GUANTANAMO BAY PRISONERS TO BE HANDLED UNDER GENEVA CONVENTIONS
Randy L. Harrington
July 11, 2006
WASHINGTON—All Guantanamo Bay prisoners are to be processed under the proscriptions of the Geneva Conventions the White House announced.
The White House, who initially fought the idea that Guantanamo Bay detainees were prisoners of war entitled to the Geneva Conventions rights, has now announced a change in policy only two-weeks after the US Supreme Court decision that rebuked the President, and ruled that the Geneva Conventions apply to Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
The White House tried to play down the policy change when Tony Snow, the Bush Spokesman said that “It is really not a reversal of policy—humane treatment has always been the standard.”
The Pentagon outlined the new standards to the military in their July 7 Memo that says that all military detainees are entitled to humane treatment and to certain basic legal standards when they are tried under the proscriptions of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.
Bush's policies regarding the detainees have come under attack by the international community for its due process violations and treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
The United States has been using Guantanamo Bay Cuba to house hundreds of detainees that they alleged are terrorists that have been captured in Afghanistan, and Iraq.
In June the US Supreme Court ruled in a 5-to-3 decision that the Bush administrations did not have the authority to order that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay be tried by a military commission.
The Court based its decision on both US military law and the Geneva Conventions, and ruled against Bush when they found that Guantanamo Bay prisoners were entitled to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions.
The Supreme Court left open the possibility that prisoners could be tried by a military commission if Congress established appropriate legal rules for doing so.
The Senate Judiciary committee began hearings on the issue on Tuesday morning, just as the news of the new military policy became public.
The new policy is applicable only to the detainees that are being held by the military, and not those in CIA custody in other parts of the world. Daniel DellOrto, a lawyer with the Defense Department testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning that there were about 1,000 prisoners being held in US military custody around the world. The CIA is holding the September 11 al Qaeda mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, which the new policy does not cover.
The Geneva Conventions were passed during World War II to guarantee the minimum standards of protection be afforded for non-combatants, former combatants, and prisoners of war captured by the enemy. Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions is applicable to the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay because most are prisoners from non-recognized foreign states.
SOURCES/CONTRIBUTORS: AP WIRE; WHITE HOUSE
Copyright 2006 Randy L. Harrington. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
The White House, who initially fought the idea that Guantanamo Bay detainees were prisoners of war entitled to the Geneva Conventions rights, has now announced a change in policy only two-weeks after the US Supreme Court decision that rebuked the President, and ruled that the Geneva Conventions apply to Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
The White House tried to play down the policy change when Tony Snow, the Bush Spokesman said that “It is really not a reversal of policy—humane treatment has always been the standard.”
The Pentagon outlined the new standards to the military in their July 7 Memo that says that all military detainees are entitled to humane treatment and to certain basic legal standards when they are tried under the proscriptions of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.
Bush's policies regarding the detainees have come under attack by the international community for its due process violations and treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
The United States has been using Guantanamo Bay Cuba to house hundreds of detainees that they alleged are terrorists that have been captured in Afghanistan, and Iraq.
In June the US Supreme Court ruled in a 5-to-3 decision that the Bush administrations did not have the authority to order that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay be tried by a military commission.
The Court based its decision on both US military law and the Geneva Conventions, and ruled against Bush when they found that Guantanamo Bay prisoners were entitled to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions.
The Supreme Court left open the possibility that prisoners could be tried by a military commission if Congress established appropriate legal rules for doing so.
The Senate Judiciary committee began hearings on the issue on Tuesday morning, just as the news of the new military policy became public.
The new policy is applicable only to the detainees that are being held by the military, and not those in CIA custody in other parts of the world. Daniel DellOrto, a lawyer with the Defense Department testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning that there were about 1,000 prisoners being held in US military custody around the world. The CIA is holding the September 11 al Qaeda mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, which the new policy does not cover.
The Geneva Conventions were passed during World War II to guarantee the minimum standards of protection be afforded for non-combatants, former combatants, and prisoners of war captured by the enemy. Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions is applicable to the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay because most are prisoners from non-recognized foreign states.
SOURCES/CONTRIBUTORS: AP WIRE; WHITE HOUSE
Copyright 2006 Randy L. Harrington. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.