Bush Reconsiders Stand on Treating Captives of War. In an execrable display of hubris, Dubya ‘said he was reconsidering whether Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, should be protected under the Third Geneva Convention. But he quickly added that they were “killers” who would not be granted the status of prisoners of war.’

NY Times

And: Let Them Be POWs, editorializes Nicholas Kristof.

When I first wrestled with this issue, I thought I was going to wind up endorsing President Bush’s view that the prisoners are, as he put it today, “killers” rather than P.O.W.’s. But as I read the convention and talked to legal experts, it became clear that the administration’s arguments, while initially persuasive, have the disadvantage of being wrong.

To be more precise, they conflict with the letter and spirit of the convention. Moreover, as some in the Pentagon are quietly trying to point out, they set a terrible precedent for our own Special Operations soldiers. NY Times op-ed