[CLUE-Talk] Charlie Daniels comments, article about Saddam's sons.

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Thu, 2003-03-27 at 09:27, David Willson wrote:

> And I think it is preposterous to group
> detention-under-questionable-circumstances with the horrific torture
> going on under the Hussein regime.  Let me ask you, "Which would you
> rather endure: two weeks as Saddam Hussein's POW or two years as George
> W. Bush's detained illegal immigrant?  Where do you think your body and
> mind would be safer from permanent serious damage?  Which of the two is
> going to allow you an opportunity to whine to AI about not having access
> to your lawyer?  Do you suppose that if you were GWB's detained illegal
> immigrant, you'd want to go home to Iraq?

I don't think he was saying it was equal... but he has a point, we have
been somewhat selective in demanding that other countries recognize the
Geneva Convention while we find ways to skirt around it. 

Can we get off the "Saddam is worse, so whatever Dubya does is okay"
mindset? There are legitimate complaints about the Bush administration
in a number of areas - and it is hypocritical for someone to violate the
Geneva Convention and then complain about other countries doing the
same. I don't care if the infractions aren't as serious, it's
hypocritical to say we can break the rules but other countries cannot. 

Sure, I'd probably rather be a status unknown detainee under the Bush
administration than a POW in Iraq... but I'd much, much rather be a POW
(if I had to) of a country that actually observes ALL of the Geneva
Convention. 

> I understand that keeping POW's without calling them POW's is
> questionable, but we need to be clear on the difference between inhumane
> and questionable.

I'm not sure that the conditions in Camp X-ray qualify as "humane," I'm
not sure that they don't. I believe one of the issues is that the
administration isn't allowing inspections of the camp. 

Another thing to consider: We can complain all we like about the way
that other governments treat their POWs, there's little we can do. We
should, however, be able to change the way our own government treats
POWs, suspected terrorists or whatever. Not necessarily for the benefit
of the people who are detained, but because it is the right thing to do.
Zonker
-- 
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier
jzb at dissociatedpress.net
Aim: zonkerjoe
http://www.dissociatedpress.net