Prosper, Pierre-Richard - short clip - WhytheGenevaConventionsMayNotApply-review
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| - | When you look back at the various bodies, | 0:00 |
| that formed the laws of war, | 0:04 | |
| the Geneva convention is a component, | 0:07 | |
| it's basically the back half. | 0:10 | |
| When you look at the Hague convention of what is 1898 or 99, | 0:13 | |
| can't remember exactly in the 1901. | 0:18 | |
| And you read those it's fascinating | 0:22 | |
| because they go into the conversation | 0:26 | |
| of belligerents and combatants | 0:28 | |
| and who was a lawful belligerent combatant | 0:31 | |
| versus an unlawful combatant. | 0:35 | |
| And those were important distinctions, | 0:37 | |
| that I think is a little bit lost today. | 0:42 | |
| And the reason they broke it down, | 0:44 | |
| if you look at it, | 0:48 | |
| why there's illegal and legal combatants | 0:48 | |
| is because if you're a legal combatant, | 0:51 | |
| there are things that you have a legal right to do. | 0:55 | |
| You have the right to kill someone, | 0:58 | |
| you have the right to do the various things | 1:00 | |
| that happen in war because it's a legal war. | 1:02 | |
| If you're an illegal combatant fighting in a war, | 1:05 | |
| then technically everything you do is illegal, | 1:10 | |
| so if you kill someone that's murder. | 1:13 | |
| Now, if you look at the Geneva conventions, | 1:15 | |
| particularly as it relates to prisoners of war, | 1:17 | |
| it's fairly outdated in the sense of | 1:20 | |
| because it says if you're a prisoner of war, | 1:24 | |
| you're allowed to the detaining power, | 1:27 | |
| must give you a for example a bank account, you know, | 1:30 | |
| so that you continue to get your salary and it's processed. | 1:34 | |
| You're allowed to get cigarettes. | 1:38 | |
| You're allowed to have a canteen, | 1:40 | |
| you're allowed to wear your uniform. | 1:42 | |
| You're allowed to bring your officers | 1:44 | |
| or your soldiers together and have meetings. | 1:48 | |
| So it's respecting your right as a lawful soldier, | 1:49 | |
| you can see how one forms a conclusion that, | 1:54 | |
| well this doesn't apply to unlawful combatants. | 1:57 | |
| This doesn't apply to a group of terrorists | 2:01 | |
| that are engaged in war. | 2:06 | |
| And you can see how you get to that conclusion | 2:08 | |
| because do you want, you know, a terrorist, | 2:11 | |
| you know unlawful band of people holding meetings | 2:15 | |
| while you're in detention. | 2:22 | |
| Do you want that to happen with Al Qaeda | 2:22 | |
| or today ISIS? | 2:25 | |
| And of course the answer is no. | 2:27 | |
| So when the debate came up as to whether | 2:30 | |
| the Geneva conventions applied or didn't apply, | 2:31 | |
| I think that's where it's centered around. | 2:34 | |
| Now, there are other questions about treatment of detainees, | 2:36 | |
| that's separate and apart in a way. | 2:41 | |
| But I think we should not jump to the conclusions | 2:46 | |
| that the Geneva conventions in their entirety, | 2:49 | |
| apply to terrorists. | 2:53 |
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