Bush Administration's Legal Debate Over U.S. Policy On The Treatment of Enemy Combatants and Detainees, And Prisoner Of War Status : FIND LAW

FindLaw: Bush Administration's Legal Debate Over U.S. Policy On The Treatment of Enemy Combatants and Detainees, And Prisoner Of War Status:

"* Gonzales reconsiders, at the request of Secretary of State Colin Powell, Pres. Bush's decision “that al Qaeda and Taliban detainees are not prisoners of war under the [Geneva Convention].”

After detailing arguments for and against prisoner of war status, the White House Counsel concludes that “[o]n balance, I believe that the arguments for reconsideration and reversal are unpersuasive.”

Memo from Pres. George W. Bush (Feb. 2, 2002) [PDF]

* Subject: Human Treatment of al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees

Relying on the Justice Department’s Jan. 22, 2002 memorandum, and Attorney General John Ashcroft’s Feb. 1, 2002 legal opinion letter, Pres. Bush declines to apply the Geneva Conventions to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees." (MORE _ REFERENCE)