No Geneva Conventions for terrorists: US

Rejecting the Red Cross's contention that some clauses of the Geneva Conventions apply to captured terrorists, a high-level US commission said that complying with them would deprive the country of an indispensable source of intelligence in the war on terror.

The commission, appointed by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld under the chairmanship of former Defence Secretary James Schelsinger, said some protections granted to prisoners belonging to regular armies or security forces simply cannot be granted to captured terrorists, including al Qaeda and suspected terrorists.

Under the Geneva conventions, a captured prisoner in the uniform of an enemy army or security force can only be required to give his name, rank and unit -- unless he agrees voluntarily to give more information.

"While the ICRC, which has visited US detention operations in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan has acknowledged US attempts to improve the conditions of detainees, major differences over detainee status as well as application of specific provisions of Geneva Conventions remain.

"If we were to follow the ICRC's interpretations, interrogation operations would not be allowed. This would deprive the US of an indispensable source of intelligence in the war on terrorism," the commission announced.

"One important difference in approach between the US and ICRC," says the Schlesinger report, "is the interpretation of the legal status of terrorists."

The ICRC had sent a report to the State Department and the Coalition Provisional Authority in February 2003 citing lack of compliance with Protocol 1.

But the US has specifically rejected Protocol 1, stating that certain elements in the protocol, that provide legal protection for terrorists, make it plainly unacceptable.

In 1986, the panel notes, the ICRC acknowledged that it and the US government had "agreed to disagree" on the applicability of Protocol 1. "Nevertheless," says the report, "the ICRC continues to presume the US should adhere to this standard under the guise of customary international law.

"This would grant legal protections to terrorists equivalent to the protections accorded to prisoners of war as required by the Geneva Conventions of 1949 despite the fact terrorists do not wear uniforms and are otherwise indistinguishable from noncombatants.

"To do so would undermine the prohibition on terrorists blending with the civilian population, a situation which makes it impossible to attack terrorists without placing noncombatants at risk. For this and other reasons, the US has specifically rejected this additional protocol.

"ICRC also considers the US policy of categorizing some detainees as 'unlawful combatants' to be in 'violation' of their interpretation of international humanitarian law."

Although the ICRC found US forces generally cooperative, the panel cited occasions when the forces did not grant adequate access to detainees, both in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of particular concern to the ICRC, however, has been the existence of "ghost detainees," detainees who were kept from the ICRC inspectors.