Geneva Conventions on the War on Terror

The Geneva Conventions are an agreement between the United Stated and multiple other countries that describes the rules of war and the way POWs and all others should be treated. It was signed in 1949. It ensures that all people will be treated with respect and not tortured, humiliated, or degraded in any way. The Geneva Conventions represent the human standard of war. Americans like it because, like other soldiers, it ensures American captives will be treated properly. Before the signing of the Geneva Conventions, Americans actually held standards higher than those of the Geneva Conventions.

The Geneva Conventions first became an issue in Afghanistan in the war on terror. According to John Yoo and the Justice Department, al-Queda operatives do not apply to the Geneva Conventions because they did not sign it and they do not abide by it. Al-Queda constantly undermines the laws of the Geneva Conventions, therefore, they do not count as part of it. For the first time in American history, in early 2002, President Bush decided the Geneva Conventions would not be a factor in the war on terror, because unlawful combatants do not have rights under the Geneva Conventions.