The End Justifies the Means?

It would appear that President George W. Bush is under the mistaken idea that the end really does justify the means. It doesn’t and never has. In the Washington Post, columnist Eugene Robinson discusses his opinion on the President’s stand at Guantanamo Bay in his article “A Victory for the Rule of the Law”. Robinson argues for the checks and balances established by our Founding Fathers. The Supreme Court was put in place for a reason and I would say the current situation overseas is a precise example of what they feared could happen when any one branch of government is allowed too much unchecked power. There has to be a cool head to say, “Wait a minute, I think you are overstepping the line here.”

That is precisely the situation at Guantanamo Bay. We simply cannot allow anyone to overstep the laws of decency like this. The United States of America is supposed to stand for something. Something decent where individual rights are not trampled on; no matter the individual. Had Bush gotten wind of Iraqi prisoner of war camps treating American prisoners in a similar fashion, you had better believe it would be leaked all over the press as a method of riling up the American public into a frenzy that would allow him to continue to send more and more of our brothers and sisters over to fight for “right”. He would definitely play up the stance that the United States will not stand for this kind of treatment. I could imagine parallels of Vietnam POW camps and even Hitler being brought up as images to inflame a renewed interest in a war that was previously declared over. If those things were to have happened I would have to say he is absolutely right. This cannot be allowed to continue. I still say, “This cannot be allowed to continue.”

Robinson quoted Justice Anthony M Kennedy’s statement of, "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times,” That is absolutely correct. Just because we are at war doesn’t give us the right to break our own laws. Just because we are in another country, we don’t have the right to say our laws are no longer valid or enforceable. As American’s we have the duty to remain true to our ideals no matter where we stand. The end does not justify the means and anyone who says different needs to be checked.