“Not available in all states”

You know about the small print: You see some advertisement touting a fantastic bargain on a product if you’ll just rush into the store during a small window of time, bearing a check book. If you dig out the magnifying glass though, you might see that the tiny dot you thought was dust is actually an asterisk, and that the blurry box at the bottom of the page is actually the text connected to that asterisk. Magnifying glass still in hand, you read to discover that the “offer is not available in all states,” a statement then followed by a list of the 48 states in which it’s not available. Turns out that this principle also applies to the Geneva Convention.

The way it works is that, if you’re America, the Geneva Convention is available to all comers, whether they are members of a formal military, whether their country is a Convention signatory, whether they were caught in uniform, etc. The asterisk, however, is that terrorist states that have signed on to the Geneva Convention don’t, in fact, have to follow it.  John at Power Line connects the dots:

One more thing: these uniformed British servicemen (and woman), unlike captured terrorists, are entitled to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, which Iran has signed. Pretty much every aspect of their treatment has violated the Convention: a video showing them in captivity has been filmed and played on television, they have been “interrogated,” in Iran’s own description, and are now being held incommunicado in an undisclosed location. Has anyone noticed any outcry from the “world community” about this? Does the Geneva Convention apply to anyone other than the U.S.?

The same post has a good, short analysis of the Iran/Britain situation generally, so you may want to read it.