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BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe says one Red Cross symbol was used in a daring and successful hostage rescue mission that took place two weeks ago. What seems to be part of a red cross is seen on a bib worn by a man involved in the rescue in this official image. One of the rescuers was wearing the symbol on a bib, Uribe said Wednesday in a nationally televised announcement that was also carried on radio. He described the wearing of the symbol as a slip-up. Such a use of the Red Cross emblem could constitute...

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Colombian military intelligence used the Red Cross emblem in a rescue operation in which leftist guerrillas were duped into handing over 15 hostages, according to unpublished photographs and video viewed by CNN. Photographs of the Colombian military intelligence-led team that spearheaded the rescue, shown to CNN by a confidential military source, show one man wearing a bib with the Red Cross symbol. The military source said the three photos were taken moments before the mission took off to persuade the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels to release the hostages to a supposed international aid group...

The manner in which free societies lose their moral compass is always incremental. Step by step by step, certain core values are whittled away. There is rarely a moment at which a government stands up, and asks its people if they wish to abandon such "quaint" notions as the Geneva Conventions, the rule of law, humane interrogation or habeas corpus. These things are abandoned incrementally or secretly, slice by slice, euphemism by euphemism, the chronology always clearer in retrospect than at the time. And each incremental step is always portrayed as a small but essential temporary sacrifice for the sake...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush, under fire over the treatment of CIA detainees, on Friday ordered that agency interrogators comply with the Geneva Conventions against torture. Five years after he exempted al Qaeda and Taliban members from the Geneva provisions, Bush signed an executive order requiring the CIA to comply with prohibitions against "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" as set down in the conventions' Common Article 3. Human rights activists criticized Bush's action, saying it did not go far enough to eliminate dangerous interrogation techniques.

Procedures Exceed the Requirements of the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Law, and Customary International Law Human rights activists, liberal media outlets, and Bush Administration critics have derisively characterized the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as the "gulag of our times,"[1] a "legal black hole,"[2] and a "stain on our nation's character."[3] One need not dig too deeply into the facts, however, to discover that the detainees held at Guantanamo receive the most systematic and extensive procedural protections afforded to foreign enemy combatants in the history of armed conflict, including unprecedented access to legal representation and U.S. courts. In...

In response to the news blurb about the Marine who put two rounds ("double tap") in a wounded insurgent's head in Fallujah, here's a response from a Marine: "It's a safety issue, pure and simple. After assaulting through a target, we put a security round in everybody's head. Sorry al- Reuters, there's no paddy wagon rolling around Fallujah picking up "prisoners" and offering them a hot cup a Joe, falafel, and a blanket. There's no time to dick around on the target. You clear the space, dump the chumps, and move on. Are Corpsman expected to treat wounded terrorists? Negative....

Torture, Al-Qaeda StyleDrawings, tools seized from Iraq safe house in U.S. military raid MAY 24--In a recent raid on an al-Qaeda safe house in Iraq, U.S. military officials recovered an assortment of crude drawings depicting torture methods like "blowtorch to the skin" and "eye removal." Along with the images, which you'll find on the following pages, soldiers seized various torture implements, like meat cleavers, whips, and wire cutters. Photos of those items can be seen here. The images, which were just declassified by the Department of Defense, also include a picture of a ramshackle Baghdad safe house described as an...

Shame on the Liberals for their Afghan policy By PETER WORTHINGTON Regardless of what they say for public consumption, the federal Liberals really do not like the military, especially the soldiers. This is apparent in their efforts to mortify the Harper government over claims of torture and abuse of Taliban prisoners captured by the Canadians in Kandahar and turned over to the Afghans. There's even the suggestion that our soldiers could be nailed for war crimes if abuses are committed against these prisoners by Afghans -- a concern echoed by Liberal allies in the private sector. The ludicrous alternative is...

