Well, the Supremes in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case reversed the Admin/JusticeDept's position that the 'quaint' Geneva conventions didnt apply, ruling that portions did apply. As a result of the court's findings, the AdminCongress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 which rewrote the War Crimes Act of 1991. The 1991 act stated "(a) OFFENSE- Whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, commits a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, in any of the circumstances described in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death.". I believe the GC says something like "willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health". I believe the latter part was what Alberto Gonzales was worried about when he wrote in a memo to Bush about possible prosecutions under the War Crimes Act, hence the 'GC doesnt apply' position.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006, which was passed quickly after the Hamdan decision, is described as providing retroactive legal protection to those who carried out or authorized interagation techniques that conflicted with the GCs.

To some, I suspect that that smacks of 'chucking the rules'.

>Please provide specific examples of the rules and agreements the U.S. has broken:
>
>>We are the first civilized nation to try to chuck those rules and agreements out the window.