Extraordinary rendition - WWII Style

[kpete]

By the tens of thousands, German soldiers were loaded aboard Liberty Ships, which had carried American troops across the Atlantic. Eventually, some five hundred P.O.W. camps, scattered across forty-five of the forty-eight United States, housed some four hundred thousand men. In every one of those camps, the Geneva conventions were adhered to so scrupulously that, after the war, not a few of the inmates decided to stick around and become Americans themselves. That was extraordinary rendition, Greatest Generation style.

the rest:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2011/04/18/110418taco_talk_hertzberg
via:
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/04/the-wwii-model.html

[AlabamaLibrul]

1. Liberty Ships.

Some things don't change.

[geardaddy]

4. they used Liberty ships for other things, you know.

Not just that.

[AlabamaLibrul]

13. Yes

it's still a shitty, "uniquely American" name for ships that, in one particular use, were used for the transport of POWs.

[geardaddy]

15. I see your point.

[damntexdem]

5. Well, the name of the liberty ships is still valid.

But, unfortunately, the liberty is now absent from U.S. policy.

[xchrom]

2. indeed. nt

[Brickbat]

3. They held some POWs at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, and many stayed on after the war to become farmers

or ranchers in the area.

[Turbineguy]

6. It was a lot better

than what happened to the Germans POW's in the Soviet Union.

In our country now, hate-driven repubs would have done the same as the Soviets.

[randr]

7. Imagine if we had followed this example after 9/11

There certainly would be no argument as to whether or not the Islamic community supports our efforts to end the extremist violence around the world.

[Cleita]

8. The British also let the Italian POWs run around free.

I heard anecdotal stories from older friends who had fought in the war that our G. I.'s would buy them drinks in the pubs because they had no money and the English girls were lined up to date the handsome Italian men. I met a immigrant English woman in LA, who had married one of them before they came to America where he worked as a chef.

[geardaddy]

9. The German POWs in the South were treated better than African-Americans.

[SDuderstadt]

10. Keyword:

"anecdotal".

[Cleita]

16. So? I'm not going on the nightly news announcing this.

In case you haven't noticed this is a message board and a lot of people post anecdotal and personal experiences on it. I also said it was anecdotal, which means you can disbelieve it if you like. I don't care. You seem to have your own reality, so go with it. For me, it's a waste of time chatting with you so don't expect me to reply to any of your posts ever again.

[SDuderstadt]

18. "message board" means...

I can also point out the keyword in what you posted was "anecdotal".

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. My late brother-in-law guarded German/Italian POWs.

After he requested a transfer from the Japanese "interment" camp he was guarding.

Most of the Germans were from the Afrika Korps and were a surly lot. The Italians were a happy bunch. Both were rented out to local farmers. The Germans pouted the Italians frolicked with the local farm girls.

[whistler162]

12. No extraordinart rendition were

Japanese-Americans in Manzanar and the like!

[Rage for Order]

14. Those German soldiers wore uniforms and fought under a flag

They were easily recognizable as enemy forces; they did not wear civilian clothes and try to conceal themselves within the civilian population. The Geneva Conventions require armies to adhere to these rules and others. One should not expect to receive the benefits of the Geneva Conventions if one does not adhere to the requirements of those same Geneva Conventions. Imho.

[MadHound]

17. What is a "uniform"?

Is it the full dress pants, jacket, helmet? Or is it something as simple, and common, as a scrap of dyed cloth tied around your arm?

Frankly I find this whole uniform fetish to be ridiculous. If a person lays down their tools and picks up a gun in order to fight against a common enemy, they're a soldier. After all, that is what many of our Revolutionary soldiers did, coming to battle dressed in whatever "uniform" was in their wardrobe.

[Rage for Order]

19. A uniform is defined as "a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance"

The Third Geneva Convention defines a Prisoner of War under Article 4:

Article 4 defines prisoners of war to include:

* 4.1.1 Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict and members of militias of such armed forces
* 4.1.2 Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, provided that they fulfill all of the following conditions:
o that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
o that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance (there are limited exceptions to this among countries who observe the 1977 Protocol I);
o that of carrying arms openly;
o that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
* 4.1.3 Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.
* 4.1.4 Civilians who have non-combat support roles with the military and who carry a valid identity card issued by the military they support.
* 4.1.5 Merchant marine and the crews of civil aircraft of the Parties to the conflict, who do not benefit by more favourable treatment under any other provisions of international law.
* 4.1.6 Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war.
* 4.3 makes explicit that Article 33 takes precedence for the treatment of medical personnel of the enemy and chaplains of the enemy.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Geneva_Convention#Part_II:_General_Protection_of_Prisoners_of_War