Letter: Republicans finally look out for soldiers

Sunday, Sept. 17, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.

I applaud four Republican U.S. senators - John McCain, John Warner, Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins - who oppose rewriting the Geneva Conventions rules and who are protecting our soldiers, who are risking their lives for this White House agenda. Finally, even Republicans are supporting our soldiers against the crimes of the Bush White House.

President Bush said that it is important to be able to get information from detainees aware of new terrorist attacks. How many prisoners at Guantanamo have any "new" information? Many have been imprisoned for years. Alberto Gonzales was promoted to attorney general as his reward for redefining war crimes "torture" rules, allowing the president deniability of secret prisons, redefining excruciating pain, and twisting the Constitution to its very core.

The Supreme Court recently reversed these rewrites, upholding the Constitution. It consistently appears that if the White House doesn't like the way laws are written, it can arbitrarily change them. Wrong, and now they want to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions!

What took Colin Powell so long to speak out against the Bush administration? After he was humiliated and lied to and betrayed by the White House, when he was secretary of state and appearing before the U.N., he should have resigned during Bush's first term; then we would not have had to endure another four years of bully politics with an agenda for war.

But on Thursday Colin Powell stood with these three Republican senators decrying any revision to the Geneva Conventions. Bravo! That is patriotic! Looking out for the best for our soldiers.

Sandra Miner, Las Vegas