Geneva Conventions and POWs; Al Qaeda Combatants Do Not Qualify

Byline: David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Not quite one week after the American people overwhelmingly endorsed George W. Bush's conduct of the war on terror at the ballot box, a federal district judge in Washington D.C., challenged the president's policies by ruling that Salim Ahmed Hamdan is entitled to rights under the Geneva Conventions. Mr. Hamdan was captured in Afghanistan, is being held at Guantanamo Bay as an al Qaeda member, and has been designated for trial before a military commission. President Bush has, of course, refused to grant any Geneva Convention status to al Qaeda members because that group is not, and could not be, a party to those treaties.

Mr. Hamdan's case is obviously on its way to the Supreme Court which, earlier …

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Publication information: Article title: Geneva Conventions and POWs; Al Qaeda Combatants Do Not Qualify. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: November 16, 2004. Page number: A19. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group.

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