UK Defence Secretary: Redraw Geneva Conventions

UK's Defence secretary, John Reid, has called for revisions to the Geneva Conventions "to free British soldiers from the restraints of the Geneva conventions and make it easier for the west to mount military actions against other states."

In his speech, the defence secretary addressed three key issues: the treatment of prisoners, when to mount a pre-emptive strikes, and when to intervene to stop a humanitarian crisis. In all these areas, he indicated that the UK and west was being hamstrung by existing inadequate law.

Mr Reid indicated he believed existing rules, including some of the conventions - a bedrock of international law - were out of date and inadequate to deal with the threat of international terrorists.

"We are finding an enemy which obeys no rules whatsoever", he said, referring to what he called "barbaric terrorism".

While it would definitely be worthwhile to discuss the procedures involved in dealing with humanitarian crises, there is bound to be staunch worldwide opposition to policies such as the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war, which has been repeatedly and rightfully challenged - as has the treatment of "detainees" through the practices of torture flights and the creation of camps like Gitmo. Reid refused to comment on those realities.

The protections against pre-emptive war and illegal detainee treatment ensure that all countries and persons are treated equally and the road to considering any reforms to the Geneva Conventions must be a long, involved process that considers the fact that any country given the green light to follow these new doctrines could very well become an even greater threat on the world scene as a result.

It's already incredibly difficult to hold offenders to account, despite the creation of the International Criminal Court, which the US refuses to subscribe to, and the effectiveness of UN sanctions is certainly questionable. One cannot contemplate such sweeping changes without considering accountability and countries like the US and Britain cannot continue to receive a free pass when they violate international laws.

Reforming the Geneva Conventions as Reid suggests smacks of the behaviour of the US congress that has tended to prefer rewriting existing laws to allow the Bush administration to circumvent those already in existence. Bills like the one which would make the NSA spying program retroactively legal offer a protection that the government is not entitled to. Imagine that sort of redemption on a global scale where Bush and Blair would be exempt from prosecution for their current war crimes.

This is a development that must be closely watched to ensure that the world's strongest nations and biggest violators do not summarily allow themselves to get away with propagating their dangerous neocon doctrines that conflict with the rights of sovereign nations and their citizens.