The Geneva Conventions govern the status and treatment of those in a wartime detainee situation. The U.S. Government has long held that as a party to the conventions, we are legally bound by its terms. The Geneva Conventions make clear that there are no exceptions to this prohibition against torture and such treatment during armed conflict.

Durbin recited these provisions of the Geneva Convention:

Article 13 of the Geneva Conventions says: Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity. Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.

Article 14 of the Conventions states: Prisoners of war are entitled in all circumstances to respect for their persons and their honor.

Article 17 states: No physical or mental torture, nor any form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatsoever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.

Durbin moves on to the Taguba report:

Let me say, before I read on, that you would know by human instinct that the things I have just read were wrong. You should know at the moment such an order is given that it is an unlawful order. But the fact is, when General Taguba looked into the background and training of these soldiers, little or nothing was done to prepare them for their assignment. I will read further from the Taguba report:

Neither the camp rules nor the provisions of the Geneva Conventions are posted in English or in the language of the detainees at any of the detention facilities . . . There is a general lack of knowledge, implementation, and emphasis of basic legal, regulatory, doctrinal, and command requirements . . . I find that the 800th MP Brigade was not adequately trained for a mission that included operating a prison or penal institution at Abu Ghraib Prison Complex.

Unfortunately, the abuses in Iraq are, in some ways, the logical byproduct of the administrations's policies. In the aftermath of 9/11, the Bush administration made it clear that they believed that international legal order, which served us so well during the cold war, was not good enough for the war on terrorism. The administration has created a secret detention system, outside the strictures of domestic and international law, that stretches from Norfolk, VA, and Charleston, SC, where American citizens Jose Padilla and Yasser Hamdi are detained as enemy combatants, to Guantanamo Bay, where hundreds have been detained since the commencement of hostilities in Afghanistan. The administration denies public access to these detainees and asserts that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to the war on terrorism.

There's lots more, you can read his entire statement, inlcuding the portions about nominee William Haynes here. The Washington Post details Rumsfeld's grilling here.