Bring the terrorists to justice
September 19, 2006 | By Nathaniel Ward
The Senate is stalling another Bush Administration proposal to effectively fight the war on terror. After the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year that the President does not have inherent authority to try captured terrorists using military tribunals, President Bush asked Congress to grant him that authority in law.
The Senate is balking at the President’s proposal, though, claiming that it runs afoul of a portion of the Geneva Conventions known as Common Article 3. But Heritage national security expert James Carafano notes that the administration’s proposal as it exists now would “satisfy[y] U.S. obligations under the Conventions.”
In fact, he writes, the Geneva Conventions don’t apply at all to the 350 or so captured terrorists in US custody. “Such unlawful combatants have chosen to violate the rules of war as defined in the Geneva Conventions and so should not be accorded the full procedural protections that honorable, law-abiding soldiers receive.” Instead, he argues, “all that unlawful combatants are due is humane treatment.”
Instead of endlessly debating the meaning of Common Article 3—which was left deliberately vague when written in 1949—Congress should move quickly to pass legislation “so that the unlawful combatants in US custody can be tried and their statuses finally resolved.”
Time for transparency
After last week’s important victory for earmark reform, the coalition that pushed the changes through is already moving ahead with its next challenge: ensuring timely financial disclosures by candidates for Senate.
Disclosing financial contributions to campaigns allows citizens and groups like The Heritage Foundation to discover which special interests are influencing politicians. Blogger Ed Morrisey, who writes occasionally for Heritage, points out that the Senate has made itself exempt from electronic disclosure rules. Instead, Senators file their disclosure forms in paper format, meaning the materials take longer to process and cannot be easily accessed by ordinary citizens. Morrisey is leading the charge to change the Senate rules to allow for greater transparency.
Ensuring transparency through disclosure is a far better method of campaign finance reform than the absurd McCain-Feingold “reforms” which passed in 2002. McCain-Feingold does little to curb special-interest favors and other abuses, instead limiting public critique of lawmakers—the very thing that can help hold them accountable.
Flip-flop on the environment?
Britain’s Independent reports that the Bush administration may be preparing for what it calls “an astonishing U-turn on global warming.” Though the newspaper does not detail what this reversal would entail, it suggests that a primary motivation for the switch may be increased pressure from the environmental lobby and former Vice President Al Gore. Gore has spoken out in recent months, most recently yesterday, calling for greater government interference in the economy to curb carbon dioxide emissions.
The Bush administration should be careful to ensure that its environmental policies are designed with the nation’s best interests in mind. As Heritage’s Ben Lieberman explains, “Curbing carbon dioxide emitted from fossil fuel combustion would cause a major change in the electricity-generation fuel mix and adversely affect the nation’s energy supply and economic strength.” Since economic strength is closely linked with environmental standards, this sort of regulation seems counterproductive.
There is a tremendous danger that an environmental policy change motivated purely by politics would end up like the Medicare prescription drug program: a bad reform that expands the size of government and increases government spending while doing little to actually solve the problem at hand.
A defeat for big government and high taxes—in Sweden
For years, liberals have pointed to Sweden as an example of a country that has managed to enjoy economic growth despite high taxes and burdensome regulations. As reported in Heritage’s Index of Economic Freedom, though, things aren’t necessarily so rosy. Despite recent reforms, income taxes are as high as 60 percent, and the government owns and operates fully a quarter of the economy.
But numbers like this can’t tell the whole story. Stuart Butler, director of Heritage’s domestic policy office, notes that it’s a far more convincing repudiation of leftist policies when Sweden’s voters support new leaders that favor strong reforms to the big-government status quo. The New York Times reports that Sunday’s dramatic election, which brought a conservative-leaning coalition to power, reflected a belief that “Sweden’s celebrated social welfare model, with its high tax rate and generous benefits, has encouraged too many people to stay out of work for too long.”
In other news
- Heritage fellow James Swanson has been nominated for a Quills Book Award for Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer. Vote early and vote often at the Quills website!
- President Bush today explained that America is fighting radical Islamic terrorism, and not Islam itself. In a speech before the United Nations, he also insisted that America will not abandon Iraq and demanded that Iran “abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions.”
- During an academic speech last week on issues of faith and reason, Pope Benedict XVI briefly cited a medieval text that called forced conversions to Islam “evil.” Radical Muslim clerics took the remarks out of context and demanded an apology, and some even threatened to kill the pontiff over the alleged slight to their religion. What has the world come to when the leader of one of the world’s largest religions cannot even indirectly find fault with another religion without needing to apologize?
- The World Health Organization has endorsed the use of the insecticide DDT to combat malaria. Use of the chemical was barred in many countries because of alleged health and environmental effects, though the WHO has now ruled it safe for humans.
- The Thai military has staged a coup to overthrow the country’s prime minister. They have pledged their allegiance to the king.
- Gasoline prices continue to fall this week, reaching a nationwide average of less than $2.50 a gallon. Market predictions put the future price of gasoline at around $1.50 a gallon.
Coming up at Heritage
To attend these or any other Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org. All times are Eastern.
- On Thursday, September 21 at noon, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) will discuss the need to restore public confidence in our immigration laws by controlling the border and enforcing the law internally.
- On Friday, September 22 at noon, Heritage’s James Carafano discusses how GI ingenuity became an enduring feature of the American citizen-soldier during World War II.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
