Guantanamo: Stunning Bush reversal

[Al-khiyal]

The Bush administration has acknowledged for the first time that all detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other US military prisons are covered by the protections of the Geneva Conventions.

The new stance, outlined in a defence force memo, is an about turn on the administration's former insistence that the detainees are not prisoners of war and thus not subject to the Geneva protections.

The policy backflip follows the recent 5 to 3 Supreme Court decision blocking military tribunals.

The court refused to sanction the tribunals on the grounds they did not obey international law and had not been authorized by Congress.

The memo, signed by Gordon England, second in command in the Defence department, instructs recipients to ensure that all policies, practices and directives comply with Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.

The article prohibits violence against detainees, including mutilation, cruel treatment and torture, and "outrages upon personal dignity" including humiliating and degrading treatment."

"You will ensure that all DOD personnel adhere to these standards," the memo said.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the move was not a dramatic change because the department already had a policy of treating detainees humanely.

"Humane treatment has always been the standard, and that is something that they followed at Guantanamo."

U.S. promises Geneva protections for Guantanamo

Guantanamo: Stunning Bush reversal

[Al-khiyal]

The Bush administration says its decision to accord Geneva Convention rights to detainees held by the US military at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere is not a policy reversal. Which is exactly why critics are worried that it's all a public relations exercise and that it will be business as usual for suspects held in the "war on terror"

U.S. stays the course on detainees