LIE OF THE WEEK: 06-30-2006

Former Associate White House Counsel Bradford Berenson on the Supreme Court decision that the military commissions to put the Guantanamo Bay inmates on trial were unauthorized by federal statute and violated international law:

"Nothing about the administration's solution was radical or even particularly aggressive," said Bradford A. Berenson, who served from 2001 to 2003 as associate White House counsel. "What is truly radical is the Supreme Court's willingness to bend to world opinion and undermine some of the most important foundations of American national security law in the middle of a war."

THE TRUTH: This administration has flaunted every aspect of constitutional and international law in claiming executive privilege while prosecuting the War on Terror. Complying with signed treaties is not the same as "bending to world opinion". Undermining civil rights and liberties in the name of national security puts us in the same category as the worst dictatorships around the world who oppress their people in the name of being "in a state of war" or "under emergency law". Though every American agrees that we need to aggressively attack our enemies, violating our laws and treaties can never further these goals, especially when these violations are in the form of torture, kangaroo courts, or other abuses of human rights. We need not lose our core values in the pursuit of defeating our enemies.