In Big Shift, U.S. to Follow Geneva Treaty for Detainees - New York Times

In Big Shift, U.S. to Follow Geneva Treaty for Detainees - New York Times:

WASHINGTON, July 11 — The Bush administration called today for Congress to fix, rather than scrap, the system of military tribunals that was struck down by the Supreme Court last month, while the Pentagon pledged to treat detainees in accordance with the Geneva Conventions as the court required.

But a key Republican senator warned that the administration was risking a “long, hot summer’’ if it pushed Congress to retain the tribunal system for the suspects now held at the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, instead of working to adapt traditional military courts to meet the demands of the war on terror.

The new Pentagon policy, outlined in a memo released today, and the proposal for modifying military tribunals, outlined in testimony before a Senate panel, represent the administration’s most detailed response to the Supreme Court ruling so far. The court found that the tribunals were illegal, and contradicted President Bush’s assertion that terror suspects were not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions.

President Bush said last week that he “would comply’’ with the court’s ruling, but he has given no details of how he would do so.

The Pentagon memo, issued last Friday and released today, orders that all detainees be treated in compliance with what is known as Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, a passage that requires humane treatment and a minimum standard of judicial protections for prisoners.

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