Will US military treat detainees differently now?

In the Pentagon memo that officially extended the protections of the Geneva Conventions to detainees in the war on terror, the Defense Department's second-in-command included this carefully qualified statement.

"It is my understanding that ... existing [Defense Department] orders, policies, directives, executive orders, and doctrine comply with the standards," wrote Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England in the memo, released Tuesday.

To some, it seems like a hollow homage to the Bush administration's assurances that military detainees are treated "humanely." But to former Army interrogator Mike Ritz, it sounds about right.

Since the fallout from Abu Ghraib spread throughout the military, "a lot of interrogators' hands are tied," says Mr. Ritz. This is not all bad, he adds: "It is important that interrogators know what the boundaries are."

But so far as he is concerned, Tuesday's memo will not usher in sweeping changes in how the military treats detainees. Rather, its significance is in the message that the United States is abandoning its efforts to exploit a legal gray area outside the Geneva Conventions and is willing to embrace the increased safeguards against torture that the document represents.

"The big difference is that the US was so slow to even admit that it would follow the Geneva Conventions," says Ritz. "At least we're not talking about that anymore."

In many respects, the memo would appear to shut the door on one of the most controversial issues to beset the military since the beginning of the war on terror. By stating that members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban were not protected by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which sets minimum standards for detainee rights, the Bush administration opened itself to claims that it could torture and mistreat detainees without legal consequence.

In his Feb. 7, 2002, executive order, President Bush said the "armed forces shall continue to treat detainees humanely." But a concern was that the term remained vague, and subsequent pictures of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib portrayed a detainee system out of control. In addition, detainees at CIA facilities appeared to be exempt from any right to humane treatment. According to a February report by Human Rights Watch, at least 98 detainees have died in US custody.

"Soldiers are taught to apply the Geneva Conventions," says Michael Nardotti, former Judge Advocate General of the Army. "When you tell them that you are no longer applying them, then what standard are you looking at?" The England memo, he adds, is "significant in that it clears up some of the confusion."

Perhaps more important, the administration said Tuesday that the CIA would also be bound to the Geneva Conventions in its treatment of detainees. Few have any idea of what this will mean practically, because CIA activities are so little known.

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