From a friend in the Canadian Armed Forces, just returned to Afghanistan.

It is September 1 here, we had a scorching day. Temps I believe were in the 45C range. Tonight, the sky darkened and it was hard to tell if it was the dust or a storm brewing. At about 1930, I got my answer. The light show was spectacular. A bit of thunder and lots of lightning, but no rain. The clouds may have dumped the rain in the mountains. It still has a very dusty smell outside.
A few things have happened since I wrote last. I have made it out of the camp. That in itself was quite a production. I went with the transport guys to pickup some cargo from KIA (Kabul International Airport). We took the BIG trucks. It is hard enough for me to get my short leg up into the step and pull myself up. Add on a flack vest, tack vest, helmet, water, camera, and rifle to that mix. I think the guys were taking bets as to whether I would fall back or not. I made it.
On our way out of the camp, we just happened to pick the precise moment that the India President Karzi was passing by. He had made a stop at the King’s Palace to dedicate a monument or something. He and his ‘groupies’ were just leaving the dedication when we were trying to leave. It was like the parade.
There were police on motorcycles, limousines, trucks of soldiers, SUVs with snipers hanging out the window, US Hummers with weapons, and a few dozen black sedans. While we were sitting there, I took out my camera to take a picture. One of the Afghanistan guards saw me and came running up to the PLS I was in. He wanted his picture taken too. LOL So he stood at attention and I took his photo.

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Imbedded with “Deuce Four” in Iraq, Michael Yon has new material up.

Strykers are fast, but Opels are faster. We were roaring through little streets and along roads, horn blaring, cars zipping off the sides, the steady chatter of multiple radio channels colliding inside the Stryker. A Kiowa helicopter pilot radioed that he spotted the car. As the chase continued, the Kiowa pilot said, “It’s going about 105 mph.”
[…]
Opels may be faster than Kiowas on straight-a-ways, but when the car made turns, the helicopter quickly caught up. Kurilla ordered the Kiowa to fire a warning shot, then quickly authorized the Kiowa to disable the vehicle.
Kiowas are small, carrying just two people; they fly so low the two flying soldiers are practically infantrymen. The pilot swooped low and the “co-pilot” aimed his rifle at the Opel, firing three shots and blowing out the back window. The Kiowa swooped and banked hard in front of the car, firing three more shots through the front hood, the universal sign for “stop.”

Keep reading.

Guest “citizen journalist” Ben Laible, reporting from his hometown of Nampa, Idaho;

Today was a big day in Nampa [Pop. 60,000 or so], Idaho. President Bush was here and gave a speech this morning in Nampa’s Idaho Center. He has been in Idaho vacationing at a mountain resort about 100 miles north of the Boise Valley. On his way back we were honored with a public event of Pres. Bush’s first visit to Idaho. Well, really no reason to come prior. Only four electoral votes and solid Republican.
Rumors started to fly last week. I was beside myself and started calling about tickets. Nothing except that most of the tickets would go to Idaho National Guard and families. Idaho has the second largest National Guard contingent in Iraq. Even tried to butter up the Receptionist at my Vet. Clinic. Her husband is in Kirkuk.
“No way, I’m going to be first in line.” Gloomy weekend.
Started calling again first thing Monday morning. Called all the Congressional Offices.
“No, no, no.” The last no, “I said I really wanted to see him being Retired Military.”
“You are? I’ll call you back.” Two hours later got a call. “You have to pick the ticket up now.” I was in Downtown Boise in forty-five minutes flat.
Event was at 11:15 AM about fifteen minutes from my house. I though I’d get there early, so I left at 7:30 before the doors opened at 8:00. Huge lines already? People had been camped out since 4:00 AM. Got in line. Actually kind of fun. Every one was excited. Most in uniform. We talked, laughed and time flew by. There was security, but I expected more. The same level you have to go through at the County Court House to pay your Property Tax. No line there. Anyway seating was first come, first served once inside. Free to move about. Somebody was watching I suppose. I got a seat. Saw one closer. Moved up, and up. Finally ended up fairly close. Third row in A-19
Pres. Bush is much more of a dynamic speaker in real life that on TV. When he speaks jointly with Tony Blair doesn’t come off so good. Essentially the same speech. Tailored a bit to Idaho and the National guard. Afterwards he came down, greeted, shook hands, and signed autographs (one a Sailor’s hat). He seemed very personable and looked like he was enjoying himself. Why not? He was in Bush Country.

