Iraq the Honorable John Culberson Old Executive

Iraq

The Honorable John Culberson

Old Executive Office Building

Washington, D.C.

Sir:

It seems there is very little we have done in Iraq that is in any way honorable. It is common knowledge, now, that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction, and therefore precious little excuse for the war. However, it is true, also beyond question, that Saddam Hussein was a vicious and brutal dictator who kept his nation in line by virtue of excesses of every sort. One of his sons is reputed to have shredded foes in paper shredders. So perhaps the global community is better off rid of him.

None of that excuses the actions of the United States, both its top administration and its military. After exposure of their activities at Abu Ghraib Prison, and in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, their activities are very little better than the unconscionable activities of the Hussein family. Perhaps it is lost on some that Guantanamo Bay is a supposedly civilized outpost of the United States in dictator Fidel Castro's backyard. It is not lost on me. I cannot help but think that the world's longest ruling dictator must be laughing behind his mahogany palace doors at the foolishness of the United States, self-proclaimed protector of freedom, which is riding roughshod over the freedoms the United States supposedly represents.

It is time that the United States Congress addressed the issue of our nation's disregard of the Geneva Conventions regarding Iraq, both in the Middle East and at our detention center for Muslim terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Moreover, there is a call from respected world bodies for us to cease the behavior they have seen of abusing prisoners. Antonella Notari, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Madeleine Brand, in a broadcast May 11, 2004, on National Public Radio, that the Red Cross had "confirmed that we have observed a pattern and a system in place against this particular group in particular of prisoners with high intelligence value, and that we had seen it in a series of places of detention."

A week earlier, Notari had been extensively quoted in an Associated Press Report on the abuse at Abu Ghraib. The report's author, Alexander Higgins, wrote on May 4, 2004, "the United States is legally required to thoroughly investigate and prosecute anyone found to have been abusing prisoners in Iraq." In this case, that would be U.S. officers, who either condoned or at least tolerated the behavior in question, if not actually ordering it. Notari, quoted by Higgins in his report, said, that if the reports, after investigation, were true, "the must be prosecuted by applicable laws and procedures by the detaining countries."

While there was a time when most Americans could be sure that wrongdoing against others would be prosecuted, our armed forces, deployed by the Bush administration, seems to have given up all pretense that the U.S. acts with dignity and respect for others, friend and foe alike. In World War II, our troops were faced with atrocities committed against soldiers and civilians by Hitler's and Mussolini's armies. In Korea, they faced the viciousness of the North Koreans. In Vietnam, apparently, our commitment to moral behavior even in the face of atrocities by our enemy began to break down. Today, with the leadership in the White House, the Pentagon, and the Department of Justice, it appears we are no better than the people we accuse of barbarism.

It is time Congress demanded better from the Pentagon; it is high time it demanded better of the chief legal officer of the land, the Attorney General. Attorney General John Ashcroft has had scant regard for our constitutional rights. His presumed successor, Alberto R. Gonzales, apparently has even less.

If we are ever to see the abuses carried out by our military stopped and amends made, if we are ever to regain our reputation as a moral nation with high ideals, one of which is the humane and ethical treatment of all people (repeat ALL PEOPLE), then we must not confirm another Attorney General who is committed to destroying the foundation of American ideals, the U.S. Constitution, nor who ignores the demands of international law among nations of good will.