politics — Page 9

Remember when John Kerry was called a flip-flopper, and they held up those flip-flops at the Republican National Convention?

Well, what do you call this:

White House: Detainees entitled to Geneva Convention protections

WASHINGTON
(AP) — The Bush administration said Tuesday that all detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in all other U.S. military custody around the world are entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the policy, outlined in a new Defense Department memo, reflects the recent 5-3 Supreme Court decision blocking military tribunals set up by President Bush.

The policy, described in a memo by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, appears to reverse the administration’s earlier insistence that the detainees are not prisoners of war and thus subject to the Geneva protections.

Responding to Jonah Goldberg’s post at the National Review Online, where Jonah says this:

If Democrats want terrorists to fall under the Geneva Convention let them say so. My guess is most won’t, if they’re smart.

Kevin Drum writes:

Well, I’m a Democrat, and I’ll say it: anyone we capture on a battlefield should be subject to the minimum standards of decency outlined in the Geneva Conventions. That includes terrorists. It’s our way of telling the world that we aren’t barbarians; that we believe in minimal standards of human decency even if our enemies don’t. It’s also a necessary — though not sufficient — requirement for winning this war.

I find it disturbing that we even have this debate: one mark of a civilized society how we treat those in our custody. Terrorists, mass-murderers, rapists, child molesters, drug runners–all must be treated humanely, because they remain human beings, and if we don’t, we lower ourself to their level. Not only that, but there is the matter of sorting out whether those accused actually did the things they are accused of….

Whatever happened to the notion of “not letting the terrorists win” that was so prevelant after 9/11? A major part of that is keeping our identity as a just, free, fair society that respects human rights. The rather minimal protections of prisoners under the Geneva Conventions are required by a society that respects human rights. Picking and choosing which prisoners deserve those protections makes no sense to me.

He was against human rights for all before he was for it…

What Kevin Said…