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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (1517)	1/3/2003 4:48:47 AM
From: zonder	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15987

Thus, we overthrew the Taliban (which were really a government controlled almost completely by Bin Laden). I agree. I see you agree that the Taliban were de facto and de jure government of Afghanistan. This means that all who were fighting for them were POWs. End of story. there's little precedent in any law for what's happened since 9/11 I see the US administration presents it that way, but it ain't so. It was war. There was a government in Afghanistan and armed forces fighting for them. So the prisoners are POWs. And even if there is doubt, Geneva Convention says they are to be treated as such until a court of law determines their status. Bush et al try to confuse the issue with introducing new terms like "illegal combatants", etc but it is all quite clear. There are many cases where Judges make the best decision possible, but not necessarily one that if concretely founded in statutory law or treaty. Great. I would love to see what a judge will decide. Why is there still not a court to decide on the POW status of the prisoners? I very prefer to take it on a "case by case" basis.. So do I. That is why we need courts to decide on individual cases. After all, what mercy did they shown Daniel Pearl, a journalist after taking him hostage and "interrogating" him?? I would hesitate to generalize this "them" from the guys who decapitated Daniel Pearl all the way to the lowest rank Taliban who got captured in Afghanistan or the guys captured around Europe. They probably did not even know about his kidnapping. By the way, I don't think Daniel Pearl was "interrogated". He was kidnapped, demands were made, and when they were not met, he was killed. I could not, for a second, put myself in the place of his pregnant wife, by the way. She was so serene on TV, and yet, she must have been torn inside.