There has been much chatter of late about alleged abuses at Gitmo and sundry other places, and much debate about whether the Geneva Conventions ought to apply to the prisoners there.
Andrew Coyne, for one, argues that the Conventions were intended to give combatants an incentive for playing within the rules, so once they play outside the rules, insisting on treating them as regular prisoners of war is to “subvert” the Conventions. And I can’t say it bothers me if people captured in combat situations are being deprived of sleep or access to the lavatory or a day free of Christina Aguilera’s music, provided there’s some point to it all, some objective the interrogators are trying to achieve and have a good chance of achieving. Once you accept that the ends sometimes justify the means — as you inevitably do when you believe that killing people can be legitimate, which is what soldiers do — it seems to me there’s room for a lot of discussion around these matters.
But enough of that. I could provide links to all sorts of interesting news items and opinion pieces, but I want to stick with film. And one scene in particular that has been coming to mind with some regularity the last few days is this bit from my official favorite film of all time, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
The scene, copied-and-pasted from here, features Sir Alec Guinness as the Arab Prince Feisal and Arthur Kennedy as the American journalist Jackson Bentley:
FEISAL
My army is made up of tribes. The tribes are led by the tribal leaders.BENTLEY
Well, your people do think very highly of Major Lawrence, though.FEISAL
Oh, yes. And rightly. In this country, Mr Bentley, the man who gives victory in battle is prized beyond every other man. One figure I can give you from my head because it never leaves my head. Since starting this campaign four months ago, we have lost thirty-seven wounded, one hundred and fifty-six dead. You remark that this proportion between our dead and wounded.BENTLEY
Yeah. Four times as many.FEISAL
That’s because those too badly wounded to bring away we ourselves kill. We leave no wounded for the Turks.BENTLEY
You mean…FEISAL
I mean we leave no wounded for the Turks. In their eyes we are not soldiers, but rebels, and rebels wounded or whole are not protected by the Geneva Code and are treated harshly.BENTLEY
How harshly?FEISAL
More harshly than I hope you can imagine.BENTLEY
I see.FEISAL
Our own prisoners, Mr Bentley, are taken care of until the British can relieve us of them according to the Code. I should like you to notice that.BENTLEY
Yes, sir. Is that the influence of Major Lawrence?FEISAL
Why should you suppose so?BENTLEY
Well, it’s just I heard in Cairo that Major Lawrence has a horror of bloodshed.FEISAL
That is exactly so. With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion: with me it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.
I especially like the sly way Guinness delivers the line “I should like you to notice that.” Feisal knows he’s following the Code for no higher purpose than the fact that it’s good for his P.R.
And he’s the head of a group that, in some ways, could be seen as an ancestor to the “insurgents” of our own day (though I confess I don’t know Arabic culture well enough to know how close the connection really is, or whether it would be more accurate to say they represent rival factions, etc.; I do know that the real-life Feisal became the first king of Iraq, and that his dynasty ended with the murder of his namesake grandson in 1958).
Apply all this to the current political debates however you will.
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