Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Seaver
The only time they get equal protection under the Geneva Convention is when they are tried for their crimes. If they are not tried, and the war continues, they have no rights.http://www.genevaconventions.org/ |
Your statement (emphasis added by me) seems contradicted by the part of the convention that you posted:
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Geneva Convention
he shall, nevertheless, be given protections equivalent in all respects to those accorded to prisoners of war
|
Host, I hate to say it, but I don't think that Cheney informally saying that these guys are prisoners of war (even if he said it on TV) means that there is any legal obligation for the administration to follow through. People say all kinds of things, but in terms of actual formal statements and actions, this administration has been pretty consistent in its views on this subject. Bottom line to me: whether these acts will be viewed as war crimes by future generations has absolutely nothing to do with something that Dick Cheney once told Larry King. The crime and classification occured before that interview anyway.
Not only that, Cheney used the words "in a sense" - which clearly mean "what I'm saying is like this other thing, though it isn't the same as the other thing". There's no way any consideration of war crimes would consider that to be an admission of culpability.