John B. Bellinger III - Legal Opinions

Legal Opinions

According to the British Mail on Sunday, in 2003 Bellinger played a key role in persuading a wavering Lord Goldsmith, British Attorney General, of the legality of the Iraq War. Bellinger was reported to have said: "We had a problem with your Attorney General who was telling us it was legally doubtful under international law. We straightened him out."

On 15 February 2006 the Department of Defense issued a press release, quoting Bellinger, entitled: "Guantanamo Detainees Being Held Legally, Official Says"

The press release quoted Bellinger as arguing:

"The vast majority of the people who are in Guantanamo are being held under the typical laws of war."

It reported:

Bellinger said most of the detainees were captured on the battlefield, but are not categorized as prisoners of war because Al-Qaeda is not a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, and "neither the Taliban nor al Qaeda met any of the definitions of the term 'prisoner of war'" outlined in the conventions.

Due to security threats, "the Geneva Conventions themselves make very clear ... that there would be certain categories of individuals -- spies or 'saboteurs,' ... who should be considered to have forfeited their rights of communication with the outside world," he said.

David Ignatius, reported in The Washington Post that Bellinger had backed a recommendation of the 9/11 Commission that the United States join with her allies to negotiate a new approach to dealing with combatants who stood outside the already established International conventions. Ignatius quoted a passage from the 9/11 Commission's report that he asserted Bellinger supported:

"New principles might draw upon Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions on the law of armed conflict."

A January 9, 2008 piece on National Public Radio reported that Bellinger believes that "the new administration will need to seek Congress' assistance in closing Guantanamo...not that the president can't move individuals legally to the U.S. without Congress' authority, but...the new team will find it important to have Congress' legislative authority to hold people and under what terms."