http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/17580
What does torture have in common with genocide, slavery, and wars of
aggression? They are all jus cogens. That's Latin for "higher law" or
"compelling law." This means that no country can ever pass a law that
allows torture. There can be no immunity from criminal liability for
violation of a jus cogens prohibition.
The United States has always prohibited torture in our Constitution,
laws, executive statements, judicial decisions, and treaties. When the
U.S. ratifies a treaty, it becomes part of American law under the
Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.
The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, says, "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever,
whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability
or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for
torture."
Whether someone is a POW or not, he must always be treated humanely;
there are no gaps in the Geneva Conventions.
