The effort to blur the lines between Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib reflects a deep misunderstanding about the different legal regimes that apply to Iraq and the war against al Qaeda. – John Yoo
Human-rights advocates, for example, claim that the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners is of a piece with President Bushs 2002 decision to deny al Qaeda and Taliban fighters the legal status of prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. – John Yoo
Once the attacks occur, as we learned on Sept. 11, it is too late. It makes little sense to deprive ourselves of an important, and legal, means to detect and prevent terrorist attacks while we are still in the middle of a fight to the death with al Qaeda. – John Yoo
While Taliban fighters had an initial claim to protection under the conventions, they lost POW status by failing to obey the standards of conduct for legal combatants: wearing uniforms, a responsible command structure, and obeying the laws of war. – John Yoo
In the US, you even lose legal rights if you store your data in a companys machines instead of your own. The police need to present you with a search warrant to get your data from you but if they are stored in a companys server, the police can get it without showing you anything. – Richard Stallman