Wednesday, September 20, 2006

"Outrages Upon Human Dignity"

The Bushies, Kate Zernike reports in today's New York Times, share with the celebrated--in some quarters--trio. Warner, Graham and McCain a feeling that the phrase from Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions forbidding "outrages upon human dignity" is vague or ambiguous. Well, here's an easy test--one McCain, who was tortured and treated outrageously, should not have to take--iIf you will subject yourselves, your wives, lovers, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, and dogs to it, no holds barred and then freely go back for more, the treatment arguably is not an "outrage upon human dignity." But if you will not....And just saying, "I would subject myself to interrogation and incarceration on those terms," is not sufficient--you must then do so publicly. My guess is that talk of ambiguity will vanish.

1 comment:

faculty for workplace justice said...

oh, but wait: the human dignity of terriorists and the human dignity of senators are very different things! :-I