start.
It does a great disservice to the people that fought the Nazis to equate AQ with them.
BTW the only reason that we sent to poor Russians to their death after the war was that Truman was trying to placate Stalin. He was a boob.
