America 2.0

“Two Republican senators said Sunday that Congress must rein in the Supreme Court ruling that international law applies to the Bush administration's conduct in the war on terror.”

I’ve spent awhile now trying to decide what the most disconcerting part of that sentence is. Is it that the GOP believes America is above international law? Is it that the GOP doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the Geneva Conventions? Is it that the GOP believes the Supreme Court must be “reined in,” irrespective of the decision? So much to which to object; it’s hard to find the worst bit.

Jonah Goldberg says, “If Democrats want terrorists to fall under the Geneva Convention let them say so. My guess is most won't, if they're smart.”

Drum gives him the what-for. So does Cernig. And I agree with both of them. It’s not even a tough decision.

One of those “two Republican senators” referenced above, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is concerned that “American servicemen potentially could be accused of war crimes” if the SCOTUS decision stands, because they could be in violation of Article 3, which “prohibits outrages upon personal dignity, ‘in particular humiliating and degrading treatment,’ and bars violence, including murder, mutilation and torture.” In my opinion, if the GOP wants to protect American servicemembers from being accused of war crimes under that statute, then they ought to rein in the bloody Bush administration and their Defense Department which has created a culture in which treatment of detainees is not only accepted, but encouraged.

And, while they’re at it, they may want to rethink the notion that protecting American soldiers from war crimes is at least as important as protecting them from being kidnapped, tortured, and killed by enemy combatants, which certainly isn’t discouraged by situations like Abu Ghraib and Gitmo.