In an internal memo, the Bush administration acknowledges that detainees in the war on terror are covered by a provision of the Geneva Conventions that prohibits “humiliating and degrading treatment” and requires trials “affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.” The memo is a step back from President George W. Bush’s 2002 executive order declaring that provision of the Geneva Conventions did not apply to Taliban or al-Qaeda detainees.