The FReeper Canteen looks at The Geneva Convention   International Humanitarian Law   Until the middle of the 19th century all of the treaties concerning war victims' protection were circumstantial and binding only for the signing parties. These agreements were purely military-designed, based on strictly binding mutual obligations; and they were in force only during specific armed conflict.The 1864 Geneva Convention laid the foundations for the contemporary humanitarian law. It was in a whole characterized by: standing written rules of universal scope to protect the victims of conflicts;its multilateral nature, open to all States; the obligation to extend care...

How we can fight Tehran David Frum, National Post Published: Saturday, March 31, 2007 The Iranian seizure of 15 British naval personnel is an outrage -- and an opportunity. Iran invaded Iraqi territorial waters, attacked British naval personnel enforcing resolutions of the UN Security Council and committed an act of piracy and kidnapping. Iran then displayed its captives on national television and compelled them to read coerced political statements. It forced the captured female sailor to wear the Islamic hijab, a violation of her Geneva Convention right to practice her own religion. These violent and lawless actions have shocked...

Iran TV shows female navy captive Faye Turney said her captors had been 'friendly' and 'nice' Iranian state television has broadcast an interview with captured British female sailor Faye Turney and footage of the 14 servicemen seized with her.Leading Seaman Turney, 26, said they had been seized in the Gulf because "obviously we trespassed" in Iranian waters - something the UK disputes. She said her captors had been friendly and the 15 personnel were unharmed. The circumstances of the filming are not known. The Foreign Office said the footage was "completely unacceptable". 'Hospitable' Earlier Iran said it would release...

If it’s true that all Americans want proper national defense measures while enforcing and adhering to humane treatment of enemy captives, then we must begin with knowing what the Geneva Convention says, knowing to whom it applies (and doesn’t apply), being honest in the assessment of events, and applying the same rules of engagement expected of ourselves, to enemy forces. The Boston Globe writes ''Ex-General at Abu Ghraib Says Rumsfeld OK'd Abuse. That is a sensational headline to be sure, and the average reader would assume that this column is referring to the photos we’ve all seen of US soldiers...

To my American Friends, The Judge that ruled that the US is bound by the Geneva Convention is wrong, and should be removed from the Bench for such an outrageous misinterpretation. Read the Geneva Convention here: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm For the US to be bound by the Convention, a number of circumstances must be present, including: (A Party is a Country that signed up as a party to the Geneva Convention) "1. Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces. 2. Members of other...

What could be the first public appearance of the new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has been posted on the Internet, showing him executing a Turkish hostage. Abu Ayyoub al-Masri succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was slain in a US airstrike June Seventh. The new leader is also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer. The video shows three men in masks standing behind a blindfolded hostage. The militant in the middle, identified as al-Masri, reads a statement criticizing companies and people that cooperate with the US military. Then he shoots the hostage three times in the head.

by Mark Finkelstein September 22, 2006 - 07:08 The bio of Los Angeles Times columnist Rosa Brooks couldn't be much more impressive in terms of conventional credentials: Harvard, Oxford, Yale. Adviser to State Department. Kennedy School Fellow. But despite having her ticket prestigiously punched time and again, her column of today reveals that nowhere has she learned much in the way of nuance or common sense. Her opposition to President Bush's efforts to clarify interrogation rules so as to allow some more forceful technqiues is absolute and implacable, utterly failing to acknowledge the realities of terrorism on a scale unimaginable...

President Bush's stalled anti-terrorism agenda edged forward Tuesday, with a rebellious House member rewriting her bill on wiretaps more to his liking and maverick Senate Republicans reopening talks over how to handle detainees. Rep. Heather Wilson R-N.M., offered to substitute her original bill on giving legal status to Bush's warrantless surveillance program with a bill that would grant a key administration request: allow wiretapping on Americans in the event of an "imminent" terrorist attack. In exchange, the administration would be required to share with Congress more details of the nature of the threat, presumably with the House and Senate Intelligence...

