Contributors
Links
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Bush Seeks Immunity for Violating War Crimes Act
by Elizabeth Holtzman
Thirty-two years ago, President Gerald Ford created a political firestorm by pardoning former President Richard Nixon of all crimes he may have committed in Watergate -- and lost his election as a result. Now, President Bush, to avoid a similar public outcry, is quietly trying to pardon himself of any crimes connected with the torture and mistreatment of U.S. detainees.
The ''pardon'' is buried in Bush's proposed legislation to create a new kind of military tribunal for cases involving top al-Qaida operatives. The ''pardon'' provision has nothing to do with the tribunals. Instead, it guts the War Crimes Act of 1996, a federal law that makes it a crime, in some cases punishable by death, to mistreat detainees in violation of the Geneva Conventions and makes the new, weaker terms of the War Crimes Act retroactive to 9/11.
Press accounts of the provision have described it as providing immunity for CIA interrogators. But its terms cover the president and other top officials because the act applies to any U.S. national.
Avoiding prosecution under the War Crimes Act has been an obsession of this administration since shortly after 9/11. In a January 2002 memorandum to the president, then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales pointed out the problem of prosecution for detainee mistreatment under the War Crimes Act. He notes that given the vague language of the statute, no one could predict what future ''prosecutors and independent counsels'' might do if they decided to bring charges under the act. As an author of the 1978 special prosecutor statute, I know that independent counsels (who used to be called ''special prosecutors'' prior to the statute's reauthorization in 1994) aren't for low-level government officials such as CIA interrogators, but for the president and his Cabinet. It is clear that Gonzales was concerned about top administration officials.
Gonzales also understood that the specter of prosecution could hang over top administration officials involved in detainee mistreatment throughout their lives. Because there is no statute of limitations in cases where death resulted from the mistreatment, prosecutors far into the future, not appointed by Bush or beholden to him, would be making the decisions whether to prosecute.
To ''reduce the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act,'' Gonzales recommended that Bush not apply the Geneva Conventions to al-Qaida and the Taliban. Since the War Crimes Act carried out the Geneva Conventions, Gonzales reasoned that if the Conventions didn't apply, neither did the War Crimes Act. Bush implemented the recommendation on Feb. 7, 2002.
When the Supreme Court recently decided that the Conventions did apply to al-Qaida and Taliban detainees, the possibility of criminal liability for high-level administration officials reared its ugly head again.
What to do? The administration has apparently decided to secure immunity from prosecution through legislation. Under cover of the controversy involving the military tribunals and whether they could use hearsay or coerced evidence, the administration is trying to pardon itself, hoping that no one will notice. The urgent timetable has to do more than anything with the possibility that the next Congress may be controlled by Democrats, who will not permit such a provision to be adopted.
Creating immunity retroactively for violating the law sets a terrible precedent. The president takes an oath of office to uphold the Constitution; that document requires him to obey the laws, not violate them. A president who knowingly and deliberately violates U.S. criminal laws should not be able to use stealth tactics to immunize himself from liability, and Congress should not go along.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Blog Archive
-
▼
2006
(1766)
-
▼
September
(220)
- How George Bush Admitted His War Crimes by Richar...
- 9/11 Commission Counsel: Bush Admin. May Have Cove...
- How Mark Foley Represents The Entire Republican Party
- Bush Backrub
- Foley pushed child porn bills, asked: "Do I make y...
- Our Allies in TWOT.
- Iraqi democracy, as taught by America
- Two critiques of string theory.by Jim Holt
- Ruth Conniff:The “In Crowd” Versus the “Populists”
- Book Says Bush Ignored Urgent Warning on Iraq By D...
- Why Bill Clinton Pushed Back
- I think I have seen everything. posted by unhappyc...
- Waterboarding DefinedDavid Corn writes that as the...
- Uh...Jack who?
- The "We Have to Win" Mythby Cenk UygurBob Woodward...
- All The President's Lies
- Photo Finish
- Condi Rice: Liar, Stupid, or Both?
- Oy Vey!!!
- GOP Can’t Handle the 9/11 TruthBy Joe ConasonThe m...
- Clinton vs. Bush: A foolish fight for the GOP to p...
