Still cleaning up the mess

Since the wars with the worst impact on civilians these days seem to be taking place within countries -- Sudan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka -- it's really a shame that the USA spent 7 years trashing the component of the Geneva Conventions with most relevance, that applying to "conflicts not of an international character" on the ground that it somehow helped al Qaeda. The a la carte approach to conventions makes rhetorical life a lot easier for the governments of these countries.