Like the New York times put on their website by the time I got home. “Mr. Bush was applauded several times. The reception was no surprise, given the National Guard audience in a conservative state that endorsed him overwhelmingly in 2000 and 2004.” Standing ovation was about every sentence, but I suppose that is several. Yep he got 70% of the vote here in 2004. A great time was had by all. Secret Service handed out little boxes with the Presidential Seal on them. I couldn’t get close enough. I did get about ten feet. See the first picture attached.

Second picture is some of the troops on stage. I can’t take pictures and the ones of the President on stage were crummy. And the one of the First Lady. Better ones on the web anyway.

(right click to open full size)
The only other President I’ve seen was Pres. Truman in 1948. In the second grade at the time. We had to join hands two-by-two and walk about five blocks to the train depot where he spoke from a platform on the rear car. Then much later I was stationed at the Pentagon and Walter Reed. Nixon at the time, but I never saw him.
He should have gone to the Navy Officers” Club for lunch to watch the topless go-go girls. I don’t suppose they do that there now. LOL
Protestors? Yea, about fifty at the main gate when I arrived. I counted only seven there when I drove out and two news vans with cameras interviewing them. I’ll have to watch the evening local news. Their signs were too small and wordy to read and drive. I should have taken my “Support PAWS” sign.
A big, big day here and for me. He’s the MAN.
Benjamin E. Laible
Major, Medical Service Corps
United States Army, Retired
” We never lost a battle in Vietnam. Ever. A chicken shit Democratic President and Democratic Congress lost it.”
PS – I forgot to tell you that I also saw Teddy Kennedy. He came to Idaho State University when I was there to campaign for JFK. On FOX tonight they made a reference to his remarks of Bush’s Idaho visit. “Bush has no plan.” PLAN? A Republican CAN drive accross a bridge drunk and not fall in. Oh, maybe the plan then would have been to take a taxi.

Ralph Peters, in the NY Post (behind a registration wall) ;

Every one of the Army’s 10 divisions its key combat organizations has exceeded its re-enlistment goal for the year to date. Those with the most intense experience in Iraq have the best rates. The 1st Cavalry Division is at 136 percent of its target, the 3rd Infantry Division at 117 percent.
What about first-time enlistment rates, since that was the issue last spring? The Army is running at 108 percent of its needs. Guess not every young American despises his or her country and our president.
The Army Reserve is a tougher sell, given that it takes men and women away from their families and careers on short notice. Well, Reserve recruitment stands at 102 percent of requirements.
And then there’s the Army National Guard. We’ve been told for two years that the Guard was in free-fall. Really?
Guard recruitment and retention comes out to 106 percent of its requirements as of June 30.

Via Powerline

This deserved more media attention than it got.

The massive monument that bears their names was dedicated Saturday in front of the Nanton Lancaster Air Museum.
[…]
“If these men were old geezers like me, it wouldn’t be such a tragedy,” he said. “But they were 18 to 25 years old. Some of those 18-year-olds were piloting Lancasters. Can you imagine?”
The event honoured the dead, and all who helped in the massive bomber offensive that kept Hitler at bay for the first four years of the Second World War.

The cost was high. More than 50,000 aircrew members were killed. More than 10,000 of those were Canadians. The chances of a person surviving 30 bombing sorties was less than 25 per cent.

Edmonton Sun;

A Canadian Forces sniper who set a distance record by killing an al-Qaida fighter from more than two kilometres away has quit in frustration and may go into mercenary work.
Master Cpl. Arron Perry made national headlines twice in 2002: the first was anonymous, after he shot an al-Qaida fighter in Afghanistan from 2,430 metres, a world record.
The second was public and ugly. Perry, 33, and a 13-year veteran, was accused of discreditable conduct after he allegedly cut the finger off an al- Qaida corpse, defecated on another and then had his picture taken with a corpse that had a lit cigarette hanging from his lips and a sign around his neck reading “F**k Terrorism.”

Now, had Cpl. Perry been thinking, he’d have burned those bodies and hung them from a bridge, or strapped explosives to his chest and taken out one of their schools- acts that, as we all now know, would have been seized upon by the Western media and broadcast to the world as sobering evidence of the futility of resisting the Canadian Armed Forces.
Good luck in your future endeavors, Cpl. Perry and congratulations to whoever is fortunate enough to acquire your talents.
Oct. 2006 update: Multiple media reports crediting Perry with the record turned out to be inaccurate. Rob Furlong made the shot, but desired anonymity. See this May 2006 Macleans article for the followup.

