Do Prisoners of War have Rights? 
English 103
Spring 2014
Do Prisoners of War have Rights?
The occurrences of wars have been prevalent in the world for as long as history has been recorded. The causes, inspiration and justification for wars has varied from territory, power, religion, dominance, racism, divine right etc. The Romans fought to conquer and civilize the rest of the world while they dominated in the first century AD. Armies have been organized and trained to kill opponents that are perceived as threats to their nation, God, ruler or tribe. Any civilization, group, tribe, country, nation or group of people with a general common purpose has organized an army to defend their goal whether it be to spread their religious views to others, to conquer and dominate people in order to gain access to the land they occupy or to assert power on the global scale.
War arises because of the changing relations of numerous variables--technological, psychic, social, and intellectual. There is no single cause of war. Peace is an equilibrium among many forces. Change in any particular force, trend, movement, or policy may at one time make for war, but under other conditions a similar change may make for peace. A state may at one time promote peace by armament, at another time by disarmament, at one time by insistence on its rights, at another time by a spirit conciliation. To estimate the probability of war at any time involves, therefore, an appraisal of the effect of current changes upon the complex of intergroup relationships throughout the world. (Wright, 1965: 1284)
The definition of war provides an overview of why people have continued to fight for hundreds of years. According to R.J. Rummel, “The trigger provokes the will, the will decides on action, and preparations are made. This comprises the situation of uncertainty, the initial phase of conflict behavior” (Rummel, 1979: 179). This is the most direct explanation to the process of arriving at war. Something occurs, a reaction is derived,
Spring 2014
Do Prisoners of War have Rights?
The occurrences of wars have been prevalent in the world for as long as history has been recorded. The causes, inspiration and justification for wars has varied from territory, power, religion, dominance, racism, divine right etc. The Romans fought to conquer and civilize the rest of the world while they dominated in the first century AD. Armies have been organized and trained to kill opponents that are perceived as threats to their nation, God, ruler or tribe. Any civilization, group, tribe, country, nation or group of people with a general common purpose has organized an army to defend their goal whether it be to spread their religious views to others, to conquer and dominate people in order to gain access to the land they occupy or to assert power on the global scale.
War arises because of the changing relations of numerous variables--technological, psychic, social, and intellectual. There is no single cause of war. Peace is an equilibrium among many forces. Change in any particular force, trend, movement, or policy may at one time make for war, but under other conditions a similar change may make for peace. A state may at one time promote peace by armament, at another time by disarmament, at one time by insistence on its rights, at another time by a spirit conciliation. To estimate the probability of war at any time involves, therefore, an appraisal of the effect of current changes upon the complex of intergroup relationships throughout the world. (Wright, 1965: 1284)
The definition of war provides an overview of why people have continued to fight for hundreds of years. According to R.J. Rummel, “The trigger provokes the will, the will decides on action, and preparations are made. This comprises the situation of uncertainty, the initial phase of conflict behavior” (Rummel, 1979: 179). This is the most direct explanation to the process of arriving at war. Something occurs, a reaction is derived,
Cited: Branfman, Fred. "On Torture and Being "Good Americans". " Tikkun 1 Mar. 2006: Ethnic NewsWatch (ENW), ProQuest. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. Dworkin, Anthony. The Geneva Convention and Prisoners of War. 2003. Retrieved from the world wide web at http://www.crimesofwar.org/special/Iraq/brief-pow.html Prisoners of War Chart. Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=prisoners+of+war&year_start=1800&year_end=2010&corpus=0&smoothing=3 Rummel, R.J. Understanding Conflict and War: Vol. 4:War, Power, Peace. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1979. The Geneva Convention.1949. Retrieved from the World Wide Web at http://www.icrc.org/eng/ "Torture." World Book Student .. World Book ,2011. Web.9 Feb. 2011. . Wright, Quincy. A Study of War, Vol. 1-2 Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942.