Now if we could just get someone in our wonderful government to do something about it....Nicolas J S Davies, Online Journal reports:
"Sep 11, 2006Read more.
George W. Bush's speech on September 6 amounted to a public confession to criminal violations of the 1996 War Crimes Act. He implicitly admitted authorizing disappearances, extrajudicial imprisonment, torture, transporting prisoners between countries and denying the International Committee of the Red Cross access to prisoners.
These are all serious violations of the Geneva Conventions. The War Crimes Act makes grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and all violations of Common Article 3 punishable by fines, imprisonment or, if death results to the victim, the death penalty.
At the same time, Bush asked Congress to amend the War Crimes Act in order to retroactively protect him and�other U.S. officials �from prosecution for these crimes, and from civil lawsuits arising from them. He justified this on the basis that 'our military and intelligence personnel involved in capturing and questioning terrorists could now be at risk of prosecution under the War Crimes Act . . . ,' and insisted that �passing this legislation ought to be the top priority� for Congress between now and the election in November.
His profession of concern for military and intelligence personnel was utterly misleading.� Military personnel charged with war crimes have always been, and continue to be, prosecuted under the Universal Code of Military Justice rather than the War Crimes Act; and the likelihood of CIA interrogators being identified�and prosecuted under the act is remote -- they are protected by the secrecy that surrounds all CIA operations...."
Also See:
- Brent Budowsky: Historians Will Morally Impeach George W. Bush For Exploiting, Not Honoring, 9-11
- Cenk Uygur: If Bush Won't Fire Rumsfeld, We Must Consider Firing Bush
- At a Secret Interrogation, Dispute Flared Over Tactics - New York Times
Technorati tags: Online Journal, Nicolas J S Davies, Bush, 1996 War Crimes Act, Geneva Conventions, Congress, Military, news, commentary, op ed
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