Michael Yon on the “proximity delay” between events in Iraq and the mainstream media versions that appear days later.
Yon’s dispatches should be required reading for every journalist and columnist in Canada who ventures opinions on Iraq based on daily news reports.
That, and;

The Commander of Deuce Four, LTC Erik Kurilla, was shot three times in combat yesterday in front of my eyes. Despite being seriously wounded, LTC Kurilla immediately rejoined the intense and close-quarter fight that ended in hand-to-hand combat. LTC Kurilla continued to direct his men until a medic gave him morphine and the men took him away. I was right there. When I returned to base, I was actually “ordered” not to write about the fighting until given clearance, and was told that my phones could be confiscated. I will ignore such “orders” at my own discretion. I am preparing a dispatch now.

Michael Yon is an independant “observer” in Iraq and supported by donations. There’s a link at the bottom of his blog. Note that there isn’t on this one. Click his instead, please.

A press release I’m more than happy to pass along;

PITTSBURGH, PA, Aug. 18 – LBF Books to publish* Soldier Life: A Day in the Life of an American Soldier (ISBN 1-885093-44-6). The book details the author’s experiences while deployed and back home, weaving a gut-wrenching, heartfelt tapestry of experiences and emotions unique to soldiers’ living and dying in this war. American Soldier’s work comprised of elements drawn from his critically acclaimed and widely read weblog (www.soldierlife.com) , aims to bring the grim, yet human face of war to readers everywhere.
The author, writing under a pseudonym to protect his identity, delivers a first-person account of the constantly changing world of an American Soldier attempting to balance both family and responsibility while enduring the reality of war. *Soldier Life: A Day in the Life of an American
Soldier* chronicles the events engulfing modern day patriots, and the hardships he willingly endured to ensure safety and security of family and country left behind.
[…]
American Soldier & LBF Books will be donating a large portion of the proceeds to Soldiers Angels (www.soldiersangels.org) and Operation Troop Appreciation (www.operationtroopappreciation.org). Both organizations are federally recognized programs that assist Troops abroad with care packages and items needed while deployed.

Release is scheduled for December.

Wretchard provides subtext to a Department of Defense news briefing related to operations in Haditha, Iraq and wonders if something large is underway.

Here’s the first hint that this operation is qualitatively different from anything previous. The implication of Gen. Ham’s statements is that in the past the coalition only had the ability to drive out insurgents locally, like chasing a soap bar around a tub. He strongly suggests that this time, there is no place to hide and the loss of the 21 Marines was in line with this new and offensive goal.
[…]
Recently, retired General Jack Keane kicked up a public relations hornet’s nest� by saying that US forces had killed or captured 50,000 insurgents in 2005. That enormous lethality would suggest that, despite the loss of the Marines, the ongoing fighting must be lopsided. Nothing to do but await events.

Last week I surfed through a Canadian blog that dismissed the Belmont Club as “inexplicably” popular.
I suppose that explains why I can’t recall its name.

Via Maz2 in the comments –

CNN just abnnounced a Brit robosub just cut the last cable holding the sub down, and Russians have communicated to freed sub, to prepare for emergency surfacing! Sub acknoledged HOOOORAAAAYYY!>>>
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1458425/posts

Good news.
update – the 7 submariners are on the surface and all are alive.
Rule Britannia!

It’s Monday in Mosul, and Michael Yon is “liveblogging”.

h/t Instapundit

(from personal correspondance)

I leave Friday for sunny Afghanistan. This will prove to be quite an interesting eye opener of a trip. I will start out in Kabul and help teardown the camp to move to Kandahar, while doing my regular job. The ‘landlord’ has not extended our lease, so we are being evicted come December 1. Got to like that after all the work gone into setting it up. Making it so cozy. Or as cozy as a desert can be.
There are only ten of us from my unit splitting up in Afghanistan to cover the two sections. We have talked amongs ourselves and believe that this will be the most challenging of tours for us at the moment. Until the Congo and Sudan get up in full gear. We as Canadians have managed to take few casualties. There is a ‘saluting monument’ in the middle of Camp Julien, for the fallen. I don’t think our luck will hold out on this one. I hope I am wrong. More small incidents have occurred in and around both areas.
Kabul with the tearing down will become less secure and more vulnerable to the attacks. Kandahar with the setting up, is already vulnerable. Kandahar being so close to the mountains and border, is also right in the middle of the drug warlord territories. Maybe we can invite them in for a tea and a chat.
I have been reading your blog on and off, as I kill time till the deployment. This is my embarkment leave time. Time to get the last of my shit together before I leave for who knows how long. I was told anywhere from 4-6 months, depending on the elections and the assasination clause. Because the military, or maybe it is just our unit, is so short on new recruits, our deployments are being extended from 6 to 9 months in duration.
Once the word gets out, there will be a lot of releases put in. It is a long go at 6 months, working 24/7. Someone asked me if we get weekends off or two days a week off. What for? Where are we going to go? Not like you can take a stroll downtown Afghanistan.
I’ll take my camera and try to send a few ‘deconstruction’ pics.

