Moral Authority
The Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Paul Rieckhoff has written: “When an enemy fighter knows he’ll be treated well by United States forces if he is captured, he is more likely to give up.”
Rieckhoff said that many insurgents surrender to his platoon in Baghdad, when faced with the prospect of a hot meal and a pack of cigarettes. America’s moral integrity was the single most important weapon his platoon had on the streets of Iraq. It saved many lives and deterred Iraqis from joining the growing insurgency.
Since then, America’s moral standing has been eroded by the Bush regime’s flawed justification for initiating the invasion of Iraq, and scandals like Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and Haditha. We can not afford to leave Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions open to reinterpretation because it will undermine our moral integrity even further.
Undermining the authority of the Geneva Conventions will endanger American troops. It will serve to create another powerful recruiting tool for al Qaeda. Special Forces troops captured by Iranian forces while investigating a potential nuclear weapons program could be subjected to the same type of interrogation techniques used by Bush’s torture specialists.
Liberian President Charles Taylor adopted the Bush regime’s phrase “unlawful combatants” to describe prisoners he wished to try outside of civilian courts. Presently, Taylor is standing trial before The Hague accused of war crimes.
We are learning the hard way that democracy cannot be created at the point of a gun. The success of America’s fight against terrorism depends more on the strength of its moral integrity than on troops in Iraq or the “flexibility” of interrogation options.
Several Republican combat veterans, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Senators Lindsay Graham, John McCain and John Warner, have recognized that the president’s stance on Article 3 is a threat to our troops and to our interests.
Unfortunately, the Bush regime has not and will not recognize the value of moral authority.
Rieckhoff said that many insurgents surrender to his platoon in Baghdad, when faced with the prospect of a hot meal and a pack of cigarettes. America’s moral integrity was the single most important weapon his platoon had on the streets of Iraq. It saved many lives and deterred Iraqis from joining the growing insurgency.
Since then, America’s moral standing has been eroded by the Bush regime’s flawed justification for initiating the invasion of Iraq, and scandals like Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and Haditha. We can not afford to leave Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions open to reinterpretation because it will undermine our moral integrity even further.
Undermining the authority of the Geneva Conventions will endanger American troops. It will serve to create another powerful recruiting tool for al Qaeda. Special Forces troops captured by Iranian forces while investigating a potential nuclear weapons program could be subjected to the same type of interrogation techniques used by Bush’s torture specialists.
Liberian President Charles Taylor adopted the Bush regime’s phrase “unlawful combatants” to describe prisoners he wished to try outside of civilian courts. Presently, Taylor is standing trial before The Hague accused of war crimes.
We are learning the hard way that democracy cannot be created at the point of a gun. The success of America’s fight against terrorism depends more on the strength of its moral integrity than on troops in Iraq or the “flexibility” of interrogation options.
Several Republican combat veterans, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Senators Lindsay Graham, John McCain and John Warner, have recognized that the president’s stance on Article 3 is a threat to our troops and to our interests.
Unfortunately, the Bush regime has not and will not recognize the value of moral authority.
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