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September 18, 2006
Political Courage and Doing the Right Thing
If the good people of California were somehow to elect me to the United States Senate, I would not be a natural ally of Lindsey Graham the Republican Senator from South Carolina. I just disagree with him on too many things. But I do admire political courage. I particularly admire political courage when it sides with the best American instincts rather than the worst. So, I admire Senator Graham's stand against the President with regard to torture and the Geneva conventions. Here is part of what he told Bob Schieffer yesterday on Face the Nation.
The Geneva Convention, Bob, is just not some concept; it has saved lives. We adhere to it, and we expect others to do it. I know al-Qaeda and Taliban will butcher our people, but this is not the only war we're going to be in, and I can give you plenty of examples of--for downed pilots, people caught in foreign countries, who were saved from torture and death because we insisted the Geneva Convention be applied. So that's my concern. I want to create a CIA program that fits within our domestic laws, where people won't be charged with ill-defined crimes, they won't be frivolously sued, but we cannot and must not and need not change the Geneva Convention in a way that would be perceived as backing out of it. There's a way to get there from here.[snip]
I'm getting pounded at home by some people, `Why can't you work with the president? The president wants to defend us. He needs--the CIA needs to get good information. These guys are barbarians. Why're you standing in the way?' I'm not standing in the way. I share the same goals. But I'm a military lawyer, 22 years as a member of the Air Force JAG Corps. When I put that uniform on, I took an obligation as a military officer. Now I have an obligation as a senator. I admire the president and I want to help him, but the biggest risk in the world is not Lindsey Graham loses an election. We can have a good country without Lindsey Graham being in the Senate. We cannot have a great nation when we start redefining who we are under the guise of redefining our law.
My biggest fear is that, as we try to solve these complicated legal procedures and problems, that we're seen as taking shortcuts, and we don't redefine the law, we redefine America in a way so we can't win this war. That's what Colin Powell's saying; that's what General Batiste's saying. It's not about my political career. America can do well without me, but we cannot do well if we're seen to abandon our principals and the rule of law.
I may have a few quibbles about this statement but the main point of Senator Graham comment is on target. We just can't "redefine America" while trying to redefine the law.
If you didn't see it, you can read the whole transcript at the CBS News website like I did.
Posted by Duane Smith at September 18, 2006 12:42 PM | Read more on Current Events |
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