Declare war on torture (FT leader)

[Stockholm]

President George W. Bush says that what Congress does in the next two weeks could make or break the war on terrorism. He is right about that - but for all the wrong reasons.

The US president insists that unless Congress creates kangaroo courts for terrorism detainees, authorises him to spy on anyone he designates an enemy, and rewrites a key section of the Geneva conventions to legalise secret prisons and what he coyly calls "alternative" interrogation procedures, he will not have the tools he needs to win the war on terror. He hammered that message home again and again last week, on the stump, on the Hill and even in a nationally televised address to mark the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

snip

Congress must not give in to all this politically-inspired haste. US legislators are faced with fundamental decisions about how terrorism suspects are monitored, interrogated and detained. But the new rules are fraught with unintended consequences: if Congress redefines the Geneva conventions, then foreign regimes that capture US soldiers in future may do the same - and use that as justification for torturing Americans. The new surveillance rules may catch many innocent Americans in their net - not just foreign plotters. And worst of all, as Colin Powell, former secretary of state, said last week, these measures would only further undermine the moral basis for America's war on terror, already in serious doubt around the world.

The president is right that America faces a moment of truth: at long last a national debate has begun on issues such as secret detention and illicit wiretapping that were previously governed by executive decree, not by democratic legislation.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/acad45f4-46b1-11db-ac52-0000779e2340.html

:kick:

[whistle]

1. Well let's break it then....I mean if BushCo needs torture and ....

...suspension of human rights to fight terror as well is burn up the U.S. Constitution, why are we fighting the terrorists? Bush tells us, "What I am propossing is bad I know, but living under terrorist rules is even worse."

On that basis, I think BushCo and the reThuglican congress should be kicked out and let's get people in who know what they are doing.

[katinmn]

2. Yes! The Financial Times and all media and people everywhere

should condemn Bush and his circle for wanting to legalize war crimes.

Stop it now.

[mod mom]

3. Maybe Congress should define torture by what * will endure himself. Try

water-boarding chimpy and then let him decide if it is a good idea.