U.S. Troops Said to Use Iraqi Wives as Leverage

The treatment of women has obvious cultural sensitivities in the Middle East — so new allegations that U.S. troops have been using women as "leverage" against suspected terrorists could stir new trouble.
The practice first came to light through U.S. military documents obtained by the Associated Press in a Freedom of Information Act request. They reveal that on at least two occasions the Army seized and jailed wives of suspected insurgents in an effort to flush them out.
Go FOIA!
One document, also obtained by ABC News, is a complaint filed by a U.S. intelligence officer whose name has been redacted. The officer complains that on May 9, 2004, he witnessed a U.S. raid team detain a 28-year-old mother who was still nursing her six-month-old baby.
It's the American Way.
Human rights organizations have denounced the practice of detaining insurgent's wives as tantamount to hostage-taking, a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Precisely.
Despite the outcry, ABC News military analyst Tony Cordesman insisted that the practice of detaining women as leverage against their husbands does not violate the rules of war. To the contrary, he says, it has been a common practice, ever since humans began fighting wars.
Hmm...older human rights abuses - an excellent benchmark against which to measure current human rights abuses.