Ouch
One presumes Charles Krauthammer fully intended to leave a mark.
The unfixable part of the Hamdan ruling, however, is the court's reading of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions, which were designed to protect civilian populations and those combatants who respect them, were never intended to apply to unlawful combatants, terrorists of the al-Qaeda kind. The court tortures the reading of Common Article 3 to confer upon Hamdan — and by extension the man for whom he rode shotgun, bin Laden — the kind of elaborate legal protections that one expects from "civilized peoples."
The Geneva conventions were simply not written to cover the kind of situation that terrorism presents. They need to be rewritten, and that needs to happen soon.
By Roland Hesz, Thursday, 6 July , 2006 @ 11:47 pm
And how would you rewrite it?
By Black Jack, Friday, 7 July , 2006 @ 3:40 pm
The traditional penalty for any battlefield combatant found out of uniform was summary execution, either before or after interrogation.
To protect innocent noncombatants, solders are given powerful incentives to distinguish themselves from civilians. The GC’s accorded specific rights and protections to uniformed solders as an incentive to maintain a sharp distention between themselves and noncombatants. Spies and terrorists hiding among civilians neither get nor deserve such considerations.
The GC’s don’t need to be rewritten, solders are well aware of the rules of combat, the SCOTUS needs to be limited to it’s Constitutional role of following and interpreting the law and must be restrained from trying to usurp the prerogatives of Congress and the Executive.
Additionally, the ability to read and write the English language would also help.
By Roland Hesz, Monday, 10 July , 2006 @ 7:06 am
According to the GC almost every french, english, hungarian, serbian, german etc. partizans fighting against the nazi germany were unlawful combatants, and did not deserve such considerations.
Also, what counts as a uniform?
By Gaius, Monday, 10 July , 2006 @ 7:08 am
You’re correct. And the Nazis executed them when captured. A uniform can be as simple as an armband.
By Roland Hesz, Monday, 10 July , 2006 @ 7:12 am
Hmm. most of the terrorist captured wore distinctive headbands.
Then they have a uniform - not one by western standard, but a uniform nontheless.