why can't the Iraqi government declare "coalition" prisoners to be unlawful combatants?
oh yes, I forgot: it's might that makes right.
------------------------
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
stop the war now!
> -----Original Message-----
> From: k hanly [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 9:09 AM
> To: pen
> Subject: [PEN-L:36142] From Amnesty International
>
>
> Actually Iraq could very well claim that captured US troops
> are not governed
> by the Geneva Convention. Since the war is illegal they
> could very well
> have joined the US dept of inventive terminology and called
> them illegal
> combatants and put them in 7 by 8 ft containers.
>
> Cheers, Ken Hanly
>
> AI-index: AMR 51/045/2003 25/03/2003
> Public
> 25 March 2003
> AI Index: AMR 51/045/2003
> http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/AMR510452003?Open&of=COUNTRIES\USA
> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
> International standards for all
>
> "There are international standards that civilized regimes
> adhere to and then
> there are regimes like Saddam Hussein['s] ...". US Secretary
> of Defence, 23
> March 2003(1)
>
> On 23 March 2003, following the news that US soldiers had
> been captured by
> Iraqi forces during the US-led attack on Iraq, President
> George Bush said
> that "we expect them to be treated humanely, just like we'll treat any
> prisoners of theirs that we capture humanely... If not, the people who
> mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals."(2)
>
> Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld added that "the Geneva Convention
> indicates that it's not permitted to photograph and embarrass
> or humiliate
> prisoners of war, and if they do happen to be American or
> coalition ground
> forces that have been captured, the Geneva Convention
> indicates how they
> should be treated."(3) His statement came after interviews with five
> captured US soldiers had been broadcast on Iraqi television.(4)
>
> On the same day, about 30 more detainees were flown from
> Afghanistan to the
> US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. This brought to about 660 the
> number of foreign nationals held in the base.(5) They come
> from more than 40
> countries. Most were taken into custody during the international armed
> conflict in Afghanistan. Some have been held in Guantánamo,
> without charge
> or trial, and without access to lawyers, relatives or the
> courts, for more
> than a year. Their treatment has flouted international standards.
>
> >From the outset, the US Government refused to grant any of
> the Guantánamo
> detainees prisoner of war (POW) status or to have any disputed status
> determined by a "competent tribunal" as required under
> Article 5 of the
> Third Geneva Convention. In April 2002, Amnesty International
> warned the US
> administration that its selective approach to the Geneva Conventions
> threatened to undermine the effectiveness of international
> humanitarian law
> protections for any US or other combatants captured in the
> future.(6) The
> organization received no reply to this or other concerns it
> raised about the
> detainees.
>
> On the 9 February 2002, the International Committee of the
> Red Cross (ICRC),
> the most authoritative body on the provisions of the Geneva
> Conventions,
> revealed that there were "divergent views between the United
> States and the
> ICRC on the procedures which apply on how to determine that
> the persons
> detained are not entitled to prisoner of war status".(7) The ICRC news
> release said that the organization would pursue its dialogue
> with the US
> Government on this issue. Nevertheless, to this day none of
> the Guantánamo
> detainees have been granted POW status or appeared before a tribunal
> competent to determine their status.
>
> The US has ignored not only the ICRC on this issue, but also
> the United
> Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the
> Inter-American Commission
> on Human Rights. More recently, on 16 December 2002, the UN
> Working Group on
> Arbitrary Detention noted that "the authority which is competent to
> determine prisoner-of-war status is not the executive power, but the
> judicial power", as specified under article 5 of the Third Geneva
> Convention.
>
> When the first of the detainees arrived in Guantánamo in
> January 2002, the
> Pentagon released a photograph of the detainees in orange jumpsuits,
> kneeling before US soldiers, shackled, handcuffed, and
> wearing blacked-out
> goggles over their eyes and masks over their mouths and noses. The
> photograph shocked world opinion and led Secretary Rumsfeld
> to acknowledge
> that it was "probably unfortunate" that the picture had been
> released, at
> least without better captioning. He added: "My recollection
> is that there's
> something in the Geneva Conventions about press people being around
> prisoners; that - and not taking pictures and not saying who
> they are and
> not exposing them to ridicule".(8)
>
> The USA's selective approach to the Geneva Conventions has been widely
> noted. For example, with US soldiers captured in Iraq and
> shown on Iraqi
> television to the anger of US officials, a Saudi Arabian
> newspaper, claiming
> to be receiving one million visitors a day on its website, wrote:
> "Rumsfeld's newfound affection for the Geneva Convention is
> remarkable...
