Major Announcement: Bush Administration Recognizes Detainees' Geneva Rights?

The ramifications of the Supreme Court Hamdan decision are already being felt...

AP: U.S. will give detainees Geneva rights

The Bush administration said Tuesday that all detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in all other U.S. military custody around the world are entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the policy, outlined in a new Defense Department memo, reflects the recent 5-3 Supreme Court decision blocking military tribunals set up by President Bush...

...Word of the Bush administration's new stance came as the Senate Judiciary Committee opened hearings Tuesday on the Guantanamo issue — which is testing unity among Republicans on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers trying to decide in an election season how military detainees should be tried and what their rights should be...

A great sign of progress and vindication for critics of the President's detainee policies since 2002.

Money quote from Press Secretary Tony Snow: "It's not really a reversal of policy."

Actually, Tony, that's exactly what it is.

Congress is also now debating how to proceed (with military tribunals, etc) in light of the Supreme Court ruling. I am not sure, especially with the Republicans in charge, that I will approve of whatever piece of legislation is eventually agreed upon, but it is important that this debate is finally taking place- publicly. This should have happened five years ago, but President Bush decided he could do whatever the hell he wanted, regardless of whether it was legal or right. The Supreme Court humbled him. And now we start again.

Finally, some remain skeptical of the hand the White House is playing here.

UPDATE:
Conservative blog looks at the detail and says... don't believe the hype?

[Related reading:
-Washington Post: Rethinking Embattled Tactics in Terror War
-Newsweek: The Gitmo Fallout- The fight over the Hamdan ruling heats up—as fears about its reach escalate.
-Financial Times: Pentagon in U-turn on Geneva rights for detainees
-Glenn Greenwald: Real dangers face Bush officials post-Hamdan, and they know it
-Andrew Sullivan: The End of Torture?]