IT'S HARD TO TALK SENSE ABOUT THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS. THEY ARE Scripture for human rights activists – quite simply “the basis” of international humanitarian law. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was excoriated in the media, and attacked during his January 2005, confirmation hearings, for merely having suggested that some Geneva provisions were “quaint” when applied to al Qaeda and the Taliban. Countless opponents of American policy in Iraq (and of the war on terror generally) have shouted themselves hoarse claiming that the Bush administration's refusal to grant Geneva prisoner of war (POW) status to unlawful enemy combatants led to the criminal abuses at Abu Ghraib. Many have suggested darkly that American POWs will one day pay for this failure.

In fact, it is high time that the American people had a long and informed talk about the Geneva Conventions. To the extent that, in agreeing to the Geneva treaties, the United States' goal was to obtain decent treatment for Americans, particularly those held as POWs, the effort has failed.