Cheney criticizes the Geneva Convention in Military Academy commencement address

[IChing]

Source: Raw story

Vice President Dick Cheney criticized the notion of applying the Geneva Convention to individuals captured in the course of the war on terrorism in a Saturday commencement address at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.

"Capture one of these killers, and he'll be quick to demand the protections of the Geneva Convention and the Constitution of the United States," the Vice President said in the Saturday morning speech. "Yet when they wage attacks or take captives, their delicate sensibilities seem to fall away."

Cheney delivered the remarks in the context of moral and ethical lessons that the graduating cadets at West Point had learned in the course of their study.

"You have lived by a code of honor, and internalized that code as West Point men and women always do," he said. "As Army officers on duty in the war on terror, you will now face enemies who oppose and despise everything you know to be right, every notion of upright conduct and character, and every belief you consider worth fighting for and living for."

Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Cheney_criticizes_Geneva_Convention_in_Military_0526.html

[Fridays Child]

1. What a psychopath!

[tabasco]

5. You said it.

it is an indictment of our society that amoral cretins such as Cheney and Bush occupy our highest offices.

[IndianaGreen]

26. And this psychopath is still Vice-President because Nancy Pelosi put impeachment off the table

At some point, the Democratic leadership in Congress has to take responsibility for having war criminals and law breakers like Cheney, Bush, and Gonzales remain in office, rather than use the impeachment that the Framers put in the Constitution to uphold the rule of law.

[muntrv]

2. Hitler had no use for Geneva Conventions either, Dick.

[BrainGlutton]

32. Actually, the Wehrmacht treated Allied POWs by Geneva standards.

[acmavm]

3. For a guy who never had to depend on the Geneva Convention because

he was/is a chickenshit coward, he has NO FRIGGIN' ROOM TO TALK.

And thanks to him and his bud running their secret prisons and Abu Graib, we have the our sons and daughters suffering the same fate (torture) when they're captured. Like I said earlier, paybacks are a bitch, revenge is a mother f**ker.

[burrowowl]

4. IMPEACH BU$HCO!

The Executive Branch breaking treaties without the US withdrawing from said treaties without Congress withdrawing from said treaties is TREASON!

[fooj]

10. Exactly!

Enough. This man is a treasonous, rat bastard. What will it take to remove him from office?

[WhiteTara]

38. more than a simple majority?

:shrug:

[entanglement]

23. Wouldn't that be reason number 15,413 to do so?

:)

[IChing]

6. The SS ignored the Geneva Conventions too

ARTICLE 27

Protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity.

ARTICLE 31

No physical or moral coercion shall be exercised against protected persons, in particular to obtain information from them or from third parties.

....and....

ARTICLE 32

This prohibition applies not only to murder, torture, corporal punishments, mutilation and medical or scientific experiments not necessitated by the medical treatment of a protected person, but also to any other measures of brutality whether applied by civilian or military agents.

US President Bush loves pointing out that, "America is liberating Iraqis from human rights abuses by Saddam Hussein." However America abuses the rights of anyone it so chooses by just by giving them a different label.

[Xipe Totec]

7. This, of course, is based on his extensive military experience

oh, wait...

He has none.

Is there a draft dodging clause in the Geneva convention, and is he opposed to that too?




Give me a f***ng break. :eyes:

[yurbud]

8. did the cadets boo?

[BeyondThePale]

9. "one of these killers"?!? More than 3/4s of the detainees at Gitmo...

have little or nothing to do with terrorism or terrorist groups. Most were in the wrong place or sold for a bounty.

What a sick fuck. This administration makes Dr. Strangelove look mild

[Faryn Balyncd]

11. "...you will now face enemies who oppose and despise everything you know to be right........"

"...you will now face enemies who oppose and despise everything you know to be right, every notion of upright conduct and character, and every belief you consider worth fighting for and living for."


(Look no farther than the podium.)

[Tom Joad]

12. Damn right. They listened to "Domestic Enemy" Number One.

Action should have been taken to arrest the enemy before he could do further harm.

[diane in sf]

18. more projection on the part of this neoCON bastard

[CJCRANE]

40. ...plus if the cadets are to now ignore

the Geneva Convention and the Constitution...what exactly are they fighting for?

:shrug:

And what's the point of their ethics training?

[stillcool]

13. He needs to go to some..

safe location far away from humanity.

[lovuian]

14. I don't know how anybody could fight for this sob

he is quite a mad man and there he is on the podium of the academy this makes my skin crawl

[McCamy Taylor]

15. Impeachment is too good for Cheney, but it is a start.

[ejbr]

16. Question:

What does this: "Yet when they wage attacks or take captives, their delicate sensibilities seem to fall away."


have to do with upholding the Geneva conventions? Isn't his argument like saying, "If the mob tortures and kills your closest relatives in order to get you to talk, then the U.S. govt. should be allowed to do the same thing because that is what they do."

