This Newsweek story discusses a post-9/11 Justice Dept. memo that insists, much to the consternation of the State Department, that the US need not follow international law or the Geneva Conventions where the Afghani and Iraqi prisoners are concerned. It does conclude, however, that these prisonoers could be tried in military tribunals for offenses against international law.

“Do as we SAY, not as we DO” has never been terribly convincing. On the international level, it’s also a terribly dangerous precedent to set.