2. The Geneva Conventions and the War on Terror

 

The Geneva Convention is an actual document that was signed in nineteen hundred and forty-nine (1949) by the Allied forces (United States of American and all of its allies). This document lays out the laws and prohibits the use of torture, infringing upon civil rights of the humans, use of humility on the prisoners, and types of degrading treatment of all the detainees of the countries which agreed to the document.

 

The tactics used by the American military would become a major violation concern once the news broke out about Abu Ghraib.  As a violation of the Geneva Convention, the US would become a focus with the United Nations and the allies that agreed in 1949.   The US; however, did not find reason to abide by the Geneva Convention agreement, as they believed that they were fighting a unconventional style of war and it gave allowance for a new set of rules.  Those terrorists did not fall under the human subjection.

 

It was under the Bush Administration, that there was speculation that Vice-President Cheney went behind the authority of the President (Bush), Secretary of State (Rice), and General Powell to allow for the snubbing of the Geneva Convention by the military.  It was Powell that found out about the proposal too late and would later express his opinion on the subject in Washington D.C.   After this President Bush would call a press conference and state that he would only partially follow the guidelines set forth by the Geneva Convention.  This would in turn allow for Vice-President Cheney to sign off on all interrogation techniques which would be used at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.