If this is not the height of stupidity, then those who buy into this argument are. Dick, you are missing something. (what is so pathetic is that this schmuck has to correct the vice president of the U.S. on such a basic concept) The Geneva Convention and the Constitution of the United States are NOT for our enemies dick! We do not uphold these documents for terrorists, or presumable terrorists. We uphold these documents for US, the people of the United States. This is our worldview DICK!

This is why you do not see the loved ones of murder victims kill, or attempt to kill, the accused in or out of a court of law in the United States. Sure, there are penalties for murder if they matter to you in a moment of passion. Yet, our world view tells us that we are better than that. At least WE are Dick!

[diane in sf]

17. What a piece of work Cheney is

[morffin]

19. Go fuck yourself Dick

This chickenshit bastard has as much right to address West Point as Jane Fonda.

[UpInArms]

29. less - at least Fonda went to Viet Nam

n/t

[ShortnFiery]

34. Too strange: I despise Jane Fonda equally to Darth Cheney but for vastly different reasons.

:shrug:

[MrPrax]

20. Cheney hates Law.

He loves shooting old guys in the face and hates the fact it's a shitty formality of law or 'process' that he must go through in order to explain his 'actions' to people that he thinks are insects.

So he doesn't love International Law?
What's the Demo position on the American interpretation of Law?

[pinto]

21. He doesn't like the Geneva Conventions or the Constitution.

Agghhh. This guy's the real culprit. Him and his shadow coterie.

We laugh about Mr. Bush, but we ought to scream about this VP.

[mahina]

22. retired Col. Ann Wright w oreally on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsuooIpnArQ She taught the Geneva conventions to our troops. Is our population really so TV-soused and zombied out that we no longer care if we are the evil ones? Is that possible, that our honor is just lost?

God, I respect that woman.

[SharonAnn]

24. He's as crazy as Cheny. Maybe crazier.

[bobthedrummer]

25. He's an archetype of evil-like the Nazi in his mechanical heart and soul.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

27. The Law and Order people.

Never mind the law, just follow my orders.

:argh:

[Senator]

28. Dick Feared Being Shouted Down. So, His Delicate Sensibilities...

... led him to get a get a court order barring protesters.

WHITE PLAINS, May 25 (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday denied an organization permission to stage an antiwar demonstration on Saturday on the grounds of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where Vice President Dick Cheney is to deliver the commencement address.

Pure cowardice.

The cadets of course were under orders to listen to this war criminal.

And BTW Dick, no one needs to "demand" Geneva protections. Because providing them, without exception, is a requirement US Federal Law.
(US Code: Title 18, 2441 War Crimes):

(c) Definition.— As used in this section the term “war crime” means any conduct—
(1) defined as a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party;

The law you've already been found guilty of violating by the USSC in Hamdan.

Your current incitement of others to violate it just makes you a serial war criminal.

---

[Rose Siding]

30. One hopes that the horns and pitchfork might cast a shadow on his credibility

Or perhaps the inevitable thunder and lightening when he uttered the phrase "code of honor" did the trick.

[Marnieworld]

31. Just when you think that you can't get shocked anymore

"You have lived by a code of honor, and internalized that code as West Point men and women always do," he said. "As Army officers on duty in the war on terror, you will now face enemies who oppose and despise everything you know to be right, every notion of upright conduct and character, and every belief you consider worth fighting for and living for."

So his solution is to abandon their ethics and become their enemy? Madness for anyone to find that logical but for the sitting VP to instruct this to future soldiers to commits war crimes in full daylight? If we had a true press he would have to explain himself over and again for these comments that are supporting breaking international law but we won't hear a peep from the media or the Democrats.

Wow. :grr:

[ShortnFiery]

33. With rare exception, the M$M and The Congress are behaving like "Good Germans"

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

[MasonJar]

35. Woo hoo, Mr 9% approval rating....try for six?

[NoodleyAppendage]

36. On what level of Dante's Hell will Cheney reside?

I'm seriously in HATE with this pitiful excuse for a human being.

[lpbk2713]

37. Let there be no further surprise ....

... as to why the rest of the world hates us.

[panzerfaust]

39. His Military experience showed him that

... the concepts were INOP.

But The Other Side better jolly well treat prisioners well. And do not things like make a woman sailor wear a scarf, or not hood and beat the male sailors either, like that Iraninoid did, and did not, with the British Captive Heros - who were set up and abandonded by the incomptence of the Royal Navy.

And who then were going to be rich from selling their stories, and who then were not. The UK is such a great lap-dog partner for us in Bringn' Democracy(TM - or at least purple fingers) - to the Middle East.

Remember: They Hate US for our Freedom(TM)

[bobthedrummer]

41. .

[bamacrat]

42. Yes, honor has always caused people to act in the most humane way.

This is disgusting, anyone who says the Geneva Convention is wrong or whatever is just as bad as the trrrrsts. Right now that is all we have to differentiate us from them.