He is absolutely right about the Geneva Convention. My undergrad degrees were in History and Politcal Science. As an ROTC student who would be commissioned upon graduation we studied these laws with an eye towards the environment in the 1965 and after era. We were in Viet Nam and might just be captured so... Terrorists are not covered by or accede to the Rule of Law. Under the geneva convention a POW must olny divulge NAME, RANK, and SERIAL NUMBER. Since terrorist have neither and uniforms ore NRS, when they are captured on the field of battle they can be considered SPIES! There need be no torture. They can be given three options when they are found to be spies. Option 1 - Firing Squad Option 2 - Hanging. Option 3 - Tell us all you know or take your place in Line One or TwoIf only our troops could adopt this policy.
The My Lai incident during the Viet Nam war found the Captain who odered his troops to "wipe out those evil troops in the village". He didn't say kill'em all but that happened because the commander ddidn't "command".
As an Air Force Officer I learned the Air Force acronym for Leadership.
POD Cross Country, (P.O.D.C.C.).
PLAN lay down the scenario
Organize - assemble resources
Direct - Order the mission forward
Coordinate - work with other resources that are supporting your action
Control - The feedback loop where you review actions and loop back to modify the plan, reorganize the materials, redirect you focus based on past outcomes, talk to you supporting agencies and so it goes round and round as you move toward your objective.
The terrorist follows the PODCC but they are violating the Humanitarian aspects of the Geneva Convention so we offer them the three options I outlined.