How George Bush Admitted His War Crimes
by Richard W. Behan
It was brilliantly deceptive, trumping even his orchestrated dishonesty in leading us to war.
Buried in the 94 pages of the Military Commissions Act of 2006-the "detainee act" or the "torture bill"-the Bush Administration tacitly admits it has committed war crimes.
There is no question war crimes have been committed. Corporal Charles Graner, Private First Class Lyndie England, and several of their teammates are serving time, for mistreating prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
At the time these soldiers were tried and sentenced many people felt the culpability must extend above the ranks of enlisted personnel, up some distance into the chain-of-command, perhaps to the top. Many still do.
There are two pairs of dots to be connected. One is a pair of small dots, the other two are huge.
On December 28, 2001, a memo to President Bush from his Office of Legal Counsel made two claims: the US court system had no jurisdiction regarding the detainees at Guantanamo, and the Geneva Conventions did not apply to them.
Acting on this advice, on February 7, 2002 President Bush suspended Common Article 3 of those conventions-which, among other things, prohibits torture. Two years later, thanks to CBS' 60 Minutes and the New Yorker magazine, the prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib came to light. Connect those dots. These are the small ones.
Subsequent lawsuits addressing the detainee issue were considered and resolved by the Supreme Court. Rasul v. Bush found the US courts did have jurisdiction over the detainees. Hamdi v. Rumsfeld said detainees have a right to contest their detention: they are entitled to habeas corpus protections. Hamdan v. Rumsfeld tested the military tribunals President Bush created to bring the detainees to justice. The Supreme Court found the tribunals in violation of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, and their existence to be illegal, absent a basis in federal statute. The decision was handed down June 29, 2006.
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld put on display the Bush Administration's guilt in committing war crimes. This is one of the huge dots. It will be connected to another one shortly.
The Bush Administration wasted no time drafting a law to legalize the military "commissions," as they came to be called. Senators McCain, Warner, and Graham initially and vigorously opposed it-and then caved in.
A "compromise" was worked out in Vice President Cheney's office. Trivial tweaks.
The law signed by the President precludes federal courts from any jurisdiction whatsoever, in direct contradiction to the Supreme Court's finding. It denies habeas corpus protections, also in direct contradiction.
And it prohibits explicitly the detainees from claiming rights under the Geneva Conventions. Here is the language that does so:
No person may invoke the Geneva Conventions, or any protocols thereto, in any habeas or civil action or proceeding to which the United States, or a current or former officer, employee, member of the Armed Services, or other agent of the United States, is a party, as a source of rights in any court of the United States or its States or territories.
This means that no detainee can bring suit for any violation of the Geneva Conventions, and this is the other huge dot. The Bush Administration already stands accused by the Supreme Court of violating Common Article 3, but the Administration wrote a law, and bulldozed it through a compliant Congress, to render prosecution impossible.
This also means the US simply is not bound by the Geneva Conventions. If detainees cannot claim rights under them the Conventions are moot.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is retroactive. It shall ".take effect as of November 26, 1997, as if enacted.[on that date]." Nothing the Bush Administration has done can be called into question.
Why would the Bush people write these several requirements into a law? Only if they are guilty of committing war crimes and know they will face prosecution. Though ingeniously obscured, this is a de facto admission of guilt.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is mostly smokescreen. The law's primary purpose is to immunize the Bush Administration, which explains the Administration's frantic anxiety to have it passed. The thrust of the bill, relating to detainee trials, is hardly a matter of top priority: the detainees have been languishing for years. Elizabeth Holtzman saw through the smokescreen in a recent essay in the Chicago Sun-Times, "Bush Seeks Immunity for Violating War Crimes Act." Not many other commentators have noticed.
This new law shields the Bush Administration from their mistreatment of prisoners, but that issue is truly a marginal one. Still to be confronted is the illegality of the Iraq war writ large: sold to the American people on conscious lies and prosecuted at horrific expense in human lives and treasure. Crimes against humanity are involved here.
The Military Commissions Act was created by desperate people terrified of prosecution. Imagine George W. Bush taking the stand in The Hague, following in the footsteps of Slobodan Milosevic. Imagine Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Condoleezza Rice imprisoned. Imagine.
Contributors
Links
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