Baghdad, Mar 22: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has given orders for British and US prisoners of war to be treated in accordance with the Geneva convention, information minister Mohammad said al-Sahhaf said today. "We will strive to carry out the president's orders despite all the abominable crimes that are being committed against the Iraqi people by this international band of thugs," Sahhaf told a news conference. The orders, which the minister said had been issued yesterday, marked a sharp change in Baghdad's position. Yesterday, Sahhaf had said that coalition forces were "not soldiers, they are mercenaries to which international law does not apply." Bureau Report