Utah Free Press

Name Rank and Service Number Please!

Originally published February 24th, 2006 by Richard Okelberry

The Geneva Conventions…

From the inception of the U.S.-lead war on terror in Afghanistan, a debate has raged over how to treat the captives interned in Camp X-ray, Guantamino Bay, Cuba. While Liberals and the occasional left leaning Republican have repeatedly demanded that these prisoners enjoy protections under the Geneva Conventions, the Bush Administration has argued that they are not enemy combatants and have thus denied them this status.

I would argue that perhaps both sides are right and am offering a compromise. The Bush Administration needs to step back from its position and immediately afford all Camp X-ray prisoners that comply with Article 17 of the Conventions full prisoner of war status. What is Article 17 I hear most of you asking? Article 17 goes like this; Every prisoner of war, when questioned on the subject, is bound to give only his surname, first names and rank, date of birth, and army, regimental, personal or serial number, or failing this, equivalent information. If he willfully infringes this rule, he may render himself liable to a restriction of the privileges accorded to his rank or status. 

You see, until we know which foreign power these individuals are fighting for, we cannot process them as POWs. How do we even know who to release these individuals to if the prisoner will not admit an allegiance or a foreign power is willing to claim the person as a legal combatant. This refusal on the part of any nation to formally recognize these individuals places them in a sort of limbo and can therefore be detained indefinitely. Now if a nation does decide to come forward and accept these individuals, we will have a much better idea of who to declare war against. Somehow, I don’t see that happening.

As far as providing these prisoners with legal counsel, I think that as a show of fairness in the international community, the counsel should be provided by the offending country. We wouldn’t want anyone to think that we are providing substandard council to POWs, right?