Editorial: Nation’s honor is at stake

Friday, Sept. 15, 2006 | 7:32 a.m.

A serious rift has developed in the Republican Party over President Bush's support of a bill that would erode the United States' commitment to the Geneva Conventions.

On Thursday four Republicans joined Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee to pass a bill that Bush opposes, one that requires adherence to the Geneva Conventions in respect to the treatment of people detained as part of the war on terror.

Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee, however, joined Wednesday in support of Bush's position, passing a bill that changes how the U.S. views the Geneva Conventions. The Conventions were adopted after World War II to establish an international, humane standard for the treatment of prisoners of war.

The House bill would allow evidence against detainees to be kept secret if it were stamped classified. It would allow self-incriminating detainee testimony to be admissible as evidence, even if that testimony had been obtained through coercion. And it would protect from prosecution interrogators who had used techniques banned by the Geneva Conventions.

Distinguished veterans are among the Republican senators opposed to the House bill. Sens. John McCain of Arizona, a 22-year Navy officer and former prisoner of war; Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a six-year active veteran of the Air Force and current member of the Air Force Reserves; and John Warner of Virginia, a veteran of both the Navy and the Marines as well as a former Navy secretary and the current chairman of the Armed Services Committee, all voted Thursday for the bill upholding the Geneva Conventions. Support for their position also came from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Another distinguished veteran, Colin Powell, former secretary of state and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also weighed in on Thursday. "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism," Powell said, adding that the House bill "would add to those doubts."

We side with Warner, McCain, Graham, Collins, Powell and other Republicans who are joining with most Democrats in opposing Bush on this issue. If we back away from the Geneva Conventions, we lose a critical difference between us and the terrorists - we are a civilized nation that respects international law. Bush should not be allowed to begin heading us in another direction.