Geneva Convention

Newsnet and the Globe and Mail just announced that Canadian troops will not be applying the Geneva Convention to any prisoners in Afghanistan because it's not really a war.

Well number one, this is an idea that's worked really well for the Americans isn't it?

Number two, the whole point of the Convention is self protection. How can we expect or at least hope for Convention appropriate behavior if any of the various forces fighting in Afghanistan ever take Canadian forces prisoner?

Number three, considering how alienated the Afghanis are towards the selfless folks 'protecting' them, doing something like this will likely contribute to that. Currently coalition forces are dodging rocks and mobs as Afghanis rage against coalition forces after a lethal traffic accident. They've been complaining for awhile over the American habit of barreling down narrow streets at high speed ignoring traffic laws. Coalition officers claim it's a security measure, to the Afghanis in the street it looks like contempt for their lives.

Number four, weren't all the pundits, military reps and government MPs making a big point a few weeks ago about how this operation wasn't peace keeping, that our forces were at war? Now we aren't, when it might require following international norms in the treatment of prisoners.

This is just an astonishingly bad idea.