UK plan to pressure Syria on weapons (tags)
Britain is pressing to use the combined weight of the European Union's "big three" countries to put pressure on Syria baath party over weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and Iraq, the Guardian has learned. The move follows Libya's dramatic agreement to dismantle its WMD arsenal and is designed to show that Europe, galvanised by Britain, has the clout to help the US deal peacefully with security issues in the Middle East.
United States Refuses to Abide by Geneva Convention (tags)
On January 11, 2002, the United States announced that it was refusing to abide by the 1949 Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war in its treatment and internment of those taken prisoner in Afghanistan or Pakistan by the United States. The Third Geneva Convention, which provides specific guidelines for treatment of prisoner combatants, is a part of the "law of nations" and is a mainstay of international humanitarian law. The United States explained that the prisoners were not actually prisoners of war, but were in fact "unlawful combatants."