So long, Geneva

The LA Times is reporting that the Pentagon's proposed new Army manual on soldier's conduct has removed a key portion of the Geneva Convention explicitly banning "humiliating and degrading treatment."

I mention this for a few reasons. First, because I think it points up the hypocrisy of an Administration that pushes such "moral" issues as a ban on homosexual marriage while ignoring basic human rights, even those basic human rights agreed upon by a preponderance of nations (including this one).

Second, though, I think it's a big mistake for the Administration. There have been, since the start of the Iraq war, those who have likened some of the behavior of this Administration to war criminals. There are those in other countries who believe our conduct in Iraq rises to the level of war crimes. To be perfectly honest, looked at without the filter of patriotism, some of the actions of the Administration do seem pretty anti-American in terms of disregard for human rights. Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo Bay. Extraordinary rendition. Torture.

It is true that we are the big kid on the block just now, and so it is unlikely anyone will ever hold our leaders' feet to the fire over their behavior. Nevertheless, should that ever come to pass, should Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest ever be tried in The Hague, will they really want this as one more piece of evidence that they've disregarded the Geneva Convention?

And to what end? So that while we talk about the treatment at Abu Ghraib, we can at the same time stop telling our troops that behavior like that isn't proper?

Our President loves imagery out of old western movies. Good guys vs bad guys. Black and white distinctions. So how about we behave like the good guys? Stop asking why we expect more from ourselves, our leaders and our military than we expect out of our enemies. The reason is BECAUSE we're supposed to be the good guys.

This isn't a 1950s movie. Bad behavior on the part of the good guys isn't justified because of their noble goals. If we want to be the good guys, we need to act like it. And if we're not going to be the good guys, then we've lost any moral justification we may have had that (in the end) seems to be all we have to fall back on for why we're in Iraq in the first place.

Liam.