The Pentagon has sent out a directive ordering civilians and uniformed commanders in the field to review all practices and paperwork to ensure that they follow Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions—that pesky one outlawing violence, torture, cruel treatment, and “humiliating and degrading treatment” of prisoners of war. The memo is a response to a recent Supreme Court decision affirming that Common Article 3 applies to the war on terrorism. The catch is that the Bush administration, against all evidence, maintains that it has been adhering to the Geneva Conventions in practice even as it’s been arguing in court that doing so would make hunting down terrorists impossible. The logic seems to run something like this: 1) The United States is inherently good; 2) Inherently good countries don’t violate the Geneva conventions; 3) Ergo, the United States can do anything it wants to suspected terrorists and it still won’t be violating the Geneva Conventions.
To read my footnotes to the memo, which appears in its entirety below and on the next page, roll your mouse over the passages highlighted in yellow.
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