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I can see the manure still steaming after re-reading it.<br><br>Sunil<br><hr id="stopSpelling">From: jampot@roadrunner.com<br>To: donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com; sunilramalingam@hotmail.com; vision2020@moscow.com; thansen@moscow.com; bear@moscow.com<br>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Say What?<br>Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:22:11 -0700<br><br>
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<div><font size="2" face="Arial">A slightly different perspective...</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">g</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Jonah Goldberg </font>
<font size="2" face="Arial">http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | "There's a reason why we sign these
treaties: to protect my son in the military," Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., hissed
at the attorney general through his enormous teeth. "That's why we have these
treaties, so when Americans are captured they are not tortured. That's the
reason in case anybody forgets it." </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">Well . . . sorta. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">The relevant reason we sign treaties like the
Geneva Convention is so that other signatory nations do unto us as we would do
unto them. That means we can't subject captured French soldiers to "Caddyshack
II" and France can't subject our boys to Jerry Lewis marathons. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">OK, perhaps I'm making too much light of a
serious thing - torture. But then again so is Biden. The Geneva Convention is a
contract, like all treaties. And contracts obligate those who sign them to
certain behavior. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">Hence, POWs from signatory nations are entitled
to all sorts of stuff, including dormitories replete with educational and
entertainment facilities and generous canteens run by POWs who receive a share
of the profits. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">As my colleague Rich Lowry and others have
pointed out, many of these provisions are the vestiges of World War II - when
millions of conscripts were thrown into a faraway conflict and, hence, deserved
not merely humane treatment, but, in Lowry's words, "Hogan's Heroes" treatment.
</font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">And that's why White House Counsel Alberto
Gonzalez suggested in a 2002 memorandum that the Geneva Convention seemed
"quaint" in the context of the war on terror. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">But that's all beside the point for the moment.
Because whether or not it's "quaint" for prison guards to behave like Sgt.
Schultz ("I see nothink!") or not, one thing is clear: The Geneva Convention
does not require countries who haven't signed it to do anything at all.
</font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">And guess what? Osama bin Laden has as much use
for the Geneva Convention as he does for the new Lady Remington electric shaver.
<br></font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">So yeah, Biden is correct in all of his pious
glory that the Geneva Convention protects military personnel like his son from
being tortured - but it protects them from being tortured by other countries who
have signed the Geneva Convention (By the way, Biden's son is quite safe as a
stateside military lawyer - a fact Biden revealed after the useful sound bite
was over.) </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">If you sign a contract with your neighbor
agreeing that neither of you will plant stinky ginkgo trees on your property,
that contract is binding on you and your neighbor. It's not binding for the guy
who lives across the street. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">Well, Osama bin Laden lives across the street. He
lives outside our neighborhood, our community, our laws. He lives outside all of
the rules of civilization, at war and peace. Every day, he violates the Geneva
Convention before he has his second bowl of muesli. He blows up passenger trains
and hijacks civilian aircraft. His henchmen don't wear uniforms, and they don't
abide by any of the rules governing professional armies. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">We've all seen countless WWII movies about how
soldiers out of uniform can be shot as spies under the Geneva Convention. Well,
all of al-Qaida's soldiers are spies. And they most emphatically do not provide
their prisoners with ping-pong tables and dormitories. They cut off their heads
and put the pictures on the Internet and TV. The same goes for Osama's allies
and fellow travelers in Iraq. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">The liberal punditocracy seems to think it's an
obvious fact that the Geneva Convention should apply to the war on terrorism,
even though the plain text of the Geneva Convention applies as much to the war
on terror as it does to the battle between the Federation and the Klingon
Empire. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">Sen. Biden surely knows all of this. And so does
John Ashcroft, whose son has actually served in Iraq. But why should the facts
get in the way of some righteous bloviation in an election year? </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">Now, this doesn't mean that there aren't other
rules governing the behavior of American soldiers, including the Uniform Code of
Military Justice. This doesn't mean the military should be free to torture any
belligerent who's not party to the Geneva Convention, or that there aren't real
costs for American prestige to such behavior. And, no, this doesn't mean that
those responsible for the Abu Ghraib fiasco shouldn't be punished. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">But if you think the Geneva Convention is a
wonderful thing, I don't understand why you would want to weaken it by saying
there's no advantage to signing it. Al-Qaida and the Iraqi insurgents defy all
the rules enshrined and symbolized by the Geneva Convention (and, often, the
Koran) and yet administration critics piously demand that these thugs should be
given all the benefits that come with being a signatory to it. </font><BR>
<br><font size="2" face="Arial">Well, if the barbarians get all of the benefits
of the Geneva Convention without obeying any of its rules, then it becomes not
merely quaint, not merely worthless, but a tool of those who wish to overthrow
all it stands for.
<img src="http://www.jewishworldreview.com/weeglobe.GIF" width="21" align="texttop" height="18">
</font><BR>
<font size="2" face="Arial">Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what
many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the
daily JWR update. It's free. Just click </font><a href="http://www.jewishworldreview.com/subs.php"><font size="2" face="Arial">here.</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial"> </font><BR>
<font size="2" face="Arial">To comment on JWR contributor Jonah Goldberg's column
click </font><a href="mailto:schmooze@jewishworldreview.com?subject=Jonah%27s%20column"><font size="2" face="Arial">here.</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial">
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