This Jan. 22, 2002 memo from Jay Bybee (OLC) to Alberto R. Gonzales (Counsel to Pres. George W. Bush) and William H. Haynes II (General Counsel of the DOD) responds to a request for advice on the effect of the War Crimes Act and the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of individuals detained by the U.S. Armed Forces during the conflict in Afghanistan. The OLC concludes that these treaties do not apply to the conditions of detention and trial procedures for members of al Qaeda. The OLC also concludes that the President has sufficient grounds to suspend U.S. treaty obligations towards Afghanistan on the basis that Afghanistan was a failed state.