One Administration, Two Standards (4/3/03)

One Administration, Two Standards (4/3/03)

by Dean Hartwell

When it invaded Iraq preemptively, the United States violated international law. In doing so, the Bush Administration added to a list of several actions in recent history in which it has applied one set of laws to its enemies and another set to itself.

Recently, the Bush Administration threatened to try Saddam Hussein as a war criminal if he mistreated any United States prisoners of war. This threat took place shortly after Hussein had paraded prisoners on television in apparent violation of the Geneva Accords.

Yet, halfway across the globe, the United States continues to detain hundreds of people at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. According to Erwin Chemerinsky, a noted legal expert, the same Geneva Accords entitle each of the detainees to a hearing to determine whether they have rights such as the right to an attorney or not.

These examples of lawlessness first became obvious during the Election of 2000. Instead of allowing Al Gore to obtain a hand recount of four Florida counties, the Bush team filed lawsuits all the way to the Supreme Court to get them stopped. During that time, the same Bush representatives sought a hand recount in New Mexico!

Jeb Bush, acting on behalf of his brother, also hired a private company to remove thousands of minority voters from the voting rolls though these voters had done nothing wrong. Yet the Bush team, upon becoming the Bush Justice Department, overlooked these obvious violations of civil rights.

When the Bush Administration wants to make policies on energy, it does not consider strong public support for alternative energy sources. Instead, Vice-President Cheney meets with energy companies to find out what they want. Then, Cheney and others in the Administration demand confidentiality for those meetings!

Shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush vowed to get the "folks" who were behind the attacks. Yet, Bush and Vice President Cheney asked Congress not to investigate the tragedy.

Where does obedience to the law fit into the Bush Administration? These instances strongly suggest that Bush and Company only seem to understand obedience to the law when someone else gets caught breaking it.