Do unto others?

In 1795, early American scholar and revolutionary Thomas Paine ended his Dissertations on First Principles of Government thusly:

An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.

President Bush and Congress have reached an agreement regarding, er, "alternative interrogation techniques" and possible conflicts with the articles of the Third Geneva Convention. The president says that the agreement will give the United States the tools necessary to capture, detain, and question terrorists.

I hope the American people understand and can stomach the inevitable consequences of this "agreement".

The next time one of our soldiers is captured, detained, and questioned by terrorists (or any other enemy, for that matter), he or she will be subject to the same convenient interpretations of the Geneva Conventions as we are now applying.

In other words, if the U.S. is reserving the right to use borderline torturous interrogation techniques to defend herself during a perceived emergency, our enemies will be free to use the same techniques against our soldiers in order to defend themselves during perceived emergencies.

I dread what we may hear from the Red Cross in the coming weeks about the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody, such as the possible use of waterboarding.

I'm afraid we are losing the moral high ground.

And I fear for our soldiers.