Yesterday’s announcement from the administration on extending protections from the Geneva Conventions to U.S. detainees was not quite as elucidating as it could have been.
As Spencer Ackerman noted, the policy still doesn’t protect prisoners in CIA custody, and as Slate’s Eric Umansky explained, “Terror suspects in U.S. custody won’t get full POW status under the Genevas. Instead — per SCOTUS’s order — they’ll be covered by what’s known as [tag]Common Article 3[/tag], which simply says detainees must be treated humanely and can’t face ‘outrages upon personal dignity.'”
With this in mind, there are lingering questions about how the United States will treat suspected terrorists in our custody. If the administration specifically said detainees weren’t covered by any part of the [tag]Geneva Conventions[/tag], and the administration said yesterday that they would be covered, why would the same administration say this “doesn’t indicated a shift in policy“?
On a related note, what about the tack that the policy never contradicted Geneva protections? “The administration has fought tooth and nail for four years to say Common Article 3 does not apply to Al Qaeda,” Martin Lederman, a former Justice Department official, said. “Having lost that fight, I’m afraid they’re now saying, ‘Never mind, we’ve been in compliance with Article 3 all along.’ ”
With these areas of ambiguity, it’d be helpful to know whether the administration was right before, or right now. The answer: Bush is right — always.
As Congress opened hearings yesterday on the treatment of terrorism detainees, the Bush administration’s view was neatly summarized by Steven Bradbury, the Justice Department lawyer serving as lead witness. “The [tag]president[/tag],” Bradbury said, “is [tag]always right[/tag].”
That does explain things, doesn’t it? When Bush wants tribunals for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, he’s right, and when he doesn’t he’s still right. When Bush says Geneva protections don’t apply, he’s right, and when he says largely the opposite, he’s still right. When [tag]Bush[/tag] says he doesn’t need Congress to revise the Gitmo policy, then says he does, and then hints that maybe he doesn’t again, the president is right in all three instances.
Good to know.