An op-ed in the Knoxville News, by David M. Lucas. (Because it’s behind subscriber wall, I’m republishing it in its entirety).

As I read the letters in a recent Sunday Perspective section which were, for the most part, very anti-war, I could not help but feel a great deal of frustration and sadness for the people who wrote them and those who share their views. The letter writers said things such as, “This war is almost a carbon copy of the Vietnam War,” “Bush lied to America,” and my favorite, “Let’s support our troops. Bring them home.”
These are some of the most ridiculous statements I have read in over a year. Why in over a year? Because I just returned home after spending 367 days patrolling the streets in downtown Baghdad with the Army’s 10th Mountain Division.
To address the first point of this being a carbon copy of the Vietnam War, I will only ask if the letter writer served in either Vietnam or Iraq. If not, then he has no basis for his opinion except what he has read in the press or seen on TV as to what either is really like.
I know that the war my men and I fought is a totally different war than the one I see being reported by almost the entire media. There are a few exceptions to this, but they are generally overwhelmed by the massive anti-war/anti-Bush crowd.
“Bush lied to America” is not only false, but it is laughable. Every single major intelligence agency in the world agreed that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Virtually every politician, regardless of party affiliation, agreed that he had them and went on record as saying such.
Did he have them or not is a question that will take a long time to answer, due to the many possibilities such as destroying the WMD, moving them to Syria or that they never existed in the first place. I don’t pretend to know the answer, but I do know that Saddam needed to go, and the world – especially the United States – is a better and safer place without him in power.
“Let’s support our troops. Bring them home.” Please don’t ever say those words again. Nothing is so disheartening to our troops who are in harm’s way than to hear our own citizens say things like that.
On June 16, 2004, I willingly said goodbye to my wife and parents in a parking lot at Fort Drum, N.Y., not knowing if I would ever see them again. I don’t expect any kinds of praise for this or special thanks because that is my job, and I knowingly volunteered for it. I never would have done that if I did not believe that I was defending this great country of ours and all those in it.
Many people will think this is just defending the president, but I will tell you that I would never risk my life for somebody else’s ideas if I did not hold them myself. That being said, I am a soldier, and I will do my duty to my country every time, no matter what the personal cost.
As I said before, there are two different wars being fought: the war in Iraq and the war being reported in the media. Very few times are the great things that are being done in Iraq reported on because they do not grab the headlines or the ratings that casualties do.
One of the biggest exceptions I have seen is the News Sentinel. I know because the paper plastered my face across the front page of the paper several months ago when my men rescued two kidnappers and freed two Egyptian nationals who had been abducted the day prior and were on their way to being beheaded. While this was a great day for us, it was certainly not the first time we had helped Iraqis or other innocent people.
After one particular suicide car bomb went off, killing nearly two dozen people and destroying several civilian homes, my platoon helped a family out by bringing wood to board the windows that had been blown out and brandishing brooms to clean up the rubble caused by the blast. I can assure you that those people were glad we were there, and we were more than happy to help, even though our efforts were not known to anyone outside that family and my platoon.
On another occasion, we were able to put two generators into a town that had never had steady power before, and we gave a reliable source of energy to over 300 homes. That story was never reported in the United States.
What was reported was another suicide bomber who blew about 150 meters from a site that my battery was tasked with protecting. This particular bombing was aimed at the Jordanian Embassy, which was located a couple hundred meters down the road. The bomber was successful in killing himself, one embassy guard and a family of seven who lived across the street from the embassy.
So I spent Christmas morning helping to recover the bodies of the mother and her six small children. In fact, this story was so spectacular that my picture was taken by an Associated Press photographer at the site, and it was on the cover of newspapers all over the world. Why this story and not a story of one of the hundreds of good deeds that took place all over Iraq at the same time? Because “Nine Dead in Bombing” will sell more papers than “Platoon Helps Innocent Bombing Victims.”
I will wrap this up by saying that you are entitled to your beliefs, and you should believe in whatever you want, but don’t pretend to know what you are talking about just because you have watched 30 minutes of CNN the night before. Go and talk to the people who have been there – not the people who make assumptions from a TV studio – and then form your opinion based on facts.
Don’t pretend to support troops by trying to undercut their efforts at the same time. Just go to bed at night and pray for their safety and thank God that they are there to protect you and your family, no matter your beliefs.

