The Impracticality of the Geneva Conventions

The Geneva Conventions, like many other government implementations, have become outdated and problematic, especially now fighting our War on Terrorism. Although there are over 190 countries that have signed the Geneva Conventions, including Iraq and Afghanistan, many have never conducted themselves according to those rules set down, agreed upon, and signed decades ago. The Conventions have created a source of bad publicity for American troops for violations in areas such as Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) and Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. The Conventions are also against equal rights for women; by Geneva Law, women cannot hold a position within the military that is a combat-based job, such as infantry and artillery.

Geneva Conventions, conceived in 1864 in Geneva, Switzerland, are a four part series of rules agreed upon by the world’s nations for handling Prisoners of War, civilians affected by war, detainees, and others affected by conflict, especially women who are pregnant or have a child under seven, and children under the age of 15 (World Almanac, 2008). The Conventions outlaw torture of any kind, and constantly remind that women detainees, prisoners of war, and civilians are in possession of their own bodies and are to not be touched inappropriately. There are also provisions made for the holding country of POW’s and detainees: the country holding POW’s and detainees foot the bill for food, clothing, medical care, and other items deemed necessary for the general well-being of the POW or detainee (Convention III, 1949).

With all of these rules that were agreed upon, why do we still hear stories of torture, abuse, rape, and murder in relation to our War on Terrorism? During a Department of Defense media conference, Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper stated that the Iraqi insurgents had violated rules of Geneva by way of threatening civilians with bodily harm and death if they did not comply with the old regime’s ideology. The Department of Defense discussed the Geneva violations committed by Iraq during a press conference on April 7, 2007. W. Hays Parks stated that Iraqi television and Al-Jazeera (a satellite channel) have shown deceased U.S. and coalition members. The tapes were not described in detail by Mr. Parks, but he did say that the tapes were made by the Iraqi regime and that they show “fundamental violations of the Geneva Convention obligations…” (DOD briefing on humane treatment, 2007) including pillaging and ill treatment of the dead, lack of respect for the personal dignity of all captured combatants and quite possibly willful killing, torture, inhumane treatment, and willful causing of suffering and serious body/health injuries of the POW. Also, there has been a tape aired of United States soldiers answering questions in “humiliating and insulting circumstances designed to make them objects of pubic curiosity” (DOD briefing on humane treatment, 2007) which is in direct violation of the Geneva Convention. Mr. Parks also stated:

There are reports that the Iraqi regime has sent forces carrying white flags as if to indicate an intention to surrender, repeating an illegal act used by the Iraqi military in the 1991 coalition war to liberate Kuwait, or dressed forces as liberated civilians to draw coalition forces into ambushes. These acts of perfidy – the term that we use – are among the most fundamental violations of the law of war, endangering coalition forces and innocent Iraqi civilians (DOD briefing on humane treatment, 2007).

Mr. Parks also stated that the United States is the leader in upholding the values of the Geneva Conventions (DOD briefing on humane treatment, 2007).

Even though Mr. Parks probably believes that the United States is doing everything in its power to follow the rules of Geneva to the absolute, there are many incidents being brought to our attention thanks to freedom of the press. Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, got hit with horrible press for inhumane treatment of Afghani detainees. This negative press caused such an out cry by the American people that our government contemplated shutting down the facility. Because of the accusations of torture and mistreatment of detainees, Guantanamo Bay (or Gitmo) is still heavily scrutinized by human rights activists. Says Jamie Fellner, Director of the Human Rights Watch program in the United States about the conditions of Gitmo:

The Secretary seems unaware of the requirements of international humanitarian law. As a party to the Geneva Conventions, the United States is required to treat every detained combatant humanely, including unlawful combatants. The United States may not pick and choose among them to decide who is entitled to decent treatment (Human rights news, 2008.)

It is important to note that the United States does not see Al-Qaeda members captured the same as Taliban members. Taliban members cannot claim POW status, as they do not meet the four requirements set down in the Geneva Conventions; however, the United States does recognize the Taliban as a governing entity, unlike Al-Qaeda, who cannot even claim detainee status (Fleischer, 2003).

At Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq, the 800th Military Police Brigade severely violated the Geneva Conventions. In his report, Major General Antonio M. Taguba stated that there were incidents of American Soldiers mistreating detainees in several ways, including punching, kicking, slapping, jumping on the detainee’s naked feet, videotaping and photographing both male and female detainees in the nude, stripping detainees of all clothing and making then remain nude for several days at a time, forcing both male and female detainees to pose in sexually explicit ways and photographing them, making male detainees wear women’s underwear, and other violations that are too disturbing to mention here (Vetter, 2008). These violations came to light when the media released a photograph taken of these detainees in a “dog-pile” of sorts; several detainees were literally stacked on top of one another and photographed. An investigation followed and the guilty parties now are preparing to stand trial or have been convicted of their crimes.

