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Monday :: November 24, 2003

John Kerry's Wife Weighs in on Guantanamo

Theresa Heinz Kerry weighed in on the Guantanamo detainees in Seattle. She said the detainees deserve prisoner of war status:

"They were captured while fighting a war," Teresa Heinz Kerry said at an informal discussion with minority activists in Seattle. "They should have the rights that other prisoners of war have had."

Heinz Kerry, the heir to the Heinz family's food fortune, said denying the detainees the protections of the Geneva Convention is "insulting, ignorant and insensitive" to the rest of the world.

She added that under President Bush, the United States, once known as the standard-bearer for human rights, is now considered a hypocrite. "The arrogance shown by this administration on human rights and in its foreign policy is horrible," she said.

So, does husband John agree? The article says yes, but if you read his position, the answer is no.

A spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign said Sen. Kerry supports his wife's position that the detainees should be given basic protections such as the right to an attorney. "As long as al-Qaida is actively trying to take down America, Sen. Kerry believes that these prisoners should be held as enemy combatants," spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said.

Unless Cutter got her candidate's position wrong, she's saying Kerry agrees with Bush, rather than his wife. Bush has emphatically and continuously insisted that enemy combatants are not prisoners of war and do not receive the protections of the Geneva Convention or our Constitution.

Maybe Theresa should be the candidate from the Kerry family.