For Immediate Release
Sept. 20 2006
Contact: Jason McCarty, 405.427.3366

Disingenuous Republican Administration Endangers American Soldiers

Despite President Bush's attempts to make the case for his proposal on the treatment of detainees, military and legal experts are speaking out against his plan.
"We have had enough of the Republican Administration's flawed policies. When a vote for a Republican means a vote for torture, it is time for a radical change. America needs a new direction," said Ron Wasson, chairman of the ODP Veteran's Committee and a member of the Democratic National Committee's Veterans Committee.

The Los Angeles Times editorial board writes: "On the treatment of detainees, the president has been especially disingenuous. He has never been a fan of international law, so it's absurd for him to pretend to want to 'clarify' the Geneva Convention. What he clearly wants to do is gut the treaty's humanitarian protections for wartime detainees, with an eye toward retroactively legitimizing abusive CIA interrogation tactics used on terrorism suspects."

Oklahoma State Democratic Party Chair Lisa Pryor said, "it is appalling to me that the Bush Administration is intent on changing international standards that would prevent inhumane cruelty and violence. Military prisoner of war torture is dehumanizing and morally wrong. Republicans paint themselves as defenders of moral values, but that is simply hypocritical rhetoric, because they opt to follow rules and laws only when it serves their own distorted objectives."

Pryor said it is imperative to protect Americans - both soldiers and civilians - and a critical way to ensure this happens is to guarantee the United States is an international leader in upholding the agreements of the Geneva Convention. President Bush wants the CIA to be able to treat its detainees with techniques such as extreme hypothermia and sleep deprivation. Pryor said the Bush administration plays with and repackages the truth for its war on terror.

"The Administration is following a textbook election year Republican ploy - terrify Americans into voting Republican," Pryor said. "America must follow the international laws and our elected leaders have a moral obligation to protect our fellow Americans. We are witnessing dangerous incompetence in the strategic execution in Iraq."