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Gen. Wesley Clark said at a UCLA faculty discussion Monday he was dissatisfied with legislation t

Gen. Wesley Clark made his first appearance as a member of the UCLA International Institute on Monday to discuss changes in U.S. policy regarding the Geneva Conventions.

Clark, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, led faculty in a discussion on current legislation that would change the way in which the U.S. follows the Geneva Conventions, the treaties that guide humanitarian aspects of international law.

The bill would protect detainees from blatant abuses, but does not require that they receive legal counsel. It would also bar detainees from protesting their detentions in federal courts. The legislation would only apply to those selected by the military for prosecution.

Clark voiced his dissatisfaction with the legislation, which was sent to President Bush for signature last week.

Clark first questioned the practicality of using extreme techniques to get information from terrorists.

“If you put people under pressure, some will talk,” Clark said, but warned that more cohesive units are harder to break, calling al-Qaeda tough and hardened.

“What we have found ... is you have to get people to talk voluntarily,” he said.

He gave the example of a technique used by Yemen with captured al-Qaeda operatives. There they have had some success in “deprogramming” terrorists, Clark said.

The Yemenites brought in “imams,” Muslim religious leaders, to try and reason with the terrorists that they capture and dispute the means and aims of the terrorists, he said.

Clark said that to his knowledge, no such similar attempts were made in Guantanamo Bay.

“I think it would be very smart if we did something like this,” he said.

Supporters of the legislation say the Geneva Conventions are too limiting to fight current threats.

The legislation received extensive support in both the House and Senate.

The House endorsed Bush’s plan 253-168, and the Senate passed a nearly identical bill Thursday by 65-34. The House then voted to send the Senate version to the president.

“In this new era of threats, where the stark and sober reality is that America must confront international terrorists committed to the destruction of our way of life, this bill is absolutely necessary,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.

But UCLA law Professor Jack Beard said the Geneva Conventions are not as limiting as the bill’s supporters claim.

“The Geneva Conventions has been a part of a political rhetoric that implies it requires a country to lose,” Beard said.

The Geneva Conventions are not as weak as the bill supporters imply and do include a separate process for unlawful combatants, he said. They do not enjoy the rights of the prisoner-of-war status given to lawful combatants, he said.

Clark spoke against the movement away from a strict interpretation of the Geneva Conventions on the basis of moral legitimacy as well.

Following the Geneva Conventions prevents “peremptory battlefield justice,” he said.

Clark is a retired four-star general with 34 years of military experience. He held the rank of supreme allied commander of NATO and negotiated peace in Kosovo in the 1990s.

Stepping away from the Geneva Conventions is also moving out from the “ethical umbrella” around it, he said.

Adhering to the Conventions gave the United States both moral legitimacy and protected soldiers around the globe, he said.

“We thought we were in uniform because we stood for something,” Clark said.

He emphasized the importance of policy that maintains allies to fight terrorism, saying that there is no other country in the world that supports al-Qaeda.

Clark plans to spend his time at UCLA taking part in similar discussions and sitting in on classes, he said. He plans to teach a seminar, though not this year.

Clark does not plan to return to campus until the end of the month.

With reports from Bruin wire services.