When is a War not a War? (1/28/2002)
by Dean Hartwell
One key facet of
leadership is that of consistency. A leader must say the same thing about an
issue on Friday that he or she does on Monday.
Early on in our military response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th,
President Bush told us we were "at war." He has used this word repeatedly
to describe our actions -- until confronted with the decision of what to do
about "detainees" captured during the conflict.
If were have, in fact, been at war all this time, then it follows that the
people rounded up and sent to Guantanamo Bay are prisoners of war. The United
States, long a public advocate of the Geneva Code and other international
agreements, should follow them. It may mean we have fewer opportunities to
interrogate them, but this is the kind of sacrifice I discuss in Truth
Matters: leadership that does what is right instead of what is popular.