U.S. to Comply with Geneva Treaty on Detainees

GWEN IFILL:

The Bush administration has adjusted its stated policy on enemy combatants held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying al-Qaida detainees are protected under the Geneva conventions.

The announcement, contained in a Pentagon memo, comes on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling rejecting a military tribunal system created to prosecute suspected terrorists.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the new statement is not a policy reversal, because the president has always called for humane treatment.

But administration officials have repeatedly maintained over the years that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to combatants who did not represent countries signed onto the treaty. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld in 2002…

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. Secretary of Defense: Technically, unlawful combatants do not have any rights under the Geneva Convention.

GWEN IFILL:

President Bush repeated that as recently as last year.

GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States: We said that they don't apply under the Geneva Convention, but they'll be treated in accord with the Geneva Convention.

GWEN IFILL:

In today's memo, Pentagon personnel were ordered to promptly review all policies and practices to ensure that they comply with the standards of the Geneva Convention's Common Article 3. That article prohibits violence to prisoners, including humiliating and degrading treatment and torture.

Word of the Bush administration's new stance came as the Senate Judiciary Committee opened hearings this morning on the issue of how detainees should be tried. California Democrat Dianne Feinstein asked Pentagon lawyer Daniel Dell'Orto to explain why the new memo was issued.

DANIEL DELL'ORTO, Dep. General Counsel, Department of Defense: In order to insure that that word got out and also that we had the opportunity to have our commanders in the field and others with responsibilities in this area report back that what they were doing was consistent with what our guidance had been previously, that memo went out.

It doesn't indicate a shift in policy; it just announces the decision of the court and, with specificity, as to the decision as it related to the commission process.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), California: Well, I know you regard the Geneva Conventions as vague, but let me ask it this way: Today, are the Geneva Conventions being carried out, Common Article 3?

DANIEL DELL’ORTO:

We believe that the treatment that all detainees are receiving under DOD control, under DOD custody, are being treated in a manner that meets the Common Article 3 standard or exceeds it.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN:

So the answer is yes?

DANIEL DELL’ORTO:

Yes.

GWEN IFILL:

But South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, a former lawyer in the Air Force, argued exceptions to the Geneva Convention protections should be allowed for some prisoners.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), South Carolina: The question is: Does it make sense to apply Common Article 3 to a group of people who do sign up to the convention, who show disdain for it, who would do everything in their power to not only trample the values of the Geneva Convention but every other treaty that we've ever entered into?

I agree with the president: They should be treated humanly. And I believe it is incumbent upon the Congress to reign in the application of Common Article 3 Geneva Convention to the war on terrorism, within our values.

GWEN IFILL:

Justice Department lawyer Steven Bradbury agreed.

STEVEN BRADBURY, Department of Justice: The application of Common Article 3 will create a degree of uncertainty for those who fight to defend us from terrorist attack.

GWEN IFILL:

But the central question before the committee today was how detainees should be tried, inside or outside the military justice system. After the Supreme Court outlawed the current system of military tribunals, or commissions, Chairman Arlen Specter and ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy both said Congress will craft new law.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), Pennsylvania: We're not going to leave it to the Department of Defense or give the Department of Defense a blank check.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), Vermont: Military commissions should not be set up as a sham. They should be consistent with the high standard of American military justice that has worked for decades.

GWEN IFILL:

Republicans are generally divided over whether to rewrite the law entirely or to tweak it to meet the Supreme Court's concerns.

The debate over these issues came to a head this afternoon during confirmation hearings for Pentagon General Counsel William J. Haynes, an architect of the administration's detainee policy. He's been nominated to be a judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), Massachusetts: Do you believe that American officials could torture prisoners with impunity, in violation of the anti-torture statutes?

WILLIAM HAYNES, General Counsel, Department of Defense: Not only do I not believe that, the president has made very clear that the United States will not — as a matter of policy, does not do that.