Gitmo bay and the Geneva Convention:

[Ohioguy]

Re: Gitmo bay and the Geneva Convention:

@Ma Mooli

og: if we were to mete out treatment on the basis of the actions of perpetrators, prisoners in america would be treated a whole lot differently. the system doesnae work that way and you an I bloody well know that. so do us a favour an quit with the defensiveness already.

Ma,

First, the US certainly does treat different perpetrators differently:

Death Penalty
Life in Prison
Maximum Security Prison
Medium Security Prison
Minimum Security Prison
Half Way House
Time off for good Behavior
Parole

Second, just for the record, Human Rights Watch quietly agrees that Al Qaedda prisoners probably do not deserve POW status:

"Al-Qaeda fighters, unless they can show that they were part of the Taliban armed forces, must meet the specific standards for POW status for members of irregular forces. First, they must be members of “militias [or] other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory.” Second, they have to fulfill some minimum conditions: they must be under responsible command; have a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; carry arms openly; and conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.

The members of al-Qaeda may not be entitled to POW status because they may not meet all of these criteria; in particular they have made clear that they do not conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war. While such persons may more appropriately be called “unlawful” or “non-privileged” combatants, it does not follow that they can be denied all protections of the Geneva Conventions, such as humane treatment."

http://hrw.org/backgrounder/usa/pow-bck.htm

From a strictly legal standard, the debate about POW status is far more rational than the leftist press would have one believe. Now I agree that we can all debate “treatment”. Does US treatment constitute cruel, inhumane, humiliating and degrading treatment? By historical standards the 500 people at Guantanamo have extraordinarily good treatment. Two thirds of the prisoners in Russian and German and Japanese POW camps died before they were repatriated. Treatment of American Prisoners in Hanoi was horrific. That is principally the reason for the 1949 Conventions, large scale conflicts where tens of thousands of prisoners are held. Do American interrogation techniques cross a line over to torture? Certainly that is debatable. I personally think that Guantanamo is almost laboratory clean in in it’s approach to interrogations. My concern is not Guantanamo, but other prisons in other places.

However, I also hate to see the US as a soft target. Al Qaedda hit US embassies, the Cole, Khobar towers, and tried to get the WTC once before they got our full and complete attention. I think they figured that we would do a Clintonesque lob of a few missles in retaliation. They miscalculated. The US is not soft, and if a fight comes to our shores we will meet the challenge. That is the reason Guantanamo will stay open. We will not appear weak to Al Qaedda.