Possable Genevia Violations?

[Streetdoc270]

Check out the photo in this story

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040427/photos_ts/mdf550348
What is written on the blindfold that the man is wearing? And does this go aginst the 'do not humiliate prisoners' rule?

[theboss]

1. It looks like his name

But I don't speak Arabic.

[Failure]

3. isn't it english? n/t

[Failure]

2. The US only bitches about the Geneva Conventions

When they do something to us. But on the other hand, we can do ANYTHING we want. More proof of our total contempt for international law.

[BJ]

4. U.S.forces violated international law from the beginning

Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict
Done at the Hague, 14 May 1954
Entered in force: 7 August 1956



Article 2. Protection of cultural property

For the purposes of the present Convention, the protection of cultural property shall comprise the safeguarding of and respect for such property.

The Hague Convention

Focus on Iraq: Spoils of War Volume 56 Number 4, July/August 2003
by Neil Brodie

The plundering of Iraq's cultural institutions demonstrates yet again how warfare fuels the global trade in looted antiquities.

In the days following the sack of Baghdad's museums, the first question asked was: Why had coalition war planners and military commanders not done more to stop it from happening? Looking to the events of April 2003, and beyond, another and more fundamental question is: Why has no concerted international action been taken to block the trade and sale of material looted from archaeological sites and cultural institutions during wartime? The simple answer seems to be that the political will just hasn't been there.
(-snip-)
If the coalition partners had acceded to the Hague Convention before the invasion of Iraq, then those responsible for the failure to protect the National Museum would have taken more care to secure it.
Archaeology Magazine

[Anon]

5. Jumping to conclusions

It looks like that it's probably his name, and the smaller writing appears to be a date, probably date of capture, and what cant be seen is probably location of capture.

[Streetdoc270]

6. But why the blindfold?

and why does it look like material that was found in the area? If they need that info on a prisoner you would think that writing it on a piece of paper would be more approprate

[Anon]

7. Simplicity

There's nothing in the Geneva/Hague convention about blindfolding people, but I would surmise it would be for a couple of reasons. Keep the prisoner "off-balance" for interrogation purposes, and security. Their probably was/is a piece of paper with similar information, but what if he's transferred and the paperwork is delayed or lost? As for the local material, it would be known as "field-expedient".