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President Bush Issues an Executive Order Interpreting Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions as Applied to a C.I.A. Program of Detention and Interrogation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Mark E. Wojcik*
Affiliation:
The John Marshall Law School, Chicago

Abstract

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Type
Treaties, Agreements, and Related Documents
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2007

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References

Endnotes

* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text appearing at the White House Web Site: <http://www.whitehouse-.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070720-4.html>

2 Joseph Margulies, Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power 53 (2007).

3 6 U.S.3114, 75 U.N.T.S. 31 (1949).

4 6 U.S.T. 3217, 75 U.N.T.S. 85 (1949).

5 6 U.S.T. 3316, 75 U.N.T.S. 135(1949).

6 6 U.S.T. 3516, 75 U.N.T.S. 287 (1949).

7 See, e.g., http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteengO.nsf/html/57JMJU> (website of the International Committee of the Red Cross).

8 See, e.g., Margulies, supra note , at 54.

9 See id.

10 Id. at 54-55.

11 Id. at 55 (quoting International Committee of the Red Cross, Commentary: IV Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War 51 (ed. Jean S. Pictet, 1958).

12 126 S. Ct. 2749 (2006).

13 See id. at 2793-98.

14 Pub. L. 109-366, 120 Stat. 2600 (Oct. 17, 2006); see also Margulies, supra note , at 259.

15 Pub. L. 109-366, § 2, 120 Stat, at 2601.

16 Id. § 2,120 Stat, at 2602 ("No alien unlawful enemy combatant subject to trial by military commission under this chapter may invoke the Geneva Conventions as a source of rights.").

17 Id. § 5, 120 Stat, at 2631 ("No person may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto in any habeas corpus or other civil action or proceeding to which the United States, or a current or former officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent of the United States is a party as a source of rights in any court of the United States or its States or territories.").

18 Id. § 7, 120 Stat, at 2635-36 ("No court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States who has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.").

19 Id. § 6(a)(3)(A), 120 Stat, at 2632.

20 Id. § 6(a)(3)(B), 120 Stat, at 2632.

22 Id.

23 See Mark Mazzetti, C.I.A. Allowed to Resume Interrogations, N.Y. Times, July 20, 2007.

24 Id. sec. 3(a).

25 The definition of "torture" in that statute is narrower than provided in other sources, and requires specific intent. Under that statute, "torture" is defined as "an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control." 18 U.S.C. § 2340(1). The phrase "severe mental pain or suffering" used in that statement is defined as "the prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from:

(A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering;

(B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality;

(C) the threat of imminent death; or (D) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality. 18 U.S.C. § 2340(2).

26 The definitions here were added by the Military Commissions Act of 2006. "Murder" is defined as "[the act of a person who intentionally kills, or conspires or attempts to kill, or kills whether intentionally or unintentionally in the course of committing any other offense under this subsection, one or more persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including those placed out of combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause." 18 U.S.C. § 2441(d)(1)(D).

27 "Torture" is here defined as "[f]he act of a person who commits, or conspires or attempts to commit, an act specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation, coercion, or any reason based on discrimination of any kind." 18 U.S.C. § 2441(d)(1)(A).

28 "Cruel and inhuman treatment" is defined as "[t]he act of a person who commits, or conspires or attempts to commit, an act intended to inflict severe or serious physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions), including serious physical abuse, upon another within his custody or control." 18 U.S.C. § 2441(d)(1)(B).

29 "Mutilation or maiming" is defined as "[t]he act of a person who intentionally injures, or conspires or attempts to injure, or injures whether intentionally or unintentionally in the course of committing any other offense under this subsection, one or more persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including those placed out of combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, by disfiguring the person or persons by any mutilation thereof or by permanently disabling any member, limb, or organ of his body, without any legitimate medical or dental purpose." 18 U.S.C. § 2441(d)(1)(E).

30 "Intentionally causing serious bodily injury" is defined as "[t]he act of a person who intentionally causes, or conspires or attempts to cause, serious bodily injury to one or more persons, including lawful combatants, in violation of the law of war." 18 U.S.C. § 2441(d)(1)(F).

31 "Rape" is defined as "[t]he act of a person who forcibly or with coercion or threat of force wrongfully invades, or conspires or attempts to invade, the body of a person by penetrating, however slightly, the anal or genital opening of the victim with any part of the body of the accused, or with any foreign object." 18 U.S.C. § 2441(d)(1)(G).

32 "Sexual assault or abuse" is defined as "[t]he act of a person who forcibly or with coercion or threat of force engages, or conspires or attempts to engage, in sexual contact with one or more persons, or causes, or conspires or attempts to cause, one or more persons to engage in sexual contact." 18 U.S.C. § 2441(d)(1)(H).

33 "Taking hostages" is defined as "[t]he act of a person who, having knowingly seized or detained one or more persons, threatens to kill, injure, or continue to detain such person or persons with the intent of compelling any nation, person other than the hostage, or group of persons to act or refrain from acting as an explicit or implicit condition for the safety or release of such person or persons." 18 U.S.C. § 2441(d)(l)(I).

34 "Performing biological experiments" is defined as "[t]he act of a person who subjects, or conspires or attempts to subject, one or more persons within his custody or physical control to biological experiments without a legitimate medical or dental purpose and in so doing endangers the body or health of such person or persons." 18 U.S.C. § 2441(d)(1)(C).

35 P.L. 109-366 sec. 6(c).

36 P.L. 109-148 sec. 1003 and P.L. 109-163 sec. 1403.

37 Exec. Order sec. 3(b)(i).

38 Exec. Order sec. 3(b)(ii). This provision does not provide a person determined by the CIA Director to be "a member or part of or supporting" one of the organizations any opportunity to challenge or disprove that determination.

39 Exec. Order sec. 3(b)(iii). This provision does not necessarily require that the "professional advice" be medical advice. As with other parts of the order, there is also no review of the CIA Director's determination.

40 Exec. Order sec. 3(b)(iv). See Karen De Young, Bush Approves New CIA Methods - Interrogations of Detainees to Resume, Wash. Post, July 21, 2007, at Al ("CIA detainees have also alleged that they were left naked in cells for prolonged periods, subject to sensory and sleep deprivation and extreme heat and cold, and sexually taunted.").

41 Exec. Order sec. 3(c).

42 Karen De Young, Bush Approves New CIA Methods - Interrogations of Detainees to Resume, Wash. Post, July 21, 2007, at Al.

43 See id.

44 See, e.g., Mark Mazzetti, C.I. A. Allowed to Resume Interrogations, N.Y. Times, July 20, 2007; Greg Miller, Bush Signs New CIA Interrogation Rules, L.A. Times, July 20, 2007.

45 Greg Miller, Bush Signs New CIA Interrogation Rules, L.A. Times, July 20, 2007.