From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Cynthia Tucker

Thank heaven for military veterans such as Lindsey Graham and John McCain. The two Republican senators insist that the United States is a nation dedicated to the rule of law and civilized standards of behavior, even in a war against ruthless terrorists who butcher, burn and behead. They don’t believe we should stoop to torture in the name of security or inhumanity in the name of spreading democracy. They don’t think we should become that which we are fighting against.

The time has come for them to defend American ideals once again. Despite last month’s rebuke from the U.S. Supreme Court, President Bush is still insisting that he should have the authority to try terror suspects in one-sided military tribunals that ignore routine judicial procedures. Last Wednesday, the White House sent lawyers to a Senate hearing to demand a law giving Bush his tribunals back. But Graham told them to “forget about” the tribunals.

It was McCain who, last year, forced the Bush administration to accept an amendment banning “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” of prisoners, no matter where they are held in the world. McCain was held prisoner by the Viet Cong for five and a half years; he knows what it’s like to be tortured. He doesn’t want to see America’s men and women in uniform sink to the level of their enemies.

Since the invasion of Afghanistan, the Bush administration has tried to justify cruel methods of interrogation, Kafkaesque detentions without charge or trial and even kidnappings of civilians of Middle Eastern descent, claiming that al-Qaida is such a dire threat that those measures are necessary to protect national security. The administration has scoffed at the Geneva Conventions and issued reams of justifications for torture. But, instead of protecting us, those policies have led to outrages such as those at Abu Ghraib, alienated our friends and allies, and handed terrorists fresh recruits.

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