Critics see hypocrisy in U.S. demands that Iraq treat captured
soldiers according to Geneva Conventions

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Critics are asking how the United States
can demand the protection of the Geneva Conventions for soldiers
captured in Iraq while not fully complying in its treatment of
terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The United States is "giving some excuse to the Iraqis" to mistreat
prisoners, said Khalid al-Odah, a Kuwaiti whose 25-year-old son has
been held in Guantanamo for more than a year without charge or
access to a lawyer.

"I see that as relatively a double standard," al-Odah said by
telephone Wednesday from Kuwait.

He isn't alone in suggesting the U.S. government's position of
calling Guantanamo detainees "enemy combatants" and not prisoners
of war is contradictory and could backfire.

"The administration is looking somewhat hypocritical in the eyes of
many people," said Robert K. Goldman, an expert on the laws of war
and professor at American University in Washington. "This issue,
sooner or later, was going to come back to haunt us."

The military maintains treatment is humane for some 660 men from
42 countries held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida terror network
or Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s former Taliban regime.

"They're detained because they're considered a threat to the United
States," said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a spokesman at Guantanamo.

Images of U.S. POWs on Iraqi television have drawn criticism. But
"the United States is not in a very good moral or legal position to
make this complaint," said Michael Ratner, a lawyer for relatives
of two Australian and two British prisoners.

It was the U.S. Department of Defense that published the first
pictures of detainees arriving at Guantanamo - arousing outrage
even among some friendly governments with images of handcuffed men
blinded by blacked-out goggles, wearing ear muffs and surgical masks.

Officials first allowed journalists to photograph detainees through
chain-link fences but in April moved them to a permanent prison
where screens obscure journalists' view. Recognizable photos of
faces were never allowed, with the military citing the conventions.

On Sunday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld noted the Geneva
Conventions forbid showing or humiliating POWs and said it was
something the United States does not do.

Military officials say photographs of detainees give a distorted
view and that they are abiding by most of the Third Geneva
Convention of 1949 governing POW treatment.

Officials deny using torture and say detainees are interrogated
humanely, allowed to practice their religion and given good medical
care.

Prisoners released from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan this month
said they were beaten, deprived of sleep or made to stay naked on
a sheet of ice. U.S. military coroners also have ruled that two
prisoners who died at Bagram were beaten.

In Guantanamo, the military moved 20 detainees into a new
psychiatric wing Monday for closer observation after a series of
suicide attempts.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has urged the
military to clarify the detainees' legal status, saying each is
a POW unless a tribunal rules otherwise.

U.S. officials respond that detainees aren't "lawful" combatants.

The conventions say POWs should be sent home "after the cessation
of active hostilities," but Pentagon spokesman Maj. Ted Wadsworth
said when the conflict ends "has yet to be determined."

The conventions also say POWs should be sentenced in "the same
courts" as U.S. soldiers, suggesting courts martial instead of
proposed secretive military tribunals.

Al-Odah, who backed U.S. forces during the 1991 Gulf War and
believes his son is innocent, said the 12 Kuwaiti prisoners have
missed much back home, including the death of another's father,
who suffered a heart attack Tuesday.

"The United States government should stick to its principles,"
he said. "It is a free country, it is a nation of rule of law -
and this is not happening now."


AP World, Wed Mar 26, 1:03 PM ET

I don't care. I don't live my life worrying about whether or not people are going to like what I do or if they approve. I do what I know to be right and move forward. If I spent all my time worrying whether or not someone would be upset with what I'm doing or to make sure that I don't offend anyone I'd never get anything done. If that causes people to hate me, that's their problem, not mine. I don't care if they hate me. It doesn't bother me in the least. It's a reflection upon their own insecurities and dislikes of themselves than it is on me. Staying true to what I know to be right is my only desire, not whether or not it is approved by the masses.

It is unfortunate that Americans are too pale to comprehend their own hypocrisy.

Naturally, they will continue to blame the world's problems on the "nature" of other human beings, all the while refusing to even consider the possibility that they share much of the blame. AND refusing to consider that their government will sacrifice the liberty and freedom of others in order to simply make money or provide Americans with a more lax lifestyle.

