On 3 May 2004 13:56:22 -0700, (Fred the Red
Shirt) wrote:

The UN, apparently, for another.

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_cat39.htm

PART I

Article 1

1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "torture"
means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether
physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person
for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person
information or a confession, punishing him for an act he
or a third person has committed or is suspected of having
committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person,
or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when
such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation
of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official
or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not
include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or
incidental to lawful sanctions.

Did you do ANY research before making your statement?


...
Unless you an show
where they have filed a protest.


You haven't shown that any mechanism exists for 'filing a protest'
nor am I under any obligation to accept any arbitrary standard of
proof dictated by yourself. You are free to do your own research.

However:

http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/hurica...5?opendocument

As far as he could tell, Mr. El Masry said, the
detention regime in Guantanamo violated six or
seven articles of the Convention against Torture.
The Committee had an obligation to address this
problem, Mr. El Masry said, especially since the
second periodic report of the United States to
the Committee was a year and a half overdue.

http://www.salon.com/people/intervie...mary_robinson/

Mary Robinson, the outgoing high commissioner, whose term
ends on the now iconic date of Sept.11. It's common knowledge
that her defense of the Durban Conference against Racism,
which U.S. and Israeli representatives walked out of, her
views on the Israel-Palestine conflict and her condemnation
of the U.S. treatment of prisoners in Camp X-ray at Cuba's
Guantanamo Bay provoked the Bush administration to oppose
the extension of her term.

See also:

http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/C537C6D4657C7928C1256B43003E7D0B?opendocument

Aside from which, you seem to be missing the point.

YOU HAVE NO POINT.

My point is that our leaders have betrayed us by rejecting truth,
justice and the rule of law and attack the very core of the American
way of life.

Peter H Proctor addresses a different issue, that
of the status of the detainees ate Guantanamo Bay
. ..
http://www.globalissuesgroup.com/gen...nvention3.html

Geneva conventions

Art. 4. A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention,
are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have
fallen into the power of the enemy:........

(2) Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps,
including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a
Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory,
even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or
volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil
the following conditions:[ (a) that of being commanded by a person
responsible for his subordinates; (b) that of having a fixed
distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; (c) that of carrying arms
openly; (d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the
laws and customs of war.


There are several other categories of POWs but the paragraph you
cite above does seem to be the most relevent to the AL Queda
fighters captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan. It would
appear that they qualify as POWs. The only sitcking point might
be the part about 'having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable
at a distance;' but given that our troops in camos do not, we
had better not push that point too hard.

Regardless, both the Geneva Conventions and the USCMJ require
that a battlefield captive be accorded POW status unless it
is determined the he or she does not, said determination to
be made by a competent court or tribunal. That determinination
must also be made on a case by case basis for each individual.

In any event, and this is a mjor point Mr *MORT* has missed,
torture is wrong.

--

FF