The Senate is stalling another Bush Administration proposal to effectively fight the war on terror. After the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year that the President does not have inherent authority to try captured terrorists using military tribunals, President Bush asked Congress to grant him that authority in law. The Senate is balking at the President’s proposal, though, claiming that it runs afoul of a portion of the Geneva Conventions known as Common Article 3. But Heritage national security expert James Carafano notes that the administration’s proposal as it exists now would “satisfy[y] U.S. obligations under the Conventions.” In fact,...

by Mark Finkelstein September 19, 2006 - 07:46 In the course of the last few weeks Keith Olbermann's 'Special Comments' have become a Countdown staple in which the host plays to his Daily Kos demographic with vitriolic condemnations of all things Bush. I thought Olbermann had reached the nec plus ultra of nastiness with his suggestion a couple weeks ago that the Bush administration represented "a new type of fascism." I might have been wrong. MRC's Brad Wilmouth has comprehensively documented Keith Olbermann's 'Special Comment' of last night. In the course of those comments, Olbermann chose to invoke, of all...

When you enter a boxing ring, you agree to abide by the rules of boxing. But when you are attacked from behind in a dark alley, you would be a fool to abide by the Marquis of Queensbury rules. If you do, you can end up being a dead fool.Even with a nuclear Iran looming on the horizon and the prospect that its nuclear weapons will end up in the hands of international terrorists that it has been sponsoring for years, many in the media and in the government that is supposed to protect us have been preoccupied with whether...

Earlier this year, I made a friendly wager with a Republican legislative aid whereby I picked U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to be the GOP's presidential nominee in November 2008. Though the Viet Nam veteran was responsible for some highly dubious legislation in the past, including the infamous McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Bill, I still believed the Party's base could have given him their vote, in order to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House. However, McCain--who obviously loves to see his name in print--cannot seem to stand prosperity within his own political Party. Earlier this year he was one...

Dear Senator McCain: I just returned to town and learned about the debate taking place in Congress to redefine Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention. I do not support such a step and believe it would be inconsistent with the McCain amendment on torture which I supported last year. I have read the powerful and eloquent letter sent to you by one [stet] my distinguished predecessors as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Jack Vessey. I fully endorse in tone and tint his powerful argument. The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight...

Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949. Preamble The undersigned Plenipotentiaries of the Governments represented at the Diplomatic Conference held at Geneva from April 21 to August 12, 1949, for the purpose of revising the Convention concluded at Geneva on July 27, 1929, relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, have agreed as follows: Part I. General Provisions Art 1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances. Art 2. In addition to the provisions which shall be implemented in peace time,...

President Bush wasted no time yesterday responding to the Senate Armed Services Committee's passage of legislation that could damage the ability of intelligence agencies to obtain information from terrorist detainees. On Thursday, four Republicans [on] the Senate Armed Services Committee -- John Warner and John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins -- joined committee Democrats in passing flawed legislation governing detainee treatment that fails to respond to Bush's critical request. The lawmakers must clarify what interrogators can and cannot do when interrogating suspected jihadists. ... ...it would be difficult to imagine a more irresponsible decision... American forces captured Abu Zubaydah...

by Mark Finkelstein September 15, 2006 - 08:01 Like a baseball player - rescued from the nether reaches of the minor leagues and brought up to the Yankees - who cuts his hair, shaves the shaggy mustache and minds his grammar in his first TV interview, Keith Olbermann was on his better behavior in a 'Today' appearance this morning. In a temporary reprieve from the ratings purgatory that is his own Countdown on MSNBC, Olbermann was awarded an interview on Today for purposes of plumping his new book, 'The Worst Person in the World.' Lauer gave Olbermann respectful treatment, inviting...

TEL AVIV, Israel — In the least friendly fire imaginable, Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon encountered Hezbollah wearing Israel Defense Force uniforms, the Jewish state's leading investigative news program reported. During a battle on the evening of August 6 and early hours of August 7, in the town of Hule, an IDF unit found two Hezbollah dressed in Israeli fatigues and helmets in a civilian home. The battlefield commander was forced to order his men to remove the white hats they wear on their helmets to distinguish his men from the enemy. An embedded reporter, Itai Engel, from the weekly...

