Sunny Guantanamo (Re: Speaking of the Geneva convention)

[J.A. Terranson]

On Fri, 19 Dec 2003, Jim Dixon wrote:

> On Thu, 18 Dec 2003, J.A. Terranson wrote:
> 
> > > Why does the US military have
> > > to treat them as though they had US constitutional rights?  They are not
> > > citizens or physically present in the United States.
> >
> > In a nutshell, our Constitution *recognizes* universal human rights.  It does
> > not *establish* these rights.  If we are going to be faithful to this
> > premise, physical location is a non-sequitor.
> 
> This is a valid and probably commendable political position.  I do not
> believe, however, that it reflects current practice in the USA or
> elsewhere.
> 
> I say "probably" because it seems likely that adopting this as a practice
> would have very high costs.  How far would you have this go?  Is the US
> government to be obligated to ensure these rights to everyone everywhere?
> Does this mean liberating slaves in China and Saudi Arabia, for example?
> Opening up Russian jails?  Forcing countries everywhere to grant the vote
> to women, to educate children?
> 
> Hmmm.  Does the application of this principle mean that the US government
> is going to require the British government to recognize the right to keep
> and bear arms?  ;-)

The application of the principal domestically does not inherently oblige us
to force the acceptance of our views on others.  Rather, it provides a
framework where others who share this view can come here.  If we are
"correct" in our worldview, we will pick up allies.  If we are not, we will
die.  

Unfortunately, the US does not even *pretend* to follow it's own ethics, so
the whole subject is pure theory on a national level :-(


-- 
Yours, 
J.A. Terranson
sysadmin at mfn.org

"Unbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate
patriotism, must give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a
whole. Bah'u'llh's statement is: "The earth is but one country, and mankind
its citizens." 

The Promise of World Peace
http://www.us.bahai.org/interactive/pdaFiles/pwp.htm