Tyrannical said:
Well, the rest of the world has gotten a bit soft with terrorists. Criminal proceedings need not apply to terrorists, who are illegal combatants. The Geneva convention also does not apply to illegal combatants. Protocoll II may have given protection to Iraqi nationals caught in Iraq, or Afghanis caught in Afghanastan, except the US, Iraq, and Afghanastan never ratified it. It wouldn't have given protection to foreign fighters, which the bulk of them are. |
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
That is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Note that it is in fact universal.
Now note these particular articles.
Article 6.
- Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 9.
- No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
- Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11.
- (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
- (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
The declaration makes no distinction between legal and illegal combatants. The USA is a signatory to this and it is considered international law.
That is why the USA can't simply execute everybody in Guantanamo and why it is in fact illegal for them to hold people there without charge.
