While our president talks about honoring our troops, his administration has done otherwise.

I recently found an article online about how the Justice Department reversed a settlement made against the Iraqi government by American soldiers. These were troops captured and tortured by Saddam Hussein’s regime during the first Gulf War. The article was written by one of the soldiers’ attorneys, former United States Ambassador John Norton Moore, also former chair of the American Bar Association Committee on International Law.

Captured American soldiers underwent horrendous torture during the first Gulf War. After the war, 17 POWs and their families sued Saddam and the Iraqi government as provided by the Geneva Conventions. They won their trial and were awarded a settlement of undisclosed size to be paid by the Iraqi government. After the Abu Ghraib prison scandal hit the news, the Justice Department quietly moved to have this settlement dismissed and the charges against Iraq erased. One can only speculate on their motives under these circumstances. The case is now on appeal.

What message are we sending our troops when the government sides with their torturers against them? What message do we send the world when we fail to follow Geneva protocols in the treatment of POWs in our custody?

The security of American troops everywhere is endangered by our unwillingness to support international law.

What goes around, comes around.

Steve Bien, Jay