[Straight Vermonter]

I hate to break it to you, but those are not prisoners of war, they are not covered by the Geneva Convention, are not signatories to the Geneva Convention and they target innocent civilians. Under the Laws of Land Warfare they can be shot on the spot as they are simply terrorists.

The US also signed and ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture, not just the Geneva Convention. This requires signatories to not allow torture of anyone in territory under their control. This gives illegal combatants protection as well. This is described as an absolute prohibition meaning that torture may not be used even in an emergency.

You can disagree with being a signatory to this treaty but the fact remains that we did sign it and we should honor our word.

[Rome2000]

I guess you don’t have to worry about the muzzies attacking Vermont, the hippies have already destroyed the place.

[garybob]

You can disagree with being a signatory to this treaty but the fact remains that we did sign it and we should honor our word.

Anyone believing that "honoring our word" requires us to commit national suicide is simply not rooted in reality.

Anyone believing that water boarding is the equivalent of what our POW's endured in Southeast Asia is again, not rooted in reality.

Anyone who thinks that acres of body bags filled with Americans is preferable to harsh interrogation of illegal combatants (as you call them) needs to do some soul searching.