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Quote by: Zeebadee You want debate? Then try putting forward something with substance in it.
If they are POW's then they have certain rights accorded them by the Geneva Accords. bush doesn't want them to have these rights, so he doesn't classify them as POW's.
If they are criminals, they have the right to be charged and tried as criminals. bush also doesn't want them to have these rights, so they're not criminals either.
bush wants the right to just lock people up, never presenting any evidence that they've done anything wrong, with no legal rights at all, for as long as he wants, no questions asked. No one, bush included, should be allowed to lock people up for whatever whim without some legal oversight. While we have GI's fighting and dying in Iraq to "bring them democracy", bush is violating at Guantanamo and other places the very ideals he professes to honor so much. The fact tha the claims to be doing it for our own good doesn't sway me in the least, given his track record for lying and hypocrisy. |
Bush
SHOULD NOT call the detainees POWs. Because they are not. From the GA
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,
fulfill 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.
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The detainees do not meet the requirements to be POWs. Fairly simple.
However, from the 1977 Protocols
Article 44. -Combatants and prisoners of war
This is the most controversial section of Protocol I. More specifically the paragraphs 3 through to 5. It is the primary cause for US administrations not adopt this protocol.
3. In order to promote the protection of the civilian population from the effects of hostilities,
combatants are obliged to distinguish themselves from the civilian population while they are engaged in an attack or in a military operation preparatory to an attack. Recognizing, however, that there are situations in armed conflicts where, owing to the nature of the hostilities an armed combatant cannot so distinguish himself, he shall retain his status as a combatant, provided that, in such situations,
he carries his arms openly:
( a ) During each military engagement, and
( b ) During such time as he is visible to the adversary while he is engaged in a military deployment preceding the launching of an attack in which he is to participate.
Acts which comply with the requirements of this paragraph shall not be considered as perfidious within the meaning of Article 37, paragraph 1 ( c ).
4. A combatant who falls into the power of an adverse Party while failing to meet the requirements set forth in the second sentence of paragraph 3 shall forfeit his right to be a prisoner of war, but he shall, nevertheless, be given protections equivalent in all respects to those accorded to prisoners of war by the Third Convention and by this Protocol. This protection includes protections equivalent to those accorded to prisoners of war by the Third Convention in the case where such a person is tried and punished for any offences he has committed.
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Hence, to make it easy to follow, I use the name they do not deserve, as their treatment is similar.
And they can be held for the duration of the hostilities, no trial, no charges. And hopefully they will be.