New X

I know your mad that you grew up in shitty country and maybe we bombed it sometime, but i don't know where you are from. Chances are, we liberated your stupid country. You are displaying a common element of jealousy which is derived from you poor upbringing in country of origin and maybe lack of freedom. Understand this asshole- We will be victorous, we will punish those who are evil, and we will never lose our freedom so go fuck your mother if she isn't already fucking your brother just try to love one another right now. LOL

More than happy to stay in my own country, America is not only more Shitty , it is the shittiest of all countries.

Fuck off, you shitface.

Which country is that? We see you didn't volunteer that information did you?

I only want to know for the benefit of the liberals here that are looking for a new home.

and some whipped cream. Apple pie is always better with whipped cream.

God Bless America!

You idiotic, noncritical thinking, retarded conservatives. You actually believe I'm a real Christian! Satan Bless America!

As much as you hate to acknowledge even the possibilty of it being true, I will tell you once again that I grew up in a country where the standard of living was much much higher than the US (at its current rate) could ever dream of achieving.

The New X

Fuck off, towelhead.

In your wave of anti-Frenchism, where french fries were renamed "freedom fries" and French wine was poured down gutters, you forgot to tear down and destroy the Statue of Liberty, or at least return it to France.

Indeed you, as Americans, should thank the French for enabling you to gain your independence from the British.

The New X

How funny was it when those planes crashed into those towers. Americans could never have done something so spectacular as so very few could have read in instruction manual. And I almost shat myself laughing as more Yank tanks killed more US soldiers yesterday. With "Friendly fire" doing so much damage, no wonder you're avoiding the real action.

Eat shit and die, you canuk.

Great collage! Good work!

"American tankers who have been pushing forward hard for days to engage the enemy were outraged to learn that Marines were slaughtered by Iraqi Republican Guard soldiers who were pretending to surrender... They fight without honor when they use those tactics( fake surrender)..," Associated Press

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

what a laugh.. are u american guys nuts or something.. u use remote-control spy plane and that's "technology".. i dont see why "primitive" iraqi soldiers cant use "traditional" tactics to fight their own war....

if bio-chem weapons are WMD, what about your nuclear capability.. can someone strike your homeland on the "threats" you guys pose...??

hiroshima was all about a post-WW2 balance of power.. and bagdad is about redefining the power structure in middle-east.. ... ...

to dirty people.. just use dirty tricks....

You're right, 'thing' -- the fake surrenders are a good dirty trick to kill a few more Americans. Unfortunately, it will result in more Iraqi civilian casualties. (not that it matters to Saddam appeasers -- Saddam kills those folks by the tens of thousands every few years)

hi ted.. dont get me wrong.. i do agree that sadam is a bastard.. he should go to hell, with bush...

what i found immensely hilarious is... i just dont understand why people like rumsfeld made such a fuss on iraqi soldiers' FAKE SURRENDER...

does it mean that the world should clap their hands when a US soldier kills an iraqi with a state of the art star-war-laser-beam-weapon .... and boo the iraqi when he fakes a surrender? ...it's a WAR we are talking about.. u-kill-me-or-i-kill-u WAR... do u guys (americans) understand?? ...perhaps it's all too far away... bagdad is just another night time tv show for u perennially optimistic babyboomers... coke or a bud on one hand and chips on the other.... wait until the casualty is too high for the white house to swallow...

u poked the snake, w bush.... u'd face the consequences..... (and u american folks.. try and spend some time thinking why 911 ever happened.. and on your soil..)

preventive war....?? ha.... as bismarck said.. "is suicide from fear of death.."

So stupid...that during a recent tally, the U.S. had 24 casualties versus >30,000 iraqi casualties. Might is Right. Suffer, you weakling.

The cycle of power is a vacious one. Many believe and pray to have money or power so that they could help the poor and maintain peace and justice in the world, but when God Al-mighty gives what they ask for, they become greety and at times tyranns. Then God takes it away just as easy as God gave it them..

Look at great civilzation of the past.. From the Egyptions to Romans to Greeks and Mangolians. All became greedy and unjust..

The Muslims under Turkish rule, Europeans and Russians are the latest victims.. Now its the American's turn. God has blessed America with great wealth and power. Don't fool yourselves, you are being judged by the people of the world, but more importantly by God (The creator of heaven and earth).

Your action today will determine your future. That which you inflect on others will be inflected on you. You support of corrupted governments abroad is already catching up with you.

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/02/28305.php

and Enron and many other coperate scandals. The decision is ours to make, we can either be just or have history repeat its self...

May God help us stay on the righeous path..