Bush Confronts an Outraged World

[marmar]

from Consortium News:




One of the really progressive acts that followed the end of World War II was the establishment of the principle of universal jurisdiction (UJ), a legal process that allows states that are signatories to various international treaties and conventions (such as the Geneva conventions) to prosecute alleged violators of these treaties, even when these violations are committed outside the country’s usual jurisdiction.

UJ is particularly necessary if it can be demonstrated that the home government of the accused individuals has no intention of bringing them to trial for the alleged offenses.

The assumption behind this principle is that the crime committed is so egregious as to be seen as a crime against humanity at large. In the wake of the Nazi Holocaust and other such crimes against humanity, UJ was accepted as a necessary and positive legal step by almost all Western nations.

.....(snip).....

Unfortunately, there is a working assumption in the United States that presidents can not only break the law at will, but also protect former ones who have done so. Gerald Ford protected Richard Nixon for plain old criminal breaking and entering, almost everyone in the government shied away from punishing Ronald Reagan for violating the Constitution and illegally arming gangsters who, in his myopic old age, he mistook for freedom fighters. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/021411a.html

[Angry Dragon]

1. bush should be in jail

he has admitted that he participated in torture
and our elected officials allow a torturer run around free
all the former military personal in congress should
be ashamed of themselves

[Lasher]

2. Astonishing, that nobody in the US wants to prosecute a president who so clearly lied us into war.

Our government is corrupt.

[AndyTiedye]

3. What Would be the Point?

The Supreme Court would let them off anyway.

[rurallib]

4. not nobody - nobody that has the power to do so

there are millions of us who would love to see him publicly on trial.

[MasonJar]

5. I just read the whole article. It is telling. We must be alert to assure that

leaders like Obama do not do away with the humanitarian right of nations to prosecute crimes which occurred outside their borders. The author indicates that such a policy change is being considered by developed nations.

[Kurovski]

6. K&R.

I like this here part...

"So, as we all celebrate the power of Egypt’s organized masses to bring down a dictator, and hope that example will spread far and wide, let us not forget our own homegrown monsters. "

[Enthusiast]

7. Bush's excuse is the same one used by the Nazis.

No difference. Torture is torture, there is no excuse.