From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Sat May 08 2004 - 04:31:28 MDT
[Blunderov] Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld seems woefully ignorant of
the provisions of the Geneva Convention; he said 'My impression is that what
has been charged thus far is abuse, which I believe is technically different
from torture. I don't know if it is correct to say what you said, that
torture has taken place, or that there's been a conviction for torture. And
therefore I'm not going to address the torture word.'
He should acquaint himself, preferably quite soon, with
<q>
Article 17. Every prisoner of war, when questioned on the subject, is bound
to give only his surname, first names and rank, date of birth, and army,
regimental, personal or serial number, or failing this, equivalent
information.
No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be
inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind
whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened,
insulted, or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.
</q>
But do watch this space. I predict that the next move will be 'Well you see
these people that were 'abused' are not actually PoW's at all, what they are
is terrorists and, in spite of the fact that they were detained by the US
military during the course of the prosecution of a war, they do not qualify
for protection under the 3rd Geneva Convention. The fact that no proper
tribunal has yet been convened to determine their status, and the fact that,
under the convention, all such dubious cases are to be treated AS IF THEY
ARE in fact POWS until such a tribunal has made such a determination, is
neither here nor there. This provision is an archaic remnant of a former age
and is no longer appropriate to a world in which WMD may yet be found in
Iraq.'
The USA is a signatory, so far, to the 3rd Geneva Convention.
Best Regards
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