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Ear to the Ground

Army Finally Bans Torture

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Posted on Sep 6, 2006
dog growls at detainee
Associated Press

Yielding to pressure from humanitarian groups, Congress and the Supreme Court, the U.S. Army will release a new field manual that affords all detainees protection from torture under the Geneva Convention.  The new document will ban several “interrogation” methods that have drawn criticism, including simulated drowning and the use of dogs to terrorize detainees

Human Rights groups are reserving judgment until the manual is officially released.


Los Angeles Times:

Under the new guidelines, prisoners of war — defined as members of uniformed militaries captured on a battlefield — may receive certain extra considerations as mandated by the Geneva Convention, such as being allowed to retain their personal effects and to refuse to answer detailed questions. But ceding to congressional demands, the manual establishes a single baseline standard of care and treatment for all detainees, regardless of their status.

“All detainees will be treated consistent with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention,” said a military official who was not allowed to discuss the manual before it was made public and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Common Article 3 — found in each of the four Geneva pacts approved in 1949 — prohibits torture and cruel treatment. Unlike other parts of the Geneva agreements, it covers all detainees, whether they are unlawful combatants or traditional prisoners of war.

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By Guitarsandmore, September 7, 2006 at 10:19 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Last night during his presentation to the American Public Bush made a statement to the effect that The United States did not torture and he was asking congress to come back with a legal definition of torture because it was unclear to him what torture was.  And it doesn’t want to make any mistakes so congress is now tasked with defining torture.

Interesting that he would not understand that waterboarding is torture. I wonder how he raised his kids?

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By G. Anderson, September 6, 2006 at 9:14 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

I think it’s telling that it was the Army that banned torture, not the Bush administration.

Think about that for a moment.

The Army realizes what’s at stake, if Bush gets impeached. Because “just following orders”, has been ruled out as a justification for violating the Geneva convention, at the trials of Nazi war criminals in Nuremburg.

It should indicate something to Herr Bush, that the Army is not going to take the fall for him. Maybe just maybe there’s a little bit of revolution brewing in the leadership at the Pentagon, tired of seeing their soldiers wasted by a madman.

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By kevin99999, September 6, 2006 at 8:11 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

I dont believe this for a second. Its just another PR campaign.

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By R. A. Earl, September 6, 2006 at 7:52 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Any nation which presents itself to the world as “the greatest” and “the Land of the Free”, etc. etc., which could even CONTEMPLATE using the inhuman tactics the USA has been proven to be using, is below contempt. You can’t rationalize, justify or legitimize using brutality, torture and terror and still expect anyone to view you as civilized.

Such actions demonstrate that the USA’s published and hyped philosophical and moral standards are a hypocritical fraud.

But, it seems, just as long as you’ve got more and bigger guns than anyone else, you don’t need principles and fairness.

Note that the USA will NOT be “top dog” forever ("the end” may come sooner than you dream courtesy of China and India) and “what goes around, comes around.” Whether an individual or a nation, a bully is a bully. Sooner or later you’ll get what you give.

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