Regarding the Justice Department’s recent decision not to protect prisoners of the war on terror under Geneva Conventions, Secretary of State Colin Powell sent a memo to presidential Counsel Alberto Gonzales and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on January 25, 2002. “Not only was it legally indefensible, he wrote, ‘it will reverse over a century of U.S. policy and practice…and undermine the protections of the law of war for our troops, both in this specific conflict and in general.’ …Recognizing the treaty would provide ‘the strongest legal foundation for what we actually intend to do…[Geneva] presents a positive international posture, preserves U.S. credibility and moral authority by taking the high ground, and puts us in a better position to demand and receive international support.’ ”
– Karen DeYoung, Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, Pages 370-371