Richard Lowry

In the following viewpoint, Richard Lowry asserts that the United States has not violated the Geneva Convention—an international agreement which established standards for the treatment of prisoners of war—in its handling of captive Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. According to Lowry, these detainees, who were captured when the United States invaded Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, are not legitimate prisoners of war. He argues that the
Geneva Convention does not apply to the detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, because neither the Taliban nor al-Qaeda are legitimate governments and thus are not entitled to the reciprocity of the Geneva Convention. Lowry is an editor at the National Review.

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1. How does the Geneva...