"The Bush administration views the Geneva Conventions as quaint and outdated"

Because the current enemy does not recognize the Geneva convention. It's like making a boxer fight by the WBC rules against a street fighter with no rules . The boxer may have honor but he is going to take a beating.

The military needed a change , something they hate. We are fighting a new enemy with neew tactics. As evidenced in Iraq with road side bombs. The Army never imagined they would need harded vehicles for this type of tactic and spent the better part of 6 months welding steel plate to their vehicles. We went through the same thing in Vietnam. The screaming from the old guard military is normal when things get shaken up. Look how long the rank and file howled at the new Boeing. They would have ridden the old system into bancruptcy in the face of the industry changes brought by Airbus.