"Inviting the Consideration of Circumstances" to Geneva Conventions
Administration Says Particulars May Trump Geneva Protections
By Joby Warrick Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, April 27, 2008; A11
The Geneva Conventions' ban on "outrages against personal dignity" does not automatically apply to terrorism suspects in the custody of U.S. intelligence agencies, the Justice Department has suggested to Congress in recent letters that lay out the Bush administration's interpretation of the international treaty.
. . . "Some prohibitions . . . such as the prohibition on 'outrages against personal dignity,' do invite the consideration of the circumstances surrounding the action," Brian A. Benczkowski, the principal deputy assistant attorney general, asserted in one of the letters.
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No, Brian. That's not the way law works. You get to be a principal deputy assistant attorney general for that kind of advice? That's particularly not the way international treaties such as th…