No Rubber Stamp for Bush (LAT editorial)

[struggle4progress]

The president deserves even more resistance to his method of waging war on terror.
September 17, 2006

PRESIDENT BUSH MADE FULL USE of the 9/11 anniversary last week. In his speeches and remarks, he reminded the nation of the stakes involved in what he calls the war on terror, and he conveyed a renewed sense of urgency to prevent attacks and bring those responsible for 9/11 to justice. Yet if his goal was also to pressure Congress into acting as a rubber stamp for the administration's questionable legal tactics in conducting this war, it was a disappointing week for the president — and a heartening one for anyone outside the White House.

On the treatment of detainees, the president has been especially disingenuous. He has never been a fan of international law, so it's absurd for him to pretend to want to "clarify" the Geneva Convention. What he clearly wants to do is gut the treaty's humanitarian protections for wartime detainees, with an eye toward retroactively legitimizing abusive CIA interrogation tactics used on terrorism suspects ...

At issue is the Convention's Common Article 3, drafted in 1949, barring "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment." The administration considers this language inconveniently vague and would like to tinker with it to legalize an "alternative set of procedures" employed by CIA operatives in secret facilities.

As Powell wrote in a letter to McCain, speaking in support of the Geneva Convention, "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism." No matter how grave the challenges the nation faces, those doubts spread every day that Bush refuses to accept that there are checks and balances on his power.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-torture17sep17,1,2535593.story?coll=la-news-comment

[otohara]

1. All Hail Powell

protector of freedom, decency and the truth!! :sarcasm:

[kurth]

2. "Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Massad

Al-Zakawi an associate and collaborator of Usama bin Laden and his al-Qaida lieutenants.... Let me talk now about the systems Iraq is developing to deliver weapons of mass destruction, in particular Iraq's ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs.... Ladies and gentlemen, these are not assertions. These are facts."
- Uncle Colin, rubbertamping for war at the United Nations.

[struggle4progress]

3. Well, there's no point in dumping on him when he's doing the right thing,

but I pretty much agree with your sentiment ..