Basically it boils down to “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.”
The following quotes are from Why the Court Should Hear Hamdan by David H. Remes an article written for The Blog of the American Constitution Society
The United States in fact adopted the Geneva Conventions to protect American soldiers captured in battle. As Secretary of State John Foster Dulles stated, America’s participation in the conventions was needed “to enable us to invoke them for the protection of our nationals.” Our consistent application of the Conventions to all enemies – from signatory states to Somali warlords – has saved untold numbers of American soldiers from torture and death.
When North Vietnam insisted that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to American POWs because they were “pirates,” President Nixon demanded – and had the moral authority to demand – that Hanoi apply them. On the 50th anniversary of the Conventions, Senator John McCain stated that he and his fellow POWs would have fared “a lot worse” without the Geneva Conventions’ protections against “the cruel excesses of war.”
The decision to deny the rights under the Geneva convention of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who’s accused of conspiring with Al Qaeda, and other foreign nationals by President Bush has far reaching implications and in doing so he has undermined the well-being of US soldiers around the world.
