Attorney Scott Horton writes in a special to the Toronto Star:

Gonzales wrote that the Geneva Convention was "obsolete" when it came to the war on terror, reasoning that America's adversaries were not parties to the convention and that the Geneva concept was ill suited to anti-terrorist warfare.

In 1941, the head of Hitler's military, Wilhelm Keitel, mustered identical arguments against recognizing the Geneva rights of Soviet soldiers fighting on the Eastern Front.

Keitel even called Geneva "obsolete," a remark noted by U.S. prosecutors at Nuremberg, who cited it as an aggravating circumstance in seeking, and obtaining, the death penalty.

Keitel's remarks were made in response to a valiant memorandum prepared by German military lawyers who argued that the interests of Germany's soldiers, and the interests of morale and good order, would be served by adhering to the Geneva treaty.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, echoing the opinions of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. military lawyers, sent Gonzales a letter that hit the same notes.

[...]

Last week, the world commemorated the liberation of Auschwitz. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer acknowledged that the depravities at Auschwitz were not the work of a few "rotten apples" but the responsibility of a nation.

Such a courageous assumption of responsibility should provide a model for the United States, which can still act to salvage its tradition and its honour.

Democrats.com's DictatorshipIsEasier.us reports on a changing America under George W. Bush.

"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator" -- George W. Bush, December 18, 2000