War Crimes Act of 1996, ... Bush, Rumsfeld etc...Death Penalty?

[G_j]

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0629-28.htm

Published on Wednesday, June 28, 2005 by The Nation
Torture and Accountability
by Elizabeth Holtzman

from the July 18, 2005 issue of The Nation

Although the terrible revelations of torture at Abu Ghraib hit the front pages in April 2004, no senior officials in the US military or the Bush Administration have yet been held accountable. The scandal has shamed and outraged many Americans, in addition to creating a greater threat of terrorism against the United States. But it has prompted no investigative commission (in the manner of the 9/11 commission) with a mandate to find the whole truth, or full-scale bipartisan Congressional hearings, as occurred during Watergate. Indeed, it is as though the Watergate investigations ended with the prosecution of only the burglars, which is what the cover-up was designed to insure, instead of reaching into the highest levels of government, which is what ultimately happened.

In just the latest sign of the current Administration's nose-thumbing at accountability for higher-ups, Lieut. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander in Iraq when the Abu Ghraib abuses occurred, is reportedly under consideration for promotion.

Nonetheless, higher-ups can be held to account. Difficult as it may be to achieve, our institutions of government can be pressured to do the right thing. If the public and the media insist on thorough investigations and appropriate punishments for those implicated--all the way up the chain of command--they can prevail.


..MORE..

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/30/1333214

JUAN GONZALEZ: This 1996 law is not very well known.

ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN: No. It's totally obscure. I only found out about it because Alberto Gonzales was worried about prosecutions of high level officials under it.

JUAN GONZALEZ: What brought this law about? In other words, was Congress reacting to --

ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN: What happened was in the 1990s, during the, I guess it was the Clinton administration at that time, Congress decided that it wanted to adopt laws to take it into full compliance with its obligations under an international torture statute and an international torture treaty and the Geneva Conventions. And so, it passed two laws. One is a statute making it a U.S. crime to engage in torture. It was passed two years before the 1996 law, and then you have the War Crimes Act of 1996.

And basically, what it does, it makes grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions a federal crime. Got it? Just like kidnapping or interstate burglary or child pornography, it is a federal crime. And the other thing, that's interesting is that it carries the death penalty. If death results from torture or inhuman treatment, then there is a death penalty, and that means there's no statute of limitations. That means that if any high level official violates the War Crimes Act, and somebody died, they can be prosecuted. They are subject to prosecution for the rest of their lives.
..MORE..

[54anickel]

1. I'll give it a K & R. See other recs but no kicks.

[EvangelOphileBlican]

2. Hello... Paraguay. nt

[Solly Mack]

3. But the Military Commissions Act of 2006 retroactively granted immunity

going back to 1997.

Section 8 of S. 3930 provides a “Get Out of Jail Free” card to government officials who authorized or ordered illegal acts of torture and abuse--and then backdates the card to nine years ago. Subsection 8(b) of S. 3930 revamps the War Crimes Act to replace the prohibition on all breaches of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions with a less inclusive list of prohibited acts. Paragraph 8(b)(2) of the bill makes the revisions to the War Crimes Act retroactive to 1997, and also makes the prohibition on “serious and non-transitory mental harm (which need not be prolonged)” inapplicable entirely until the date of enactment of S. 3930.


http://www.aclu.org/natsec/gen/26861leg20060925.html


Unless the 110th Congress overturns the MCA of 2006 - Bush isn't going to be charged under US Code.

Also, the MCA 2006 allows Bush to determine what is and isn't acceptable/legal as it allows Bush to interpret Common Article 3 as he sees fit.

S. 3930 not only lacks any explicit prohibition against the horrific abuse inflicted on persons by the federal government during the past four and one-half years, but it provides the President with explicit authority to define Common Article 3 violations and revamps the War Crimes Act without providing any specific guidelines. As a result, there is no clear bar to the Bush Administration once again authorizing the federal government to engage in illegal acts such as waterboarding, death threats, induced hypothermia, use of dogs, and stress positions.

Paragraph 8(a)(3) of S. 3930 provides that “the President has the authority for the United States to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions,” while subsection 7(a) provides that the Geneva Conventions may not be invoked in any habeas or civil action “as a source of rights in any court of the United States.” As a result of these two provisions, the President will have unparalleled and unilateral authority to determine which interrogation tactics he will authorize.

[G_j]

4. “Get Out of Jail Free” ..how sad

I'm against the dp, but believe in justice
and that can only happen under just and fair conditions of course

[Solly Mack]

5. I agree. Perversion of law yields perversion of justice

Our system is very very sick

[originalpckelly]

8. If a court were to strike this down as unconstitutional...

then any immunity gained would no longer exist, because it would be unconstitutional immunity. However, on the other hand if Congress passes another law, it cannot make something once legal, illegal.

[Vincardog]

6. Which is why the new Congress has to revoke the Military Commissions Act of 2006

The constitution is very specific on when we can revoke habeas. Because it is convenient for lil george is not on the list.

[Solly Mack]

7. I agree...they should and they need to

It's a "must do" on the list of things that need to be done

[Vincardog]

10. I think first is paper ballots and random audits. Second is undo the damage to

our constitutional rights done by all the fascist laws.
Third is universal health care.
Forth is raising the minimum wage and making it a living wage with automatic raises.
Fifth is renegotiating all the flat earth faux free trade deals making them fair to labor and respect the environment.
Sixth is withdrawing the corporate give aways and welfare and using the proceeds to fund well paying jobs in the renewable energy field and affordable public transportation.
...
one hundredth is to follow the will of the people after the investigations have revealed all of the lies corruption and cronyism that the public demands all the neoConvicts be impeached convicted and removed from government forever. Then they can be indicted convicted and imprisoned.

[originalpckelly]

9. That's actually the complete opposite of what they should do.

This is not about Habeas Corpus, that's the ability of a person to have appeals.

That's wrong, and should be reversed.


However, this immunity cannot be taken away by Congress, once it has been granted, doing so would be an "ex post facto" law.

What must happen is for the Congress to challenge this in a court, and have the specific section about immunity struck down as unconstitutional. That way any of the immunity they gained, will be null and void.

[G_j]

11. good points

makes sense I suppose

[Acadia Blue]

12. Bush knew he was commiting crimes from the beginning.

[Solly Mack]

14. Yes he did

He knew it indeed

[bobthedrummer]

13. kick

[MN ChimpH8R]

15. Impeach, then to the Hague

and then to the gallows for the lot. The only thing I support the death penalty for is war crimes - with a real, Nuremberg-style court - not the kangaroo court Chimpy set up for Saddam. For pete's sake, Saddam would have been convicted just as completely by a real court, why stage a charade to get the same result?

Oh, I forgot - because Turdboy Georgie is a criminal psycho