Talk:Lecture 14

Geneva Conventions

Lazowska, repeating my email:

I feel that Bryan Del Monte presented an irresponsibly one-sided view of the Geneva Convention issue.

The question of whether the Geneva Convention should apply was the subject of considerable debate within the administration, with Colin Powell and his counsel losing the argument. See the PBS chronology here.

(Scan particularly for "January-February 2002 Bush administration's internal battle over Geneva Conventions.")

To present this as a clear-cut situation is intellectually dishonest and irresponsible.

It's not unlike presenting one-sided intelligence to the Congress, concealing the fact that there was in fact considerable debate and disagreement within the intelligence community.

The whole PBS coverage is rooted here.

Eye for an Eye

Chris Fleizach - I found it particularly disturbing in the "normative" debate section that there was a bullet point talking about what Al Qaeda does to our soldiers/civilians. I didn't realize America had started looking to Al Qaeda for it's moral and ethical lead. If America wants to be the global policeman then it must set a high standard of conduct, lest we have little to say to countries that practice abuse in the open. The fact that this point made it into the presentation presumably means that there has been a lot of serious discussion by the policy makers. As a nation "that does not commit torture," according to President Bush, this discussion should have been ended quickly. Instead, it seems it has curried at least some favor if the Department of Defense feels it's acceptable to present to this class as a potentiality.