Rules are rules?
The Bush adminstration loudly demands, without a hint of irony, that Iraq comply fully with the Geneva Conventions even as Afghan prisoners of war are held indefinitely at Cuba in violation of the same treaty.
Eighteen men walked out of a prison in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday after 16 months in United States custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They had been accused of being members of the Taliban or al-Qaida, but after thorough questioning that sometimes involved the withholding of food, water, light, shelter, clothing, basic sanitation and other conditions necessary for the maintenance of basic human dignity, the U.S. military decided it had the wrong men and let them go.
That’s the trouble with systematically ignoring international law: it’s not there when you need it.
Update: The Guardian ran this piece about the POW issue, much better than mine.