Respect human rights

Kansas City Star: In its historic ruling in the Hamdan case last month, the U.S. Supreme Court hammered the Bush administration over its patently unfair notions of justice in terrorism cases.
The court ruled that President Bush overstepped his constitutional authority by attempting to try Guantanamo detainees in front of special commissions or tribunals that Congress had not approved.
In addition, the Supreme Court complained that the administration's plan was riddled with specific problems. Defendants were not even guaranteed the right to attend their own trials.
The high court also criticized the proposed use by prosecutors of hearsay evidence, unsworn testimony and other questionable material.
All this added up to breaches of the Geneva Conventions -- another international embarrassment for the United States.
Message received?
Earlier last week it sounded as if Bush got the message. The White House announced that it was rescinding part of his executive order claiming that terror suspects were not covered by the Geneva Conventions.
"The Supreme Court has clarified what the law is, and the executive branch will comply," the White House said Tuesday.
Yet only a day later, administration lawyers testifying on Capitol Hill seemed to undermine the requirements of Geneva Conventions, claiming they were too vague.
They also suggested that Congress could essentially rubber-stamp the plan the Supreme Court had rejected. All it would take, according to one official, would be a little "minor tweaking."
It will take far more than that, and Congress would do well to exercise some independent judgment on the matter.
Some scholars and military lawyers suggest that the Uniform Code of Military Justice would provide a better starting point in developing a reasonable system for trying terrorist suspects. That sounds like a promising approach that deserves careful consideration by Congress.
Another good suggestion came from John Hutson, a former judge advocate general of the Navy. He told a congressional panel: "We should embrace Common Article Three (of the Geneva Conventions) and sing its praises from the rooftops."