The Geneva Convention (the agreement that specifies the conditions for P.O.W.'s) states in Article 3 that:
In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:
1. Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) Taking of hostages;
(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
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When the Bush administration specifically indicated in 2002 memo's that the Geneva convention could be violated in certain instances of terrorism, they not only screwed over any terrorist prisoners, but also American civilians. By making it ok to torture foreign captives (Abu-Ghraib) the Bush administration also gave the ok for terrorists or enemy regimes to repeal the Geneva convention. The reason we are supposed to abide by the convention is to prevent our citizens from these sort of unfortunate incidents.
