Prisoners

Yahoo! News - Bush: Disgusted by Abuse of Iraqis, Vows to Act

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) said on Friday he was deeply disgusted by the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops . . . .

The President has done the only decent thing by denouncing the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by our troops. The news that our troops would be engaged in that kind of abuse is sickening, however. It also raises questions about whether there is an attitude in the government and the Army that would encourage such abuse. The fact that these kinds of acts can be perpetrated on prisoners supposedly protected by the Geneva Convention makes it all the more urgent that "enemy combatants" not protected by the Geneva Convention be afforded at least some recourse to judicial review. The test of our respect for human rights is not only how we treat our friends and our citizens, but how we treat our enemies. The abuse in Iraq has already tarnished our human rights record, particularly in the eyes of the Arab world; let us not become a new byword for disregard of human rights.