Graham Shines

S.C. senator right to stand up for humane terrorism suspect treatment

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., showed great courage this week in thwarting President Bush's proposal that the standards of the Geneva Conventions for prisoners of war be waived for certain international terrorism suspects. Along with Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and John McCain, R-Ariz., Graham this week voted to allow prisoners in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency to have access to all the evidence against them and protect them from interrogation techniques that border upon torture.

This stance put Graham, McCain and Warner at odds with President Bush, whose proposed legislation allows the CIA to use "alternative" interrogation techniques illegal under the Geneva Conventions as the United States has traditionally interpreted them. The conventions are a longstanding international agreement that specifies how prisoners of war are to be treated.

Our senator is now squarely in the administration's publicity gunsights. Bush said the maverick Republican senators, as well as the Senate Judiciary Committee Democratic who voted with them to alter his original proposal, threaten to make the nation less safe from terrorists.

But former Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell, himself a military hero, rightly contended in a letter to Warner that the Bush approach to treatment of terrorism suspects would undermine international support for the U.S. global anti-terrorism effort and invite abusive treatment of captive Americans. The White House response to the Powell letter was that the former secretary of state and Joint Chief of Staff chairman was "confused" about Bush's goals - a cheap shot suggesting the former general has lost full possession of his faculties. By logical extension, that remark would apply to Graham, Warner and McCain.

The leaders who agree with Powell, however, see fundamental flaws in the Bush proposal to which the president apparently is oblivious. As McCain frequently has contended, information obtained from prisoners under duress is of limited intelligence value. People who fear injury at the hands of their captors will say anything to stop the interrogation. What's the value of extracting information that may be incorrect? McCain's experience as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War gives him greater authority to speak on the subject than anyone in the Bush administration.

Why further squander our nation's moral authority on terrorism suspect treatment rules clearly aimed at feeding national anger over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - and at making Bush Republicans seem tougher on terrorism and national security than their bipartisan critics? We're supposed to be the good guys in the global struggle to protect the sweetness and reason of democracy. As Graham asserts, we can play that role without weakening our security, while increasing international respect for our values and way of life.