The Supreme Court ruled differently. And if we water down Geneva Convention, it will apply to detainees from states as well as stateless. A bad idea all round. I grew up on movies like "Stalag 17," which made a point of showing it was the Krauts who violated international accords on prisoners by, for example, keeping men standing long periods and interrogating them without giving them sleep. Billy Wilder (director of Stalag 17) seemed to think this verged on torture (that was the clear implication in the movie), but now has it become acceptable practice in the US military and CIA? That's not progress, in my opinion.
the rules for what the military can do aren't even an issue here - its all about what the CIA is allowed to do under presidential directive. any bill that seeks to water that down, is a disaster for this country in the war on terror.
That's not torture. One can endure the same thing, I am told, in advanced infantry camp. That is just making the prisoner uncomfortable, and thus more likely to talk. Causing them excrutiating pain with requisite permanent, or semi-permanent health problems, is torture. That we should not do. But making them stand up awhile, or questioning them until they yawn? That's not torture. It's just good interrogation tactics.
anything and everything is "torture" by these definitions. unless the prisoners are housed in hotel style accomodations, with plenty of time for rest, meals, exercise, religious practices. in the meantime, the enemy is beheading people, and idiots like McCain and the people aligned with him, saying NOTHING about that.
None of the countries that we are currently at war with, or will go to war with, are going to use Geneva Conventions...
The Congress was asked, begged, implored by SCOTUS to clarify what the hell the words mean. It is their job and they are ducking the responsibility and trying to lay it back on the court, because they are PO'd at SCOTUS for making them work.
It's a simple as that. Another power play. A feeble attempt to get the courts to do their work again.
Nobody knows what those words mean! Every county has to define it by their own cultural morays, and these Senators refuse to do so, because they can't. They don't want the responsibility, and want the issue to return, time and time again to the courts.
We cannot operate this way. It has got to end.
Wow...movies as policy. Thank goodness you aren't in government.
And to be precise, the Supreme Court said the Geneva Conventions, if applied to terrorists, needed to be clarified in U.S. law which is exactly Bush's point.
They did not say they applied to terrorist in the Hamdi decision.
It's bad enough the MSM and the idiots in the left wing blogosphere make these mistakes of fact.
Billy Wilder didn't write the script, he DIRECTED the movie and he had NO idea what was going on, in Nazi Germany during WW II, as he had already escaped.