Via Instapundit.

It’s a little harder to pull off the posturing blowhard act when the guys who run the “Gulag” are staring you in the eye.

Soldiers from Massachusetts and Hawaii who work at the U.S. military detention facility at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, gave visiting home-state senators a piece of their mind last week.
Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and Daniel K. Akaka, Hawaii Democrat, met with several soldiers during a visit led by Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican.
Pentagon officials said soldiers criticized the harsh comments made recently by Senate Democrats. Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, last month invoked widespread military outrage when he compared Guantanamo to the prison labor systems used by communist tyrant Josef Stalin, Cambodia’s Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler.
“They got stiff reactions from those home-state soldiers,” one official told us. “The troops down there expressed their disdain for that kind of commentary, especially comparisons to the gulag.”

Via Instapundit who links to other items that indicate that the military is more than a little fed up with the rhetoric. Austin Bay, too.

And so the enemy plays a game of fire and flee, hauling the mortars around town, setting up the tubes (or rockets), firing a few shots, and moving out quickly. To buy a little more insurance, the enemy often picks a POO [point of origin] close to a school or a mosque, knowing that Americans will be reluctant to shoot at schools, and usually will not fire at mosques. In fact, mosques are off-limits without higher approval unless you are clearly taking fire from them. But this isn’t a case of giving the enemy a safe haven for launching bombs at our soldiers. Insurgents have learned the hard way that higher approval is not a high hurdle when the same mosque is used for a shield more than once. If a man does not respect his own sacred ground, he should not expect others to. A man should never hide behind religion like he’s hiding behind his momma’s leg.
The CBR is effective. The enemy shooters can only strike briefly. If they take one extra shot, or take a few extra seconds scrambling away, they will die. Our cannons, our helicopters, US soldiers and snipers, the Iraqi police, or some combination of these, will kill them. As frustrating as it can be to have an enemy firing two or three round volleys at Coalition and Iraqi forces, the fact is we can take those punches. It helps knowing that every time an insurgent sets up he’s like a buck drinking at the river. Our hunters are always looking for tracks and laying ambushes. Sooner or later, bam! Head on the wall.
[…]
Yes, “Goodnight, Goodnight,” I kept waving to the cops who were either diving in front of or away from the camera, and, as they left they waved and said, “Hello.”
“Hello” in local dialect apparently means, “Hello; Goodbye; Thank you; You’re welcome; I surrender; Do you want tea?” And so as they disappeared the cops each said, “Hello,” and next, “Hello,” and so on until all of them had melted into the darkness with their barnyard animals and new weapons. These cops had nailed the beheaders, rescued the woman, found this cache and left us to clean it up. No informed person can honestly say there is no progress in Mosul.

Michael Yon is an independant journalist reporting from Iraq. He’s supported by private contributions, so be sure to read it all, and if inclined, click on the paypal button at the bottom.

When David Kilgour left the Liberal Party, he might have considered crossing the floor to the Republicans.

via Intapundit.

“These are detestable murderers and scumbags” – Gen. Rick Hillier, chief of defence staff

While I’m supportive of Hillier, I’ve been a lot more cynical than the majority of cheering masses who’ve applauded the Liberal government’s after-the-fact support of his statements.
I’m not suggesting Hillier received marching orders or a script, but I do suspect he’s been let off his leash for reasons more pressing than a sudden resolve to root terrorists from their dens. My hunch is that internal polling after the attacks in London revealed how open Paul Martin’s Liberals are on their right flank should national security suddenly rise to become a priority among the electorate.
They’re racing to reposition themselves.
My cynicism was reinforced when the media wing of the Liberal Party came in on cue to calm the jittery nerves of blue Liberals and red Tories. This was no mere jump from their ideological one-trick pony to a fresh horse for the Star – they took the thing out behind the barn and shot it.

This country is sending a timely signal of where it stands in the struggle against international terrorism with plain-talking Gen. Rick Hillier’s announcement of a more active and dangerous role for Canada’s military in Afghanistan. Rather than being cowed by the horrors committed in London, Canada is proceeding with plans to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda. … Canadians can take pride in that their country is responding with more than words, and more than heartfelt condolences after the London bombings. Undeterred, it is taking action by bringing the battle to a mutual enemy. It was thus in 1939, when Canadians did not quail, or hide, or falter in confronting a brutal foe. And so it is again.