An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts. Senior officials have responded by drafting legislation that would grant U.S. personnel involved in the terrorism fight new protections against prosecution for past violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996. That law criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions governing conduct in war and threatens the death penalty if U.S.-held detainees die in custody from abusive treatment. In light...

The latest grand Islamist atrocity was directed against the huge city of Mumbai, Tuesday. At least seven big explosions ripped through rush-hour commuter trains, along a string of stations on the principal north-south rail artery -- temporarily disabling the city's principal economic lifeline. It was a reprise of the Islamist attacks on Madrid's rail system, 28 months ago.As we must surely realize from recent arrests around Toronto, New York, Miami, London, Beirut, and elsewhere, the menace is hardly receding. For each Islamist cell police break up, they are dimly aware of several others. In Mumbai, the police anti-terrorist squad...

The Geneva Conventions of 1949 govern the treatment of lawful combatants and civilians during wartime. But now a new Pentagon memorandum concludes that Common Article 3 of the Conventions also governs the treatment of unlawful combatants: pirates, drug mafias and especially terrorists. So, five years after 9/11, the U.S. is about to give to people who ram commercial jets into buildings many of the same legal privileges and immunities as the average GI. How did we get to this Osama in Genevaland world? Credit belongs to last week's Hamdan Supreme Court decision, and to Pentagon officials who have overinterpreted the...

(Australian) FOREIGN Minister Alexander Downer says the United States has always treated terror suspect David Hicks and his fellow Guantanamo Bay detainees in accordance with the Geneva Convention. The Bush administration said overnight that all detainees in US military custody in Cuba and elsewhere would be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. The new policy appears to reverse Washington's earlier insistence that Guantanamo detainees, including Mr Hicks, were not prisoners of war and therefore not subject to Geneva protections. It reflects the recent five to three US Supreme Court decision blocking military commissions set up by US President George...

The Supreme Court’s decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld is a national-security disaster. Forget about its undermining of military commissions. Forget even about its rewriting of the Geneva Conventions into something the United States would never have ratified. Hamdan is a disaster because it sounds the death knell for the National Security Agency’s Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP), the early-warning system developed by the Bush administration to ward off a reprise of 9/11 by penetrating the enemy’s wartime communications. Almost as depressing as the vertiginous 180-page decision itself has been the don’t-worry-be-happy post-mortem, which holds: “Hey, it’s not so bad — Congress...

There is much less than meets the eye to the Pentagon’s announcement today that enemy combatants at Gitmo will be accorded Geneva Convention protections. It is not an announcement (as it is being misconstrued in some places) that al Qaeda detainees are now considered honorable prisoners of war. What DoD is saying is that they get Common Article 3 protection, which is minimal: they are entitled to be treated humanely, which was already U.S. policy, and – consistent with what the Supreme Court has ruled – they may not be subjected to military commissions as currently designed. No one really...

In Big Shift, U.S. to Follow Geneva Treaty for Detainees By NEIL A. LEWIS and JOHN O’NEIL WASHINGTON, July 11 — In a sweeping change of policy, the Pentagon has decided that it will treat all detainees in compliance with the minimum standards spelled out in the Geneva conventions, a senior defense official said today. The new policy comes on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling last month invalidating a system of military tribunals the Pentagon had created to try suspected terrorists, and just before Congress takes up the question of a replacement system in a Senate Judiciary Committee...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration, called to account by Congress in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling blocking military tribunals, said Tuesday all detainees at Guantanamo Bay and in U.S. military custody everywhere are entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions. White House spokesman Tony Snow said the policy, outlined in a new Defense Department memo, reflects the recent 5-3 Supreme Court decision blocking military tribunals set up by President Bush. That decision struck down the tribunals because they did not obey international law and had not been authorized by Congress. The policy, described in a memo by...

