Word: rumsfelds
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...seems weirdly priggish to discuss the brutalities of war and the technicalities of law in the same breath. But it was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has heretofore made no secret of his impatience with legalisms, who launched this salvo last week: "It's a violation of the Geneva Convention," he angrily told CNN, "[for Iraqi TV] to be showing prisoners of war in a humiliating manner." Rumsfeld was reacting to news that al-Jazeera network had broadcast Iraqi TV images of bruised, terrified American prisoners of war being questioned by Iraqi reporters. Opponents of the war responded that...
...international community, including the U.S., which ratified them in 1955, and Iraq, which agreed to them in 1956. The 85,000-word conventions spell out rules for the ethical treatment of wounded and ill soldiers and sailors at battle (the first and second conventions), POWs (the third, which Rumsfeld invoked) and civilians (the fourth). The basic idea behind all four is that those in wartime who cannot or do not pick up a weapon must be treated with humanity. Not only do the combatants have an obligation not to hurt civilians, POWs and wounded fighters, but in many cases, they...
Many Arabs are still deeply angered by the U.S. treatment of Taliban fighters and suspected terrorists at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. When the detainees first began to arrive there in January 2002, Rumsfeld said the U.S. was planning--"for the most part"--to treat them in a manner "reasonably consistent" with the Geneva Conventions. Human-rights groups howled that he was waffling on the long-standing U.S. commitment to the global agreement. The Bush Administration argued that the conventions weren't appropriate for many detainees because they were essentially criminals--that is, terrorists without countries...
...third convention alone has 23,000 words, but much of the recent bickering has centered on these: "Prisoners of war must at all times be protected ... against insults and public curiosity." Rumsfeld said the Iraqi TV and al-Jazeera broadcasts violated that rule, since the Americans, frightened and possibly roughed up by captors, were asked pointed questions--Where are you from? Why are you here?--before a TV audience. If it turns out that other Americans in their unit were executed (the broadcasts also showed a group of dead Americans, one of whom had a visible gunshot wound...
...says this responsibility is something Pentagon commanders take seriously; there are scores of military lawyers deployed with the troops to help answer such legal questions. It may seem strange to think of lawyers running around the desert with copies of a 54-year-old Swiss treaty, but as Rumsfeld knows, it is that very document that could help those young American captives get home safe. --With reporting by Perry Bacon Jr./Washington