When you speak to me of "combatants" do you mean the people who shot a mother of ten in the back of the head? Because that's not combat. Do you mean the men who machine-gunned a beautiful racehorse? Because that's not combat either.

Do you mean the ones who planted explosive devices in rubbish bins outside a shopping centre, to kill two little boys? That isn't combat. Or the people who smuggled drugs? Not combat from where I'm sitting. Or the ones who kneecapped children? That's not combat.

Perhaps you meant the people who covered up child rape but that's not combat, is it? The ones who ran the extortion rackets? Is that combat to you? Or did you mean the people who terrorised their own community into silence? Is that combat?

Did you mean the men who laundered diesel? Was that combat? Or the ones who planted the bomb which killed a couple of octogenarians and two teenage boys on a boat? Combat to you, was it? The ones who tarred and feathered young women were engaged in combat, were they?

Dress it up any way you want. Apply all the euphemisms you can think of. Justify it to yourself in any way you feel necessary. But ask yourself: If it was justified then - why is it not justified now?
It was never justified to me and it never will be.
#NotInMyName