Preamble The undersigned Plenipotentiaries of the Governments represented at the Diplomatic Conference held at Geneva from April 21 to August 12, 1949, for the purpose of revising the Convention concluded at Geneva on July 27, 1929, relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, have agreed as follows: Part I. General Provisions Art 1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances. Art 2. In addition to the provisions which shall be implemented in peace time, the present Convention shall apply to all cases of declared war or of any...

In a 5-3 decision on June 29th reversing the Court of Appeals (D.C. Circuit) in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court upheld the Geneva Conventions of 1949 as enforceable U.S. law. A plurality of the justices also relied on international law to strengthen another key finding in the case. They restored the critical partnership that international law has with federal law. The Supreme Court justices demonstrated how fundamental tenets of international law amplify American values and are deeply embedded in U.S. law. No other decision of the Supreme Court in recent years has so forthrightly reaffirmed American obligations under international...

WASHINGTON -- Congress is moving quickly to begin writing legislation to allow the creation of military tribunals, reacting to a Supreme Court decision this week that repudiated the Bush administration's use of such tribunals to try Guantanamo detainees without authorization from Congress. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said he would introduce legislation on the tribunals after the July Fourth recess, which extends through next week. Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has said he wants to work with the White House on crafting a bill. And Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, introduced...

Rosa Brooks: Did Bush commit war crimes? Supreme Court's decision in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld could expose officials to prosecution. June 30, 2006 THE SUPREME Court on Thursday dealt the Bush administration a stinging rebuke, declaring in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld that military commissions for trying terrorist suspects violate both U.S. military law and the Geneva Convention. But the real blockbuster in the Hamdan decision is the court's holding that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention applies to the conflict with Al Qaeda — a holding that makes high-ranking Bush administration officials potentially subject to prosecution under the federal War Crimes...

Can anyone tell me what the punishments are for breaking the Geneva conventions are. If someone breaks the rules what the heck is going to happen. Are the guilty persons going to be invaded? They are already at war!!!! Where is the link for the signatories as well if anyone has them.

In reading Letters to the Editor in many newspapers, I find that there are many people who try to compare the Terrorist war with WWII and want us to treat captured terrorists the same way we treated German POWs in the 40s. As a WWII combat veteran, I can state that with all previous wars, we had national, uniformed nations fighting each other. Even with bombings, civilians had sufficient warnings so that they could escape to bomb shelters whether in London or Berlin. Prisoners of war were treated with the Geneva accords in mind. Today none of this “gentlemen’s war”...

Swiss revisit rules of war swissinfo October 8, 2002 11:27 AM The status of prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay has fuelled debate over humanitarian law (Keystone Archive) Switzerland is to convene an international conference aimed at updating the Geneva Conventions to take account of terrorism. But the depositary state of the conventions has made it clear that the principles of international humanitarian law are not open to negotiation. Reaffirming the principles does not mean reforming them. Peter Maurer, Swiss Foreign Ministry Swiss authorities said that the conference – set for January 27 - would examine the application of the...

Which is the more civilized decision – to degrade and humiliate a terrorist in the hopes of saving friendly lives, or to respect the terrorist’s sensitivities and allow innocent Iraqi citizens to pay the consequences? Everyone agrees that soldiers should not degrade or humiliate prisoners for the fun of it, but we should also agree that soldiers must have the option of pressuring our enemies for information. There’s a reason that we cringe at photos from Abu Ghraib but cheer when Jack Bauer utilizes an old Soviet towel-down-the-intestines trick to get a terrorist to talk.

THE Pentagon is considering new rules on military interrogations that treat "war on terror" detainees differently from prisoners protected by the Geneva Conventions, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today. Mr Rumsfeld said debate over unresolved "definitional issues" have held up final approval of a new army field manual on intelligence interrogations for weeks. "There is a debate over the difference between a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention and an unlawful combatant in a situation that is different from the situation envisioned by the Geneva Convention," he said. "And those issues are being wrestled with at the present...

