Archie's Corner

[jmhollen]

Call him prisoner of woe

Without POW tag, grilling is tougher

By JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

U.S. gave Saddam Hussein a shave and haircut but it won't call him a prisoner of war.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made it clear yesterday that Saddam Hussein is not classified as a prisoner of war - and that's bad news for the ex-dictator.

Legal experts said that denying Saddam POW status is a calculated move to allow the CIA to take extreme measures to get him to cough up information.

POWs cannot be subjected to rough interrogations, put on trial or executed, according to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, of which the U.S. is a signer.

Saddam's location remained top-secret yesterday, although sources have said he is still in Iraq. When seen Sunday by Iraqi government officials, he was not manacled or wearing a prison uniform.

But that was before the serious interrogation began.

"I have no idea how they're going to interrogate," President Bush told ABC yesterday. "I do know that this country doesn't torture."

But that may be a fine legal point.

"The U.S. government is going to be prepared to do more than a U.S. police force is authorized to do under the Constitution" during questioning, said Catholic University military law expert Michael Noone.

But that will not include physical torture, Noone added, saying "once you've resorted to physical force, you've lost."

Interrogating Saddam has been turned over to the CIA, a change that Rumsfeld called "a three-minute decision, and the first two were for coffee."

Rumsfeld said Saddam is "being accorded the protection of a POW but he's not being legally described as one at this stage."

"He, clearly, is being treated under the ... protections of the Geneva Conventions and is being treated humanely," Rumsfeld said.

The Geneva Conventions outlaw the torture and execution of prisoners. But rulings by the European Court of Human Rights found that sleep or food deprivation, sustained noise, forced standing and sensory deprivation (called "hooding") are not considered torture.

"Those could all potentially be used to interrogate Saddam," said Detlev Vagts, an expert on the laws of war at Harvard University. "That's the borderline."

International accords do allow for trial and execution of "unlawful belligerents," and Iraqi leaders have called for their former ruler to be tried and executed upon conviction.

In Iraq, coalition forces rolled up more former Baathists, including one of Saddam's top generals who was bankrolling insurgents, U.S. officials said.

Army Brig. Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division, told CNN that it was unlikely that Saddam was still directing Iraqi fighters, but some insurgents may have kept Saddam informed about their activities "on the chance that someday he might be able once again to be their patron."

With News Wire Services