Saddam Hussein, USA and International Law

Saddam is now officially a Prisoner of War under the Geneva Conventions.

According to the US Defense Department, he has had this status since the date of his capture.

Wow, huge surprise. Certainly took them long enough to figure this out!



After he was (still is, as far as I know) minutely interrogated by the US army, the CIA and every other flavour of the month who wants their 5 minutes of fame.... after he was utterly humiliated on TV (yes, according to the culture he is from, that was absolutely in the worst taste!)... after this past year, where the Americans broke international law from every conceivable angle, whether looking to the invasion of Iraq or the situation in Guantanamo... after all this, they suddenly go legal...



Whatever the motivation behind it, the Americans need to start behaving according to the rules of the Geneva Conventions, at least in this one instance. Right Now!



Which means they must stop the interrogations.

They must allow him to receive mail and allow contact with his family.

They must allow him legal representation of his choice.

They also need to allow the Red Cross access to him, which so far they have not done.

Any trial that takes place, has to be under the jurisdiction of the US or the international court (which the Americans despise). The Iraqi people may not try Saddam.



The noses of the Governing Council may be severely out of joint because of this, but the Americans are not too worried about that - they have already scripted their "out".

Try this one on for size: if new information comes to light which would prove that he led post-war insurgency, he could lose his POW status and be considered a terrorist leader.

I did not think this one up, I could not think this one up!

This comes from a Pentagon official!

Not even in my wildest dreams could I come up with such reasoning!!!

A terrorist leader !?!?!?

After the country, of which he was elected leader (leaving aside for now the why and how of this 'election'), had been invaded by a foreign army??? Him being the commander in chief of the armed forces of his country, labelled a terrorist leader by dint of resisting the invasion of his country???



Even if they could sell this whopper, he simply cannot be stripped of his POW status this way. I believe the Geneva Conventions do not allow for this to happen.



It takes a lot to render me speechless....

but this does.