In a memo to Deputy Chief of the Office of Legal Counsel John Yoo on January 11, 2002, Chief Legal Advisor to the Department of State, William Howard Taft IV, “warned Yoo that if the United States took the war on terror outside the Geneva Conventions, not only could U.S. soldiers be denied the protections of the Conventions–and therefore be prosecuted for crimes, including murder–but President Bush…could be prosecuted for war crimes. Taft wrote, ‘In previous conflicts, the United States has dealt with tens of thousands of detainees without repudiating its obligations under the Conventions. I have no doubt we can do so here, where only a relative handful of persons is involved.’ ”
– Jane Mayer, The Dark Side, Pages 122-123