Rule Of Law

President Bush has turned to his inner circle of loyalists to clean up the mess made by one of its own. But given the parameters within which he was working, the president seems to have made the best possible choice in naming Robert B. Zoellick to replaced Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank. Unlike Mr. Wolfowitz, Mr. Zoellick is a competent manager who is highly regarded in the diplomatic, financial and international development communities. Also unlike the man he would replace, Mr. Zoellick is no ideologue.

THE LEGAL morass gripping Augusto Pinochet may serve the old dictator right and make human rights advocates feel good. But it augurs ill for the rule of law or an orderly world.A Spanish investigating judge wants to try General Pinochet in Spain for crimes he committed against humanity when he ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. The former president was arrested in Britain.An appeals court ruled that the 83-year-old general could not be extradited because the crimes in question occurred before Britain ratified an international convention outlawing torture in 1988.

IN WHAT can only be viewed as a blatant case of retaliation, the paramedic who recently won a federal sex discrimination lawsuit against the Maryland State Police now is being required to undergo psychiatric examination.The police agency claims that it is "routine" for officers to submit to psychiatric evaluation when the agency questions their fitness for duty. Statements by Trooper 1st Class H. Kevin Knussman during the trial raised concern about his ability to function as a helicopter paramedic, according to State Police lawyers.

Excerpts from yesterday's closing arguments in the impeachment trial against President Clinton, as transcribed by the Federal Document Clearing House:Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin RepublicanThe news media characterizes the managers as 13 angry men. They are right in that we are angry, but they are dead wrong about what we are angry about. We have not spent long hours poring through the evidence, sacrificed time with our families, and subjected ourselves to intense political criticism to further a political vendetta.

Howard County's reservoirs will have an extra measure of protection from development after a unanimous County Council vote last night, but approval came only after farmer Charles Sharp won an exemption for the 95-home development he plans near Triadelphia reservoir.The protection bill requires that homes built within 2,500 feet of a reservoir must be on lots that are 2 acres or larger to provide an area to absorb run-off from roofs and other surfaces.The amendment grandfathering Sharp's proposed development was approved on a 3-2 vote, with west Columbia Democrat Mary C. Lorsung joining the council's two Republicans.

THE HOUSE PROSECUTORS would have us believe that there is much more at stake in the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton than one man, weak of flesh, lying to hide his shame.The Republicans tell us that the rule of law has been subverted by an arrogant man who places himself above it. That absolute truth has been replaced by calculated lies and the parsing of ambiguous words. That the presidency has been damaged. That the sanctity of marriage has been mocked. That faith and forgiveness have been cynically manipulated.

WASHINGTON -- The deal the Clinton administration recently worked out for China's admission to the World Trade Organization could well be called, symbolically, the deal from Boeing. The question remains whether it should be called a deal of wisdom or of folly.Many other major U.S. companies worked long and hard for the WTO agreement, but Boeing -- for whom China is a major customer -- was among the leaders. For the past year, its hand has been visible repeatedly in behind-the-scenes efforts to reach a deal.

WASHINGTON -- The integrity of our government of laws -- not men -- depends on our fidelity to the basic principle that society holds each of its members accountable to the rule of law. Similarly, when the House impeached President Clinton for his alleged perjury and obstruction of justice, Congress was demonstrating that it would not tolerate conduct in our president that would not be acceptable were it committed by other citizens.The House, in performing its constitutional accusatory function, without regard to whether the Senate would likely convict, reaffirmed that a president will be held accountable to the rule of law. And it informed future presidents that obstruction of justice and perjury may lead to removal.

BEIJING -- When Hong Kong returned to China 19 months ago in a blaze of fireworks and tearful farewells, many feared that the mainland would trample free speech and human rights in the free-wheeling former British colony.Instead, the territory and its motherland now find themselves on the brink of a constitutional crisis over a matter even dearer to the hearts of Hong Kong's business-minded people: the rule of law.The conflict, the biggest since the July 1997 handover, revolves around a ruling last month by Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal that would allow tens of thousands of mainland children with Hong Kong parents to live in the territory.

THE ONE sure outcome of the impeachment trial is that the rule of law has been diminished as much by Republicans as by Democrats. And, to the chagrin of many of his constituents, House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde has become its chief detractor.According to a recent Chicago Tribune poll of Mr. Hyde's conservative Illinois district, 35 percent of the respondents said their opinion of the congressman had dropped because of his handling of the impeachment proceedings.In his opening statement to the Senate, Mr. Hyde cited the case of Sir Thomas More, a former lord chancellor who was executed in 1535 for refusing to swear an oath that the king of England was supreme over the pope.

