EDITORIAL
U.S. losing moral high ground on rights issues

There can be no argument that the war on terror represents a new era for the United States, its military and our civil society.

Our enemies play by no rules but their own, and it is tempting to respond in kind. But that, to use an overused point, is tantamount to allowing the enemy to win.

If we abandon our own civility in response to their abandonment, what have we accomplished?

This comes up in the wake of reports in The Washington Post that serious criticism from military professionals on the handling of detainees in the war on terrorism was routinely and regularly ignored by the Bush administration.

Now, this can be treated as not much more than a policy disagreement among high-level bureaucrats. Except that the direct recipients of these policy decisions were individuals captured by the United States and held totally under our control.

There is endless debate over the question of how much force or abuse of one life is appropriate to save the life of another. Legal experts, ethicists and others disagree on this question and always will.

What can be said is that the United States has always stood as a defender of human rights and policies, such as the Geneva Convention, that seek to apply a measure of sanity to human conflict.

As things now stand, that high ground we once stood on is crumbling.