Geneva Convention???

[DaveCox]

Carmen,

It's one thing to write and agree 'paper treaties' on human rights, and quite another to ensure that they are adhered to in the field. When considering the current affairs in the Middle East and associated areas, we have to remember that any totilitarian regime needs fear and terror to survive - witness the treatment of POWs by the Japanese and Nazis in WW2, the communists in Malaya, Vietnam, Cambodia et.all. and by the Muslim extremist movements in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq etc.
We should also remember that when placed in a combat situation, whether it was occupied France in WW2, Vietnam, or the Middle East the soldier 'on the spot' doesn't know if the next person he passes in the street will be carrying a bomb, a gun, or a knife. Any suspicious occurance must be checked immediately, and information is needed NOW; if you sit an potential killer down with a cup of tea and a bickie will he tell you where his base is, where their weapons are stored, where the bomb he has just planted is........I don't think so ......, but if you strip him so that he is emabarrased, cover his head so that he is deprived of light, and point a gun at him he may just tell you, and save your life, your friends lives and those of innocent civilians that he would otherwise murder without hesitation.
These methods of 'extracting information' are used less now, but have been around since the middle ages. It's only seen now because the 'media' have access to more areas of a conflict than before, and because there are more 'do gooder' groups publicising and complaining about our conduct whilst refusing to condem our opponents who use exactly the same methods, or in some cases, worse.
I do not condone the more extreme 'tortures' that have been alleged to have taken place, but when we sit here at our PC, our lives are not on the line, so it's easy to make judgements that we would maybe regret if we were in the firing line.