Trial By Whom?

From IBD:
Posted 7/13/2006

War On Terror: The common wisdom says the Bush administration is going soft on terrorist detainees by applying the Geneva Accords to those held at Gitmo. We hope the common wisdom is again proved wrong.
The Supreme Court, by its decision on June 29 to end the military tribunal system set up by Bush shortly after 9-11, threw both Congress and the White House into turmoil. What to do with terrorists — many still dangerous — held at Guantanamo?

For White House foes, it seemed to be game, set, match when Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England announced in a July 7 memo that the Pentagon would henceforth adhere to the standards outlined in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.

That part of the Geneva accords prohibits "violence to life and person," torture, "outrages upon personal dignity," "humiliating and degrading treatment" and, perhaps most significantly, the "passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions" except by a "regularly constituted court."

Many in Congress applauded. "We will have more wars and there will be Americans who will be taken captive," said Arizona Sen. John McCain. "If we somehow carve out exceptions to treaties to which we are signatories, then it will make it very easy for enemies to do the same to American prisoners."

The media called it a "setback" and "reversal" for Bush's policies.

We're not so sure. In fact, we maintain the U.S. has always been in compliance with Article 3, and still are. The detainees at Guantanamo? Treated better, in fact, than Geneva requires — "three hots and a cot," as the military says, access to the Quran and prayer rugs, with the Red Cross tagging along as an observer.

Yet, on Thursday, McCain announced that White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley had promised to "expand detainee rights." That would include trying them in open court under the U.S. Military Code of Justice rather than by tribunals.

As recently as this week, the White House had said it would pursue congressional approval for the tribunals — something that the high court said it needed to do to keep the tribunals going.

We hope this is a misunderstanding on McCain's part. Because, at this stage in the global war on terror, it would be highly dangerous to this nation's security to dismantle the tribunals. After all, the terrorists have intentionally placed themselves outside the bounds of civilized warfare. They've done so by refusing to wear uniforms or identifying insignia and by torturing and murdering civilians.

We shouldn't give terrorists rights that won't be granted to our prisoners in return. Nor should we let our secrets out in open court. It will hamstring us in fighting terrorism and give our enemies an edge. Need a reminder? Think of Army Pfcs. Thomas Tucker and Kristian Menchaca. In June, they were nabbed by terrorists, brutally tortured and beheaded. No Geneva treatment for them.

With all due respect to McCain, a true war hero, we are fighting an enemy that recognizes no common decency, acknowledges no bounds and would kill every one of us "infidels" if it could. Our job isn't to accommodate our enemies — it's to kill them first.