Gonzales Suggests Revisiting Geneva Conventions
Alberto Gonzales suggested today during his confirmation hearing that the U.S. revisit the Geneva Conventions:
Gonzales promised that as attorney general he would abide by the 1949 Geneva treaty but also said the White House was looking at the possibility of seeking revisions. Now I'm not suggesting that the principles, the basic treatment of human beings, should be revisited," Gonzales said. "But there has been some very preliminary discussion: Is this something that we ought to look at?"
The discussions haven't gone far, Gonzales said. "It's not been a systematic project or effort to look at this question," he said. "But some people I deal with, the lawyers, indicate maybe this is something we should look at."
....He refused to back away from his legal opinion to Bush that terrorists don't deserve Geneva Convention treatment if captured by Americans overseas. "My judgment was ... that it would not apply to al-Qaida - they weren't a signatory to the convention," he said.
Thank goodness neither he nor Bush nor all their neo-con law scholars have the power to change them. The international community is not going to pay them any heed. As for what else happened at the hearing:
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