U.S. Studies Foreign Captives' Legal Status in Iraq (WTF?)

[UpInArms]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5265848

By Charles Aldinger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday opened the door to withdrawing protection of the Geneva Conventions from foreign fighters captured in Iraq despite a scandal over abuse of Iraqi prisoners by the U.S. military.

There is no intention to change the U.S. policy of treating all captives in Iraq under the conventions, Defense Department spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told reporters, but U.S. government lawyers are studying the issue.

"There is a body of law which suggests that there could be individual cases in which, while the general provisions (of the conventions) apply, an individual case could be exempted," Di Rita said in response to questions at a Pentagon briefing.

"It's a complicated question. I think it's one that would be ... dealt with on a case-by-case basis given the status of an individual who may be captured," he said.

Di Rita stressed that despite what he called analytical work by lawyers "across the government," no decision had been made on changing the legal status of any of the thousands of captives in Iraq.

...more...

[ChompySnack]

1. Translation: We may have found some weasel room here

Guess what, we can write some leagal briefs that say we don't need to abide by the law. Who needs the congress to write the laws or the judicial branch to interpret them. We can do both with some simple words on paper.

What a time saver.

[Just Me]

2. They are acting as both a legislative and judicial branch,...

,...and are making shit er law up from out of nowhere. This is utter bullshit!!!

And, they are getting away with it which makes me absolutely furious!!! Hell, why don't they change the colors of the flag to black, white and brown while they are at it!!! They might as well burn the one we have because the principles it stands for just gets in their despotic way!!!

:argh:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. What the hell are 20 Yale Law grads going to tell you?

Dog mauling = against the Geneva convention, advise against.

Sodomy with chemlight/broomstick = "Grey zone". We're still studying the historical precedents from ancient Rome and Auschwitz. We'll complete the briefing on this as an appendix to the "waterboarding" white paper.

I mean, WTF?!?!:wtf:

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Conveniently for the Americans

naked prisoners can't prove they're Iraqi, and not, say, Saudi (they both speak Arabic, after all). So once they've been stripped, they will be able to do what the hell they like with them ...

[salin]

5. Have these clowns learned NOTHING?

these folks are deaf, blind and well unfortunately not dumb. How can we expect them to even think about learning from history when they can't learn from the lessons of the day.

[struggle4progress]

6. Un-f***ing-believable!

:kick:

[goforit]

7. Is this a tradeoff or what!!!!...................What a bunch of schmucks!