AP: Army noted Geneva Conventions violations in Iraq prisons last fall

[Newsjock]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-06-01-prison-abuse_x.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Army general who visited Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq last fall complained that the military was violating international war standards by incarcerating common criminals along with insurgents captured in attacks against U.S.-led forces.
It was one among dozens of observations in a still-classified report, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, portraying an overcrowded, dysfunctional prison system lacking basic sanitation and medical supplies.

"Due to operational limitations, facility limitations and force protection issues, there are criminal detainees collocated with other types of detainees, including security detainees," wrote Maj. Gen. Donald Ryder, the Army's provost martial general. "However, the Geneva Convention does not allow this."

... Other senior Army officials, including Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who was appointed in January to investigate allegations of abuses and whose report found them widespread, also have complained separately about the mingling of prison populations in Iraq.

But none so explicitly acknowledged that the Army's procedures might have violated international law.

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[struggle4progress]

1. kick

:kick:

[AZCat]

2. But I thought...

Didn't White House Counsel (and SCOTUS ex-nominee) Alberto Gonzales say it was okay? That the Geneva Conventions didn't apply?
I submit:
"In my judgement this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."
-Reportedly from the Gonzales memo

The White House LIED?

My world is crumbling...

Next thing you know, I'll find out that Bush isn't a war hero or something!

[Disturbed]

3. War Crimes

What is a war crime?
By Tarik Kafala
BBC News Online


Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention defines war crimes as: "Willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including... willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power, or willfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial, ...taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly."


This, international lawyers say, is the basic definition of war crimes.

The statutes of The Hague tribunal say the court has the right to try suspects alleged to have violated the laws or customs of war in the former Yugoslavia since 1992. Examples of such violations are given in article 3:

* Wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity
* Attack, or bombardment, by whatever means, of undefended towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings
* Seizure of, destruction or willful damage done to institutions dedicated to religion, charity and education, the arts and sciences, historic monuments and works of art and science
* Plunder of public or private property.

The tribunal defines crime against humanity as crimes committed in armed conflict but directed against a civilian population. Again a list of examples is given in article 5:

* Murder
* Extermination
* Enslavement
* Deportation
* Imprisonment
* Torture
* Rape
* Persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1420133.stm

[AZCat]

4. It's almost as if they used it as a checklist...

I can imagine Wolfowitz, Cheney and Rumsfeld tacking up a big poster on the wall of the War Room and keeping track. Big gold stars mark the ones they did to American citizens, frowny-face stickers track the current scandals (they might have to order another box).

Rove has a campaign tracker on the wall where he puts up a skull marker for every 1,000 dead in the War on Terra, like the XMas donations you buy at the grocery store.

[Just Me]

5. They didn't know what they knew and knew what they didn't know.

It's called,...a COVER-UP!!!

Duh!!!!

[Massacure]

6. A general who knew about it

That is pretty damning evidence that the military was ignoring the issue, if you ask me.

[Darranar]

7. Naturally, the Bush Administration didn't care at all. n/t