Bush makes right decision

The Geneva Convention was signed in 1949 by 189 countries as a way to protect soldiers from abuse during captivity. It provides, among other things, that captives shall be given food and shelter, shall receive pay, need only give their name, rank and serial number to interrogators and shall not be tortured.\nPresident George W. Bush announced his decision Feb. 7 to apply the Convention to Taliban prisoners, although not to al Qaeda prisoners. \nTechnically, Bush may have been correct. The Convention requires that soldiers wear uniforms, not target civilians, and that their country be signatories to the Convention. Afghanistan signed the convention, but the Taliban soldiers did not wear uniforms, may not have received pay and did not have serial numbers. Al Qaeda fighters undoubtedly targeted civilians, they did not fight for a state, they wore no uniform, etc.\nBut the spirit of the Geneva Convention suggests liberality in applying its provisions. The Taliban and al Qaeda members captured might have had the status of unlawful combatants or perhaps even POWs under the convention. Bush's action sends an important message to the world that, although America is a powerful nation, it does not believe it's above the law.\nWe must always conduct ourselves in a way that respects human rights and the rule of law. Waging a war -- even Bush's war on terrorism -- and then refusing to treat the prisoners as if they were captured in the context of a war is not true to the spirit the Convention.\nSince taking office, Bush has pulled out of the Antiballistic Missile Treaty and disengaged from the Middle East. Many were worried that the U.S. was headed for a new isolationism. Hopefully, this recent decision speaks to those fears. President Bush's wise decision was long overdue.\nStaff vote: 5 - 1 - 2\nyes - no - abstain