Not So Good News
From Newsday.com:
In a rare admission of violating the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war, the Pentagon has acknowledged it improperly held an Iraqi prisoner in secret for more than seven months.
The military has held the man in Iraq since October without assigning him a prisoner number or notifying the International Committee of the Red Cross that he is a prisoner, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Wednesday night.
Both assigning a prisoner number and notifying the Red Cross are required under the Geneva Conventions, which the Bush administration acknowledges apply to the conflict in Iraq.
Matt's Chat
This is inexcusable. What possible reason would we have for not processing a prisoner? This is amateur league stuff; it really is...I've seen other accounts attributing this decision to Rumsfeld, which I find hard to believe. If he made this decision, I'd like to know what his reasoning is because, for the life of me, I can't think of a good reason to do this.
Mark's Remarks
I do not understand this one either. However, I do not believe it was the secret puppetmaster Rumsfeld or the evil Darth Halliburton himself, Dick Cheney.
However, heads should roll over this, and if it is indeed true that Rumsfeld was behind it, then he must go.
However, I think it was some lower level wonk.
