The Wire

The question of the correct way to deal with terrorism suspects is one that’s proved incredibly divisive for many governments in the western world. The issue of whether to favour national security over civil rights has been particularly controversial. But recently the Bush Administration reached a compromise with a group of Republican senators who had opposed a plan to revise America’s obligations to the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions were formulated in 1864 to protect the rights of prisoners of war, such as David Hicks. Those opposing the plan were led by the maverick Arizona Senator John McCain. McCain, who was tortured while a Prisoner Of War in Vietnam, said there was no doubt that the integrity, the letter and the spirit of the Geneva Conventions had been preserved. But Christopher H. Pyle, a Professor of Politics at Mt Holyoke College, Massachusetts, told Max Lavergne he believed otherwise.