An “uncowed” Star resurrecting the gallant ghost of “Red Ensign” Canada. The buttons pop.
Think about what has transpired here for a moment.
Nearly four years after co-ordinated attacks that killed thousands, changed the skyline of the world’s greatest city and staggered the economy of an entire continent, four years in which thousands continue to be slaughtered in bombings, beheadings and mass executions across the globe – Canada’s military remains so tragically under-equipped and underfunded that an incident involving name-calling is hailed as Canada’s message to the enemy that we shall not “quail” before the threat of Islamist terrorism.
And if that didn’t yank you from your happy little rhetoric-induced buzz;

Michael Forestall, a Tory member of the upper chamber’s national security and defence committee, said Tuesday the minister of defence is considering plans to refit the 1960s-era aircraft for a mission in Afghanistan’s volatile Kandahar region.
Col. Alan Blair, wing commander of 12 Wing Shearwater near Halifax, where 22 of the Sea Kings are based, confirmed in an interview that Defence has asked for a plan on how the Sea Kings could be used in the mission.
“Yes, we’ve provided some input for options, but it’s completely out of my hands what is done with that,” he said.

Murderous scumbags, indeed. Let’s just save everyone a lot of trouble and start lowering the flags now.

Hillier is from Mars.

“We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people,” the newspapers quoted him as saying.

Either that, or the Liberals are concerned about their weakness on the right, and are encouraging tough talk – because God only knows – they don’t have much else to throw into Afghanistan at the moment.
Small wonder he’s cautioning that Canadians can expect casualties.

Powerline’s Paul Mirengoff;

The Department of Defense won an important legal victory this morning in the Hamdan case. The United States Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. reversed a district court decision that Hamdan, who admits he was Osama bin Laden’s driver in Afghanistan, could not be tried by a military commission unless a “competent tribunal” first determined that he was not a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention. The Court concluded that the Geneva Convention is not enforceable in federal court. It also found that a military commission is a “competent tribunal,” and thus that such a commission can try Hamdan and, in doing so, decide his claim that he’s entitled to prisoner of war status.
[…]
[H]ere are the rulings in the Hamdan case, as I read the decision. First, the government was wrong in arguing that the district court should have abstained from exercising jurisdiction over Hamdan’s habeas corpus petition. Second, Hamdan was wrong in arguing that President Bush violated the separation of powers when he established military commissions. Congress authorized the presidient to take necessary and appropriate action aginst those he determines were involved in the attacks. The fact that Congress didn’t declare war doesn’t matter. Third, the Geneval Convention of 1949 may not be enforced in federal court. Supreme court precedent establishes that the 1929 Geneva Convention cannot be so enforced, and there is no basis for treating the 1949 Geneva Convention differently. The general principle is that the U.S. traditionally has negotiated treaties with the understanding that they don’t create judicially enforceable rights. If a treaty is violated, this becomes the subject of “international negotiations and reclamation” not a lawsuit.
Fourth, even if the Geneva Convention could be enforced in court, this wouldn’t help Hamdan because he does not fit that instrument’s definition of a prisoner of war, nor does the 1949 Convention apply to al Qaeda and its members. Al Qaeda has not accepted and applied the provisions of the Convention, as it must to be covered if the war is an international conflict. And the war against terrorism in general, and the war against al Qaeda in particular, is an international conflict.
Fifth, even if Hamdan were covered by the Geneva Convention, the court would abstain from deciding whether the military commission before which the government proposes to try him meets the requirements of the Convention. That issue involves deciding not whether the commission will try Hamdan (which the court is willing to do), but how it may try him. Before the court would entertain that issue, Hamdan would first have to “exhaust” his military remedies — in other words have the trail and then appeal. But this is all hypothetical because the court ruled that Hamdan is not covered.
Sixth, during Hamdan’s trial, the military commission need not comply in all respects with the requirements of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Most of these requirements apply only to court martials. The UCMJ imposes only minimal restrictions upon the form and function of military commissions. And finally, army regulations requiring that prisoners receive the protections of the Geneva Convention until some other legal status is determined by competent authority do not prevent the military commission from proceeding. The president intially found that Hamdan is not a prisoner of war under the Convention, and the president is a competent authority for these purposes. Moreover, the military commission is a competent tribunal for purpose of making a more definitive determination.