ABSTRACT

In wartime, "anything goes" replaces respect for law and morality. The younger president Bush, however, spat on his father's and America's heritage and relied on brute force to get his way in the world. He tore up the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABMT) signed by Nixon-and did so without consulting Congress. The Bush administration threw America's legal traditions to the winds and replaced them with a manifest disdain for law and morality at home and abroad. Treaties, as the Constitution says, are part of the "supreme Law of the land". Faced with protests from European allies, Secretary of State Rice was not squeamish. She asserted in 2005 that rendition was "a vital tool in combating transnational terrorism". Torture is forbidden by specific US laws as well as by the Geneva Conventions. Still, some authorities say that torture may sometimes be necessary to save lives.