Was 9/11 so long ago ???

[Dan:]

P-rock makes a good point about Geneva. People always complain about Gitmo and the Geneva convention as a legally binding treaty that GWB has "violated" and should be prosecuted for. There are a few reasons why the Geneva convention is irrelevant legally to our situation.

1. The United States has not ratified the Geneva Convention, therefore it is not legally bound by its terms.

2. the Geneva convention requires that captured combatants must: a) have a defined hierarchical system of command, wear defined uniforms, c) carry arms openly, and d) operate in accordance with the convention in order to be treated with the protections of the Geneva convention. Otherwise they are determined to be "enemy combatants" and are not protected by Geneva.

any terrorists captured and sent to Gitmo do not fulfill these requirements and therefore would not be granted protection of the Geneva Convention even IF we had ratified it.

also, these "enemy combatants" are reviewed each year to determine whether they are still threats to the US. The release some of these prisoners every year and of those released, 1/3 are CAUGHT and detained again for participating in terrorist activities.

So the next time someone tries to argue that we are violating international law by not providing detainees with the protection of the Geneva convention, just remember to tell them that the protections don't apply to the terrorists under the convention's own wording and that the Convention doesn't apply the US because international law is only binding to those who sign it.

[frogtog]

Come on Glen, this ain't political, It's American History. ;D

[Pond Hopper]

I agree with PRock, when the enemy is not fighting and following the Geneva Convention rules then why should we.  I am not a fighter by any means but my dad told me never to fight dirty, unless the person you were fighting was dirty.  Thank God I have never encountered that but I still do not get where people feel sorry for the terrorist detainees.

[Troutfisher]

I'd better keep my opinion out of this or you'll all be voting for Mike Huckabee by the time I'm done.  ;D