Being pushed to fix these problems by the constituents within our boarders, legislators produced a bill reaffirming our acquiescence in the Geneva Convention, outlawing all torture on POW’s and detainees in our War on Terrorism, only to have it vetoed by President Bush. Upon reviewing the bill, he stated that the United States did not participate in torture, but rather “enhanced interrogation techniques”, including waterboarding. Waterboarding is an admitted technique used by CIA operatives to gain information from Al-Qaeda members (Cole, 2008); it is a process that can be compared to the dunking chair used during the witch hunts. The victim is held underwater until he or she is gasping the water and/or passes out. The process is repeated until information is gleaned from the victim (Vetter, 2008). By the definition of torture, though, waterboarding is considered illegal according to the Geneva Conventions.

Although torture may seem like a good idea to obtain information, there have been studies that show just the opposite. During the Vietnam conflict, 400 airmen were captured by Communist Vietnamese troops and tortured for information; out of the 400, only 5%, or about 20 soldiers, actually gave up information. Most information that was given was false, misleading, or had a mixture of truths and lies making any information earned from these torture sessions unreliable at best (Wynia, 2008).

Poor treatment of detainees is not just a problem within the United States forces; Jessica Lynch became a household name overnight because she endured nine hell-on-Earth days in the hands of the Iraqi rebels after her convoy had been attacked while in Iraq. Jessica’s story became media frenzy, as she was the first recovered POW since World War II (remember, neither Vietnam nor Korea were considered a war; they were just a conflict or policing matter). Although some of the details are still blurry, Jessica has acknowledged that she suffered in the hands of her captors (Jessica-Lynch, 2008).

History helps tell the story of the faults in the Geneva Convention. While the United States still plays by the rules, many countries who have signed the Geneva Documents have not conducted themselves in accordance to the mandated laws. Iraq has been a member of the Geneva Convention since 1956 and Afghanistan signed the Geneva Convention back in 1949 and ratified they’re decision again in 1956 (International Human Law, 2008), yet Iraqi forces use women and children as suicide bombers. Insurgents and terrorist sects in both countries kill anyone that stands in the way of their goals, including civilians that have nothing to do with the conflict. IED’s or improvised explosive device, are planted along side the roads in Iraq, targeting American soldiers; however these devices do not discriminate between civilian and soldier.

While the implementation of the Geneva Conventions made sense after the atrocities witnessed during World War II, the Conventions have become dated and hurt more than they help. While the United States is trying to stay within the regulations of the Geneva Conventions, Iraqi insurgents take no heed to the stipulations of the documents their government signed some 52 years ago. We have witnessed the horrors that the old regime have committed against our allies and ourselves such as the videos of beheadings of both American soldiers and American citizens (usually a contractor or media personnel) being aired on televisions. Yet we can not become physical with any detainee that might have information on who is behind these crimes, because we Americans must uphold the values of the Convention.

The Geneva Conventions have cost lives of American Soldiers. An anonymous source told me that there was a standing order that no American soldier could fire upon any Iraqi unless he (the American) was fired upon first. This order came AFTER numerous soldiers were killed when young children would run up to a group of soldiers with a box filled with explosives, rip off the lid causing a large explosion that killed everyone in the group. Insurgents look like everyone else. They wear street clothes, shop at the same stores as everyone else, blend into the general population and act no different from civilians. Since a threat can not be determined in Iraq until an insurgent opens fire, we cannot just go around randomly shooting at some Iraqi carrying a rifle.

I believe it is time to be done with the Geneva Conventions. While the idea looked great on paper, the implementation no longer has a purpose as everyone, including the United States, has bent the rules so badly they’ll never bounce back. Because we are so worried about following these laws set down decades ago, we won’t go into Sadr City and settle down the violence there. We won’t march into Iran and demand that al-Sadr himself surrender. The Geneva Conventions were created to fight a gentleman’s war; they do not apply to guerilla warfare, and that is exactly what we are facing with the insurgents in Iraq, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, as well as other terrorist sects across the globe. I say it’s time to toss out the old, and bring in the new, because as Warren Richey, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, said, “There are no blanks in a war zone.”(Christian Science Monitor, 2003)