- No title
- At war, in denial
- New News Is Bad News by Molly Ivins Noshing on ...
- Republicans Are Losers, So Make Sure They Lose
- A Case for Impeachmentby Elizabeth HoltzmanThe fra...
- Dems Propose Emergency Voting Legislation To Provi...
- Rice Falsely Claims Bush’s Pre-9/11 Anti-Terror Ef...
- Clinton vs. Fox's Chris Wallace: Condi Rice offers...
- Olbermann’s Special Comment: Are YOURS the actions...
- Republicans Give In To Bush, Betray Americaby Thom...
- Fascism at the Gate
- Due Process, Bulldozed - New York TimesThe New Yor...
- To the terrorists' level
- To the terrorists' level
- Demonizing ChávezLove him, hate him, fear him, rev...
- Challenging the Culture of Obedience by Ross C. An...
- If you want to know why the Media is fucked upby A...
- No title
- CIA Deal Reveals Shirker and Cipher by Les Payne ...
- Who wanted to "cut and run" from Somalia?by Glenn ...
- Teammate: "George Allen is a racist."WASHINGTON --...
- The Devil and George Bush
- Bill Clinton's Bipartisan Love-In Blows Up In His ...
- OFFICIALS WARY OF ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES
- "Just a comma"
- The Fox Conventions
- life cycle
- BUSH READING PROGRAM GETS FAILING GRADE
- Bush Seeks Immunity for Violating War Crimes Act
- The October Surprise
- Slippery Slope
- Axis of Sketchy Allies - New York TimesThe New Yor...
- Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat...
- Hugo Chávez InterviewBy Greg Palast, "Here the em...
- Orwell: Politics and the English LanguagePolitics ...
- The Bush administration vs. the founding American ...
- Clinton Takes On Fox NewsToday, President Bill Cli...
- French paper says bin Laden died in Pakistan Saudi...
- Insurance Horror Stories - New York TimesThe New Y...
- Is the GOP manipulating gas prices?
- GOP: Just Say No to Peace and Prosperityby mcjoan ...
- CHAVEZ TO DISCOUNT OIL FOR U.S. POOR
- When we pay our taxes, we will be paying for torture
- Marty Lederman: Senators Snatch Defeat From Jaws o...
- White House denies it threatened to bomb ally Paki...
- A Bad Bargain
- When Will the Pope Apologize for the Long History ...
- The abduction and torture of an innocent man
- Bill O'Reilly The Baron Munchausen Of Cable News?R...
- Torture in Iraq Worse Now Than Under Saddam
- Saudi Arabia/OPEC Establish A "Reasonable'" Price ...
- Where Torture Got Him
- When War is on the Horizon, Follow the Money
- From NBC's Mike ViqueiraThe House Judiciary Commit...
- Meltdown: Ice Cracks at North Pole
- Robert Rivkin: Bush's Paltry Excuse for Subverting...
- The Fix Isn't InDon't count on the architects of f...
- The long way homeCall us cynical, but we've long ...
- Bush's brain found lacking
- King of Pain - New York TimesThe New York TimesPri...
- Senator Dorgan to the Cheney/Halliburton Pentagon:...
- Quote of the DayNational Security Advisor Stephen ...
- Spiritual Niggers: Islam and the West
- The Swift Boat Connection to ABC's 9/11 Deception
- The Longer the War, The Larger the Lie
- LIEBERMAN PLEADS FOR UNITY AGAINST "BARBARIANS"
- Bush's Useful IdiotsSince 9/11, US liberals have s...
- WP: Missteps in Iraq rebuilding
- Earth to Wolf Blitzer
- New Air America Line-up Announced Amidst Reports o...
- Torture Impasse: The Content of Our CharacterJerem...
- Getting with "The Program": Clarity Through Obfusc...
- Molly Ivins : Remembering Ann Richards
- "We tortured an insane man."
- Progress or Regress? - New York TimesThe New York ...
- The Costs of Crying Wolf by Kirsten A. PowersIf Am...
- More Legal Trouble For Rove: Attorney Says He Targ...
- HITS OF THE 60'SIt was fun being a baby boomer .....
- Ohio congressman pleads guilty
-
▼
September
(220)
No comments:
Post a Comment