Ethics Newsline®

WASHINGTON
Ethical aspects of the war on terror dominated last week’s headlines. Among the top stories:

• President Bush last week allowed the CIA to resume harsh interrogation methods used on terror suspects, a year after the program was suspended amid criticism that it violates human rights and international law. Bush’s executive order said that the CIA interrogators will abide by restrictions against “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating or degrading treatment,” according to the Washington Post. But the executive order offered few details on what aspects of the program would not be used again, and administration officials, who have claimed that the “enhanced interrogation” techniques provided invaluable intelligence in the past, would not comment on specific methods that may or may not be allowed in the future, including the controversial practice known as “waterboarding,” which simulates the sensation of drowning, says the Post report.
• A federal appeals court last week ruled that the Bush administration must disclose to federal courts much more information on Guantánamo detainees who are challenging the terms of their imprisonment. CBS News reports that the Guantánamo inmates, whom the administration classifies as enemy combatants rather than prisoners of war — thus denying them certain legal rights — will now be allowed to have lawyers with them when they appear before military tribunals and can use full records of the tribunal when they appeal determinations to federal courts. Government attorneys had argued that federal judges should only be allowed a summary of the evidence put forward during tribunals.
• Marine Corps recruits will receive additional training in values and battlefield ethics, according to the Associated Press. During 12 weeks of boot camp, marines now will get 28 hours of values training, the highest among the U.S. armed forces. In reaction to a series of alleged abuse cases in Iraq and Afghanistan, Corps officials instituted the new ethics program, which includes Marine Corps commandant Gen. James Conway touring Marine bases and discussing recent incidents and pending criminal cases. A spokesman for Conway, Lt. Col. T. V. Johnson, told the AP that Conway “wants to make sure we are making marines the way we used to. If you look at the respect the American public has for marines, each one of these incidents is a withdrawal from the bank of respect.”