Here's the piece on the detainees and the Geneva Convention. I hope production of this small stroke of good sense wasn't too painful.
<<February 7, 2002
Bush Makes Decision on Detainees
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:04 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush has determined that the Geneva Convention applies to the conflict in Afghanistan and Taliban soldiers, but not al-Qaida fighters and other terrorists, The Associated Press has learned.
The decision, which the White House planned to announce Thursday, has enormous legal implications for the more than 150 detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.
Two administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision was designed to ensure that U.S. soldiers would be afforded protections covered by the Geneva Convention in the event they are captured.
The administration has said the Guantanamo Bay detainees are being treated humanely regardless of their legal designation.
The decision was made as U.S. troops completed 320 new holding cells in Camp X-Ray at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. A plane carrying more captives was expected to arrive at the base on Thursday.
There are 158 detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, at least 100 of them citizens of Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials have asked that they be turned over for interrogation at home. Bush has said the Saudis will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
A few other countries, including Australia, Britain, Sweden and Yemen, also have citizens among the detainees. France sent a delegation to the base to verify the citizenship of several French-speaking suspects.
The first detainees arrived Jan. 11.
The Bush administration had resisted categorizing the Guantanamo detainees as prisoners of war, saying they were among the most dangerous fighters of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network and the ousted Taliban regime.
But human rights groups and some European governments pressed for the prisoner-of-war designation so that the detainees would have greater legal protections under the Geneva Convention. They also have expressed concern over how the captives have been treated.
Britain said last week it wants the United States to return British suspects to stand trial at home. Besides the three Britons held at Guantanamo, the British Foreign Office said Monday that two other suspects believed to be British are being held by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said prisoners would be repatriated to ``those countries that we feel will handle them appropriately.''>>
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And here's the report of the "faith" speech. I've bolded the parts that pleased me, although I resent having been first put into a position to feel pleased at what I consider the minimum consideration for citizens like me and our beliefs.
FEDERAL PAGE/ The Administration
By Ron Fournier
The Associated Press
Thursday, February 7, 2002; 10:57 AM
WASHINGTON – President Bush on Thursday urged Americans of all faiths to turn to prayer as they struggle through "this time of testing" after the terrorist attacks.
Bush said religious faith teaches tolerance, humility and the value of community service – all of which are needed to recover from Sept. 11 and vanquish terrorism.
"Every religion is welcomed in our country. All are practiced here. Many of our citizen profess no religion at all. Our country has never had an official faith. Yet we have all been witnesses, these past 21 weeks, to the power of faith to see us through the hurt and loss that has come on to the country," Bush said at the National Prayer Breakfast.
[I could have sworn I heard him say "good citizens," which was even better.]
The breakfast is a 50-year tradition that brings lawmakers, foreign heads of state and spiritual leaders together in prayer. This year's event was filled with tributes to the heroes of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Ten representatives of the New York Fire Department were invited to the event, and Lisa Beamer addressed the group. She is the widow of Todd Beamer, 32, of Cranbury, N.J. He and a group of passengers on United Flight 93 apparently attacked the suicide hijackers in order to prevent their captors from crashing the plane into a building in Washington.
It went down instead in a field in western Pennsylvania, becoming the only one of four hijacked planes that did not take lives on the ground.
"The men and woman who charged into burning buildings to save others, those who fought the hijackers, were not confused about the difference between right and wrong," the president said. "They knew the difference. They knew their duty, and we know their sacrifice was not in vain."
Bush said millions of Americans, including himself, were put on "bended knee" in prayer after the attacks. More prayers will be needed, he said.
"There will be hardships ahead. And faith will not make our path easy, but it will gives us strength for the journey," Bush said.
Bush spoke of the "good that has come from the evil of Sept. 11," pointing to the surge in community spirit.
"Faith shows us the way to self-giving, to love our neighbors as we would want to be loved ourselves," said Bush, who has asked Congress to expand taxpayer-funded community service programs.
"It is always and everywhere wrong to target and kill the innocent," Bush said. "It is always and everywhere wrong to be cruel and hateful, to enslave and oppress. It is always and everywhere right to be kind and just, to protect the lives of others, and to lay down your life for a friend."
Urging Americans to be tolerant of each others' views, Bush said: "Respect for dignity of others can be found outside religion, just as intolerance is sometimes found within it."
Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, offered the closing prayer at the breakfast.
"In this time of testing for our nation, my family and I have been blessed by prayer from countless Americans," Bush said. "We have felt their sustaining power.">>
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© 2002 The Associated Press |
