When the ends justify the means, the "decider" of what to do is acting above the law. If respect of civil rights is optional, then it is not "rule by law". If the soldier with the gun can unilaterally choose to kill an unarmed person as a suspected terrorist, there is no justice nor ethics involved, there is only cold-blooded murder. That is what has been permitted by George W. Bush's "rules of engagement".

When prisoners are subjected to treatment that you would not allow on your family or friends then something is terribly wrong. It should not matter where you are or under what trying circumstances. Either there are laws to respect or you are an outlaw in masquerade. If we don't maintain our own ethics and morals, then we are no better than al-Qaeda terrorists who hijacked those American airplanes and turned then into missiles. America must maintain the higher road or we have lost our way. What would Jesus do? (WWJD?)

I agree that "war is hell", however that does not justify America acting as a terrorist country, kidnapping civilians and transferring them to other nations that practice harsher forms of torture. If we do not respect the rights of others, regardless of geographic location, race/ethnicity, religion or other characteristic, then we are no better than the al-Qaeda terrorists. It matters not that we have the imprimatur of representing a sovereign country. If we act as terrorists then we are terrorists and we should be held responsible for such conduct. WWJD?

The hell of war does not justify the killing of unarmed persons, without sentence of a court or law. It is too easy for a soldier to claim that the executed civilian was a suspected terrorist. What recourse is there for the poor civilian? What keeps a soldier from deciding arbitrarily that every Muslim or Iraqi is a terrorist and executing as many as possible when he thinks nobody is watching? How would it be ethically different from what the Nazis did? WWJD?

The Geneva Convention was created in order to have certain minimal standards of conduct during war. Even if our enemies fail to respect those standards, we must hold ourselves to them. Violating international law is a slippery slope. When we fail to respect the dignity and rights of others, we are denying their humanity. When we do that, we are acting as uncivilized barbarians, essentially as dangerous, wild animals. In that case, we shame ourselves and our country. When we act in ways that are lawless,

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