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Senator John McCain Writes "In Praise of Do-Gooders"
From The Wall Street Journal.... In recent days, some have labeled Red Cross personnel as "humanitarian do-gooders" whose presence in coalition-run detention centers is inappropriate while American soldiers are fighting and dying. Others have warned that the ICRC is on the path toward becoming a left-wing advocacy group and portrayed the Geneva Conventions as a hindrance to our ability to extract intelligence from prisoners that might save U.S. lives. It is critical to realize that the Red Cross and the Geneva Conventions do not endanger American soldiers, they protect them. Our soldiers enter battle with the knowledge that should they be taken prisoner, there are laws intended to protect them and impartial international observers to inquire after them. Americaâs observance of the Geneva Conventions and our support for the ICRC in part determine the willingness of other nations to do the same. While our intelligence personnel in Abu Ghraib may have believed that they were protecting U.S. lives by roughing up detainees to extract information, they have had the opposite effect. Their actions have increased the danger to American soldiers, in this conflict and in future wars. .... Some also have argued that the Geneva Conventions have been rendered quaint by the new circumstances in which we find ourselves. We do face a new enemy in the global war on terror, and much of our ability to disrupt attacks and destroy terrorist cells depends on the quality of intelligence we gather from detainees. Yet nothing in the conventions precludes directed interrogations. They do, however, prohibit torture and humiliation of detainees, whether or not they are deemed POWs. These are standards that are never obsolete -- they cut to the heart of how moral people must treat other human beings. They also are the principles on which the liberation of Iraq is based. We are bringing to Iraq a new day, an era that is better in all ways than the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. This era replaces terror, humiliation and arbitrary rule with freedom, human rights and the rule of law. .... Rather than placing blame on the ICRC or other humanitarian groups, we must instead fix our gaze on those individuals who perpetrated abuses at Abu Ghraib. Had American officials paid heed earlier to ICRC reports of these abuses at Abu Ghraib, we could have limited the damage these individuals have done to Americaâs international standing. .... Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-06-01 |
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