# Pictures of American prisoners on TV violates Geneva Convention? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pictures-of-american-prisoners-on-tv-violates-geneva-convention/163565 "2003-03-23T16:59:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pictures-of-american-prisoners-on-tv-violates-geneva-convention/163565/1 "2003-03-23T16:59:31Z")
[In this AP story](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=514&e=1&cid=514&u=/ap/20030323/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_prisoners), SecDef Rumsfeld says if there are genine pictures of coalition prisoners on Al-Jazeera TV, > [@](#): > > those pictures are a violation of the Geneva Convention. Is this bullshit or not? American TV is chock full of pictures of lines of Iraqi prisoners. Is this also a violation of the convention? There are no claims made (that I have heard) by either side that prisoners are being mistreated. The story says at least some of the Americans were interviewed on camera. I have not seen any Iraqi prisoners being interviewed in a similar manner, but I haven’t been following the war coverage closely. Has anyone seen Iraqi prisoners speaking on camera? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pictures-of-american-prisoners-on-tv-violates-geneva-convention/163565/2 "2003-03-23T17:20:57Z")
The closest I could find was in Article 13 on [this page](http://193.194.138.190/html/menu3/b/91.htm), the portion of the Geneva Convention that relates to the treatment of prisoners of war: > [@](#): > > …prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity. My hunch is that the US government’s position would be that the pictures we’ve seen on American TV are not the same, because they’re pictures of action occurring on the battlefield; the surrendering Iraquis are not really “prisoners” until they’re placed in confinement. Whether that holds water with the rest of the world, I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![cherry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherry)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pictures-of-american-prisoners-on-tv-violates-geneva-convention/163565/3 "2003-03-24T01:33:50Z")
I was watching al jazeera live earlier today while they were showing the american pows, it seems that iraqi tv ppl were interviewing them, basically in broken english asking them what their units were, where they were from, and what they think of the iraqi ppl. These exact questions werent posed to every single person in that order but that was the jist of it. Im not sure if its a violation of the geneva convention, but I was upset watching this, thinking they that these soliders seemed a little scared/unsure and hurt. I hope they are okay and treated well. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pictures-of-american-prisoners-on-tv-violates-geneva-convention/163565/4 "2003-03-24T02:22:48Z")
A current GQ thread is also going on about [Does the Geneva Convention really forbid taking pictures of POWs?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=172008) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pictures-of-american-prisoners-on-tv-violates-geneva-convention/163565/5 "2003-03-24T13:34:45Z")
Just quick info: If journalists happen to come upon troops surrendering, or being taken prisoner, that is fine. Parading POWs and staging POWs in front of cameras is adressed in the language of the Geneva Convention. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pictures-of-american-prisoners-on-tv-violates-geneva-convention/163565/6 "2003-03-24T13:52:28Z")
I was under the impression that we were ignoring the Geneva Convention during this war.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Gopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gopher)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pictures-of-american-prisoners-on-tv-violates-geneva-convention/163565/7 "2003-03-25T02:23:37Z")
A question: What about Vietnam and POWs? I remember Time magazine showed a picture of a prisoner giving the bird to the camera. Does this violate the convention? Oh, **Indygrrl** , just because you disagree with the war doesn’t mean the conventions have been broken. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pictures-of-american-prisoners-on-tv-violates-geneva-convention/163565/8 "2003-03-25T12:14:12Z")
The front page of the Oregonian newspaper two days ago had an image of an Iraqi POW. His hands were tightly bound with those plastic handcuffs and a US troop was wrapping something tightly over his eyes. Does this violate the GC then as well? ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pictures-of-american-prisoners-on-tv-violates-geneva-convention/163565/9 "2003-03-25T13:15:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gopher \* > Oh, **Indygrrl** , just because you disagree with the war doesn’t mean the conventions have been broken. I thought cluster bombs are outlawed?