[Vision2020] About time!

[Ralph Nielsen]

[Vision2020] About Time!

Andreas Schou ophite at gmail.com
Tue Jul 25 13:33:19 PDT 2006
On 7/25/06, rvrcowboy <rvrcowboy at clearwire.net> wrote:
 >
 > This is just another example of one side having to play by the  
rules while
 > the other side is allowed total freedom to dominate.  Another  
example of why
 > the Geneva Conventions can't be applied to terrorists,  
representing no rule
 > of law, no country and no conscience of their murderous acts.

Dick --

Our adherence to universal human rights standards, international law,
and the commitments our nation has made through treaty, is not about
other peoples' behavior: we have committed to uphold the Geneva
Conventions not because we expect our enemies to be saints, or even
expect reciprocal behavior. We, in fact, expect quite the opposite. We
have committed to the rule of law, universal decency, and human rights
not only because we would like our captured soldiers to be treated a
certain way, but because these things are valuable in and of
themselves.

If there is a cost, even if the accounting of that cost is in human
lives, we are morally obligated to pay that cost. We do not face an
existential threat, and, even in the face of an existential threat, we
must not resort to barbarism.

The fact that *you* have the temerity to accuse *us* of moral
relativism is disgusting.

-- ACS

I just heard Tom Ricks, author of Fiasco, on Fresh Air, tell of an  
American colonel who told his men, re mistreatment of Iraqis, "Every  
time you disrespect an Iraqi, you're working for the enemy!"

RN