> The US does not believe that the prisoners now being held at
> Guantánamo Bay
> are prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention. Pictures of
> the men there,
> shackled and living in cages, were distributed by the Bush
> administration to
> the world's media."(9)
>
> Meanwhile the US continues to hold the Guantánamo detainees
> in very harsh
> conditions, most of them confined alone to tiny cells for 24
> hours a day and
> reportedly allowed to "exercise" in shackles for only 30
> minutes a week -
> conditions which Amnesty International believes in their
> totality amount to
> cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of international
> standards. The detainees remain in their legal black hole, unable to
> challenge the lawfulness of their detention, and with no
> indication as to
> how long they might be so held. There have been numerous
> suicide attempts.
> Family members are subject to the emotional distress of not
> knowing how
> their loved ones are being treated, why exactly they are
> being held, or when
> or if they will see them again.
>
> Serious allegations of human rights violations do not stop with the
> Guantánamo detainees. US soldiers are reported to have
> mistreated people
> detained during the military conflict in Afghanistan.
> Villagers taken into
> custody in 2002 alleged that they were tied up, blindfolded,
> hooded, kicked,
> punched, and subject to other ill-treatment. As far as
> Amnesty International
> is aware, no appropriate investigation has been carried out into the
> allegations by the US authorities.(10)
>
> In a letter to President Bush on 10 March 2003, Amnesty
> International called
> for a full, impartial inquiry into allegations of torture and
> ill-treatment
> by US personnel against alleged al-Qa'ida and Taleban
> detainees held in the
> US Air Base in Bagram, Afghanistan. Autopsies revealed that
> two prisoners
> who died in the Bagram detention facility in December 2002
> had sustained
> "blunt force injuries". It has also been alleged that
> detainees have been
> subjected to "stress and duress" techniques, including
> hooding, prolonged
> standing in uncomfortable positions, sleep deprivation and 24 hour
> illumination. The ICRC has reportedly not been granted access
> to the section
> of the Bagram facility where this treatment has allegedly taken place.
>
> The repeated assertions by members of the current US
> administration that
> they remain committed to international human rights standards
> rings hollow
> as US officials flout those very same standards. This may not be a new
> phenomenon - Amnesty International has for many years been
> concerned with
> the USA's pick and choose approach to international
> standards. But, as the
> Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights said in March 2002, "the
> protection of human rights is even more important now than
> ever" and gave
> assurances that "the US Government is deeply committed to the
> promotion of
> universal human rights".(11) His government's failure to live
> up to those
> words since the attacks of 11 September 2001 has caused great
> damage to the
> international image of the USA.
>
> In a recent letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell
> resigning from the
> Foreign Service of the United States, US diplomat John Brady
> Kiesling wrote:
> "We are straining beyond its limits an international system
> we built with
> such toil and treasure, a web of laws, treaties,
> organizations, and shared
> values that sets limits on our foes far more effectively than it ever
> constrained America's ability to defend its interests."(12)
>
> The US Government must ensure that all those in its custody
> are afforded
> their full rights under international human rights and
> humanitarian law and
> standards.
>
> INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT, 1 EASTON STREET, LONDON WC1X 0DW,
> UNITED KINGDOM
>
> (1) Secretary Rumsfeld Stakeout following CNN Interview, 23
> March 2003.
> (2) President Bush Discusses Military Operation. White House.
> 23 March 2003.
> (3) Secretary Rumsfeld Interview-Bob Schieffer and David
> Martin, CBS Face
> The Nation, 23 March 2003.
> (4) Iraq: Amnesty International calls for respect of all
> prisoners of war
> (AI Index: MDE 41/037/2003, 24 March 2003.
> (5) Eighteen or 19 Afghan nationals were released from the Guantánamo
> facility on 21 March 2003 and sent back to Afghanistan.
> (6) Memorandum to the US Government on the rights of people
> in US custody in
> Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay (AI Index: AMR 51/053/2002,
> April 2002).
> (7) Geneva Convention on prisoners of war, ICRC news release,
> 9 February
> 2002.
> (8) Department of Defence News Briefing - Secretary Rumsfeld
> and Gen. Pace,
> 22 January 2002. Article 13 of the Geneva Convention relative to the
> Treatment of Prisoners of War, states: "Prisoners of war must
> at all times
> be treated humanely. Likewise prisoners of war must at all times be
> protected, particularly against acts of violence or
> intimidation and against
> insults and public curiosity".
> (9) Editorial, Arab News, 24 March 2003, www.arabnews.com
> (10) Memorandum to the US Government on the rights of people
> in US custody
> in Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay (AI Index: AMR 51/053/2002,
> April 2002),
> pages 17-21.
> (11) Lorne W. Craner, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of
> Democracy,
> Human Rights and Labor. Release of the Country Reports on Human Rights
> Practices for 2001. US State Department, Washington, DC, 4 March 2002.
> (12) US diplomat's letter of resignation. New York Times, 27
> February 2003.
>
> © Amnesty International
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
