It's a rare day when I agree with columnist William Safire. But, he was dead right when he blasted President Bush for replacing "the American rule of law with military kangaroo courts" in the case of foreign nationals who are suspected of being terrorists.

A Korean friend of mine, who left his repressive homeland for the freedom of the United States, put it so well. "It's not America's military might nor her economic power that makes her the world's leading nation," he told me. "It's her high moral standards." He added, "What President Bush is doing with his decree about secret military courts is just like Korea, taking away people's civil rights in the name of national security. America is abandoning the high moral standards that make her the world's leader."

Only a short time ago, we demanded that Peru retry an American citizen (a foreign national to Peruvians) convicted of terrorism in a secret military tribunal. We believed she had not received a fair trial. Only a few weeks ago, we condemned the Taliban for denying an open trial to eight foreign aid workers (including two Americans) detained on capital charges of spreading Christianity. We believed they could not receive justice in a secret court.

Now, our President has decreed that the United States will do exactly what it has condemned others for doing. Under the President's order, a U.S. military court can act in absolute secrecy, making up its own rules, condemning suspected terrorists to death completely outside the bounds of the United States Constitution. What moral authority will we use now to seek justice for Americans abroad? Where is the moral authority we will bring to our global campaign for human rights? If we Americans allow this decree to stand, we will have lost that moral authority in the eyes of the world.

Vice President Cheney has said, in support of this appalling decree, that terrorists "don't deserve the same guarantees and safeguards that would be used for an American citizen going through the normal justice process." This from a man who swore under oath to uphold the Constitution.

And, Attorney General John Ashcroft reversed an earlier promise "to protect and honor the Constitution". He even asserted on ABC's Nightline that if he had the authority to set aside the Constitution, "this would be a dangerous government." Yet, he now says that he may do just that when it comes to suspected terrorists.

Mr. Ashcroft has told us it's important to understand that we are at war. If we are at war, what are we fighting for? As generations before us have done, we are fighting for American principles of liberty and justice. We are fighting to protect our Constitution and Bill of Rights. We are fighting to retain the moral standards that have made America the leader among nations.

It's not as if our fair and open system of justice hasn't worked under similar circumstances. When those accused of bombing the World Trade Center the first time were brought to trial, according to the principles of our Constitution, they were convicted and sternly sentenced. Are we so afraid of what Osama bin Laden might say if he were ever brought to trial? What could he say that would undermine our liberty and our moral standards? Only what we do in violation of our principles will undermine our liberty and our moral standards.

We Americans are warily tolerating the erosion of civil liberties Congress has already approved. But, this latest decree has gone way too far. I agree with William Safire that, "it is time for conservative iconoclasts and card-carrying hard-liners to stand up for American values". It's time for all of us across the political spectrum to stand up for American values.

This is, indeed, a scary time. It has just been made much scarier by President Bush's gross violation of our Constitution. We cannot allow our leadership in the world to plummet because we let our moral standards fall victim to terrorism and short-sighted leadership.