WP: Regaining Respect

[MountainLaurel]

From a former CIA counsel, on what the U.S. needs to do to atone for its sins and have the international community consider it a respected member once again.

Law matters, especially in time of war. This is true not only for moral reasons but also because adhering to the rule of law makes us stronger. We are now paying the consequences, "big-time" as the vice president might say, for a number of decisions made right after Sept. 11, 2001, that gave short shrift to both domestic and international law. The Bush administration determined to treat the attacks as a national security matter and not a law enforcement matter. That was the right emphasis, but they struck hard and largely ignored the law.

Nearly four years later there are signs that the administration realizes it's time -- long past time, really -- to start worrying about the law and its importance to this country in maintaining world leadership.

There are three steps that our country must take to restore our leadership and respect.

First, the president should convene a meeting of our principal allies to consider revisions in the Geneva Conventions. The administration's confusing and misguided interpretations of the Conventions in late 2001 set in motion a chain of events that, if not directly responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib, was clearly a contributing factor. The administration's aggressive interpretation of the Conventions obscured the reason this country was their leading champion for decades: We want our forces treated according to the Conventions when they are captured.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062601036.html

[Inland]

1. Right out of the box, Bush can't do it.

Bush has already taken the position that in wartime, the president determines--in secret--which laws to obey and which not to obey.

The concept that Bush is going to have a convention whereby he makes a new Geneva agreement (hard enough to believe he would even sign on) and says "we'll keep this one, honest!" is too funny. No other nations would bother to show.

[htuttle]

2. There is one, and only one, thing that Americans can do to regain respect

1) Hold the Bush administration accountable for their crimes against the US Constitution, the UN Charter, and humanity in general.

Short of doing that it's all talk, and nobody is listening anymore.

[MountainLaurel]

4. You're all right on

I remember reading of the disappointment across the world when Bush was reelected. The international community was willing to give the U.S. a pass for 2000-2004 because of the election shenanigans in Florida, even though that did give the country all the appearance of a banana republic. However, when the U.S. seemingly reelected him with no such problems (Diebold and Ohio not having made much news overseas), the U.S. is now seen as a lost cause that chose its own status as pariah.

[ixion]

6. exactly. all the legal wrangling in the world will not regain the respect

lost by BushCo. The only thing that will set things right again is for the administration to be held accountable for their (bogus and tragic) decisions.

[movonne]

3. The first thing we must do to gain respect is to get rid of this

administration....not just bush but all of them.

[bemildred]

5. Impeach Bush, then we'll talk.

Handcuffs in the Hague for the lot of them would be good too.