America is at a turning point. How we will come to terms with the government abuses unleashed in the aftermath of 9/11 is a historic test of our highest principles. Are we a nation of laws? Will we stand by our commitment to the rule of law over the tyranny of state-sanctioned brutality? Maryland's particularly powerful congressional delegation in Washington can be pivotal as the nation chooses how to proceed. And, of course, members of Congress will more likely rise to the occasion if they hear from the public they represent.

Last week, the Obama administration released a series of memos describing the "harsh interrogation" of suspects authorized by Bush administration officials. For the uninitiated, I would note that "torture" of suspects would be a more accurate characterization. But to quote the president, "It is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice ... that they will not be subject to prosecution." The use of torture is despicable. The U.S. should never have descended to the point where we would use tactics normally associated with totalitarian regimes, thus besmirching the country, the Constitution and the rule of law. But as with all crimes against humanity, it is the leaders, those who authorized the torture, who are the main offenders, and really need to be held accountable and brought to justice.

On June 4, 2003, as Liberian President Charles Taylor walked up the steps for the opening ceremony of the Accra Peace Accords in Ghana, I stood in front of the world's press and announced that I had unsealed an indictment charging him with 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The international community reacted with praise - and condemnation. Politicians and diplomats voiced concern that my announcement had jeopardized the newly organized peace process and hopes for stability in West Africa.

This column has to begin with me making a sincere, heartfelt apology to the members of the Baltimore County Bar Association. I was to speak on the topic "The Rule of Law" at the association's Law Day breakfast Thursday morning, but I didn't make it. I could offer an excuse, but I remember what Staff Sgt. Wallace Tidwell told me about excuses more than 34 years ago when I entered Air Force boot camp in San Antonio. The fact is, I just blew it. Usually, I let my wife know about my speaking engagements so that when the date approaches she can jog the old memory for me. But this time around, I passed on bothering the wife and decided I'd remember myself for a change.

Minority shut out of session's debates While The Sun may be ambivalent about high taxes, I had hoped the newspaper might care about the way they were passed. But apparently it is not. The Sun urges Republicans to drop their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the special session ("Much ado about little," editorial, Jan. 2). As state legislators, we take an oath to defend the Maryland Constitution. When the Maryland Constitution is ignored or undermined in any way, it erodes the basic foundation of our form of government.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has cracked down on the very citizens best equipped to promote civil society, nurture political moderates and counter extremism in his Muslim nation. As protests against his imposition of emergency rule intensified, the arrests of lawyers, intellectuals and human rights activists expanded to include students and opposition members. On Friday, Pakistani authorities detained opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in her home and quashed a protest march she was to lead.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf defended his decision to hijack the nation's constitutional democracy this weekend, saying it was a response to extremist elements in the country. But the protesters hauled off by Pakistani police yesterday were lawyers in suits and ties, journalists and other proponents of the rule of law. The only extreme position on display was Mr. Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule. It was a desperate attempt to retain his shaky hold on power, and it could have serious implications for U.S.-Pakistan relations.

The dumb promises of immunity must have been the last straw. The State Department capped its astonishing record of mismanagement of private security firms in Iraq in a fairly spectacular way, by making an offer of immunity it didn't have the power to grant, to the Blackwater USA guards who were involved in the notorious shoot-'em-up in Baghdad's Nisour Square. Condoleezza Rice has now given way to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who wants to put diplomats' private guards under military control.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- In a serious new blow to beleaguered president Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the Supreme Court voted unanimously yesterday to reinstate Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, the outspoken jurist whose suspension four months ago galvanized a broad-based pro-democracy movement. The development comes amid the greatest turmoil in Pakistan since Musharraf seized power in a coup eight years ago. Nearly 200 people have been killed this month in suicide bombings and confrontations between Pakistani security forces and Islamic militants, which were ignited by the storming of a radical mosque in the capital, Islamabad.

The Bradley University computer science student was arrested on Dec. 12, 2001, at his home in Peoria, Ill. He was charged with credit fraud, and with lying to investigators. Just before he went to trial, he was kidnapped - on the orders of President Bush. Like a lynch mob in the old South, federal agents whisked him out of the detention facility where he was being held and took him away, to a place where they could mete out their own kind of justice. He wasn't hanged - but he was held incommunicado for 16 months, and subjected, his lawyers say, to punishing physical abuse.