They were loyal conservatives, and Bush appointees. They fought a quiet battle to rein in the president's power in the war on terror. And they paid a price for it. A NEWSWEEK investigation. Feb. 6, 2006 issue - James Comey, a lanky, 6-foot-8 former prosecutor who looks a little like Jimmy Stewart, resigned as deputy attorney general in the summer of 2005. The press and public hardly noticed. Comey's farewell speech, delivered in the Great Hall of the Justice Department, contained all the predictable, if heartfelt, appreciations. But mixed in among the platitudes was an unusual passage. Comey thanked "people...

By Nicholas Riccardi, Times Staff Writer FT. CARSON, Colo. -- A military jury late Saturday night convicted an Army interrogator of negligent homicide in the death an Iraqi general who had been stuffed face-first in a sleeping bag. After seven hours of deliberations the six-member military panel opted not to convict Chief Warrant Officer Lewis E. Welshofer Jr. of murder, which would have carried a life sentence. Instead, the panel ruled that the death was a negligent homicide, a finding that caries a maximum three-year term in a military prison. The panel also found Welshofer guilty of dereliction of duty....

MEMORANDUM To: Members of the ASIL-CFR Roundtable From: William J. Haynes II, General Counsel of the Department of Defense Subject: Enemy Combatants There is no doubt that the attacks of September 11, 2001 constituted acts of war. They possessed the intensity and scale of war. They involved at least one military target, the Pentagon, and they came on the heels of a decade of attacks by al Qaida on U.S. military and civilian targets. Congress on September 18, 2001 authorized the President to use force in response to the attacks. And both the United Nations and NATO recognized that the...

Representatives from 192 countries are due in Geneva on Monday for a conference to decide whether to adopt a new emblem for the Red Cross movement. The two-day meeting is the result of tightrope diplomacy by Switzerland to resolve the long-standing issue of a third humanitarian symbol. The Red Cross, the Red Crescent and the new Red Crystal (Keystone)Approval of the so-called "red crystal" by the signatory states moved a step closer last week when the Israeli and Palestinian emergency services signed a groundbreaking cooperation agreement. The accord, brokered by the Swiss foreign ministry, cleared the way for a deal...

The Bush administration is embroiled in a sharp internal debate over whether a new set of Defense Department standards for handling terror suspects should adopt language from the Geneva Conventions prohibiting "cruel," "humiliating" and "degrading" treatment, administration officials say. Advocates of that approach, who include some Defense and State Department officials and senior military lawyers, contend that moving the military's detention policies closer to international law would prevent further abuses and build support overseas for the fight against Islamic extremists, officials said. Their opponents, who include aides to Vice President Dick Cheney and some senior Pentagon officials, have argued strongly...

In my last column, I discussed the media’s manipulation of facts and photos to describe the United States detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This time, we’ll take a look inside the maximum security facilities at Gitmo. Camps 2 and 3 - The most dangerous terrorists, and radio talk show hosts, are housed here. First, a common question: Are there some people here who shouldn’t be? Probably, but I’m convinced the U.S. is doing everything possible to keep those numbers to a minimum, while keeping dangerous terrorists locked up. After all, it’s not easy to become a detainee here. During...

'Gaza will remain occupied territory' Palestinian Foreign Ministry launches new initiative, calling for international world and United Nations to recognize Gaza Strip as occupied territory following Israel's pullout from region By Ali Waked Gone, not forgotten: The Palestinian Authority claims the Gaza Strip will continue to be under Israeli occupation even after Israel pulls out of the area next week. Preparing for Israel's pullout  Photo: Reuters Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa  Photo: Reuters In a report presented to the United Nations, several foreign governments and international organizations, the PA foreign ministry calls on the international community to reject Israel’s claim...

An appeal court in Washington has ruled that the 1949 Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners does not apply to members of al-Qaeda. The decision clears the way for a military commission consisting of three U.S. colonels to judge Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay, who was Osama Bin Laden's driver in Afghanistan.