As I read article 4 of The Geneva Convention, the combatants should be
considered prisoners of war.
I didn't bring up waterboarding, so apparently there are some on the
list interested in discussing this topic. I guess Mike and I could
discuss it off-list, but it's a lot more fun to discuss things when
there's a difference of opinion!
;-{)}
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm
Notice that Article 4-A says persons belonging to _one_ of the two categories
(4-A-1 or 4-A-2) shall be considered POW's.
Article 4
A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are
persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen
into the power of the enemy:
1. Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as
members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed
forces.
2. Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps,
including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a
Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory,
even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or
volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil
the following conditions:
(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws
and customs of war.
3. Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a
government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.
4. Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being
members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews,
war correspondents, supply contractors, members of labour units or of
services responsible for the welfare of the armed forces, provided
that they have received authorization from the armed forces which they
accompany, who shall provide them for that purpose with an identity
card similar to the annexed model.
5. Members of crews, including masters, pilots and apprentices, of the
merchant marine and the crews of civil aircraft of the Parties to the
conflict, who do not benefit by more favourable treatment under any
other provisions of international law.
6. Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the
enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces,
without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units,
provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of
war.
B. The following shall likewise be treated as prisoners of war under
the present Convention:
1. Persons belonging, or having belonged, to the armed forces of the
occupied country, if the occupying Power considers it necessary by
reason of such allegiance to intern them, even though it has
originally liberated them while hostilities were going on outside the
territory it occupies, in particular where such persons have made an
unsuccessful attempt to rejoin the armed forces to which they belong
and which are engaged in combat, or where they fail to comply with a
summons made to them with a view to internment.
2. The persons belonging to one of the categories enumerated in the
present Article, who have been received by neutral or non-belligerent
Powers on their territory and whom these Powers are required to intern
under international law, without prejudice to any more favourable
treatment which these Powers may choose to give and with the exception
of Articles 8, 10, 15, 30, fifth paragraph, 58-67, 92, 126 and, where
diplomatic relations exist between the Parties to the conflict and the
neutral or non-belligerent Power concerned, those Articles concerning
the Protecting Power. Where such diplomatic relations exist, the
Parties to a conflict on whom these persons depend shall be allowed to
perform towards them the functions of a Protecting Power as provided
in the present Convention, without prejudice to the functions which
these Parties normally exercise in conformity with diplomatic and
consular usage and treaties.
C. This Article shall in no way affect the status of medical personnel
and chaplains as provided for in Article 33 of the present Convention.
On 10/27/06, ken barber <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> i do not think these guys meet the description to
> have the geneva convention apply. and i do not think
> they should have contitutuitional rights conferred on
> them. i think if we could get their home countries to
> take them they should be turned over to their own
> governments for trail. but, many of their countries
> don't want them either. the other things to do is turn
> them loose and find them again on the battle field as
> has happened with some that were turned loose in the
> past. the other is to use the law that just passed the
> congress.
>
> --- "Kendall D. Corbett" <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > If the prisoners at Guantanamo and elsewhere are
> > prisoners of war,
> > then the Geneva convention should apply. To me
> > "waterboarding" sounds
> > like a violation of Geneva. Wasn't it (or something
> > very similar)
> > done by the VietCong in the 60's and early 70's,
> > with a loud outcry
> > from the military and public at that time?
> >
> > If the captives are not prisoners of war, shouln't
> > US lawe apply,
> > since they are being held on American soil? (US
> > bases are, in effect,
> > US Territory)
> >
> > Finally, what happened to the Judeo-Christian
> > precept of two wrongs
> > not making something right, or the truism that "An
> > eye for an eye
> > makes both blind"?
> >
> > Kendall
> >
> > Who doesn't think _anyone_ can have it both ways,
> >
> > On 10/26/06, Mike Collis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > > Republicans are shooting themselves in the feet.
> > What is going on? Ken, do
> > > you have any idea?
> > >
> > > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15431835/
> > >
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