Thank God: US to comply with Geneva Conventions
Today, the Pentagon announced that the United States military will resume compliance with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which requires humane treatment and a minimum standard of judicial protections for prisoners. [New York Times]
The Bush adminstration's disregard for the Geneva Conventions has had a disastrous effect on the Nation's reputation internationally. That should have come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with the treaty's history. Common Article 3 is part of the Third Geneva Convention, relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, which was signed in 1949, in response to the brutal treatment of prisoners of war during World War II. [icrc.org] The 1949 treaty's introduction reflects the signers' intent to address the miserable conditions WWII prisoners had experienced:
"It became necessary to revise the 1929 Convention on a number of points owing to the changes that had occurred in the conduct of warfare and the consequences thereof, as well as in the living condition of peoples. Experience had shown that the daily life of prisoners depended specifically on the interpretation given to the general regulations. Consequently, certain regulations were given a more explicit form which was lacking in the preceding provisions . . . The categories of persons entitled to prisoner of war status were broadened in accordance with Conventions I and II. The conditions and places of captivity were more precisely defined, in particular with regard to the labour of prisoners of war, their financial resources, the relief they receive and the judicial proceedings instituted against them." [icrc.org]
What I will never understand is why the history of the Third Geneva Convention was not a more prominent part of the national debate over the Bush administration's detention and torture policies. At the very same time President Bush was comparing the Iraq War to World War II [CNN], he was undoing one of the major legal and moral commitments we made in that war's aftermath. Every American should be proud that our country is back on the side of rest of the civilized world by complying with the Geneva Conventions.
"In Big Shift, US to Follow Geneva Treaty for Detainees" [New York Times]
PDF: Defense Department Memo, July 7, 2006 [New York Times]
"White House: Detainees entitled to Geneva Conventions protections" [CNN]
UPDATED 7/12/06:
Will the reinstatement of Geneva Conventions protections for prisoners really change anything? Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post warns us not to count our chickens before they hatch:
"More Ambiguity About Torture" [Washington Post]
The Bush adminstration's disregard for the Geneva Conventions has had a disastrous effect on the Nation's reputation internationally. That should have come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with the treaty's history. Common Article 3 is part of the Third Geneva Convention, relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, which was signed in 1949, in response to the brutal treatment of prisoners of war during World War II. [icrc.org] The 1949 treaty's introduction reflects the signers' intent to address the miserable conditions WWII prisoners had experienced:
"It became necessary to revise the 1929 Convention on a number of points owing to the changes that had occurred in the conduct of warfare and the consequences thereof, as well as in the living condition of peoples. Experience had shown that the daily life of prisoners depended specifically on the interpretation given to the general regulations. Consequently, certain regulations were given a more explicit form which was lacking in the preceding provisions . . . The categories of persons entitled to prisoner of war status were broadened in accordance with Conventions I and II. The conditions and places of captivity were more precisely defined, in particular with regard to the labour of prisoners of war, their financial resources, the relief they receive and the judicial proceedings instituted against them." [icrc.org]
What I will never understand is why the history of the Third Geneva Convention was not a more prominent part of the national debate over the Bush administration's detention and torture policies. At the very same time President Bush was comparing the Iraq War to World War II [CNN], he was undoing one of the major legal and moral commitments we made in that war's aftermath. Every American should be proud that our country is back on the side of rest of the civilized world by complying with the Geneva Conventions.
"In Big Shift, US to Follow Geneva Treaty for Detainees" [New York Times]
PDF: Defense Department Memo, July 7, 2006 [New York Times]
"White House: Detainees entitled to Geneva Conventions protections" [CNN]
UPDATED 7/12/06:
Will the reinstatement of Geneva Conventions protections for prisoners really change anything? Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post warns us not to count our chickens before they hatch:
"More Ambiguity About Torture" [Washington Post]
posted at 10:14:00 PM | permalink
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