It appears to me, based on the sponsorship of legislation that would
shield the Bush Administration against prosecution of war crimes under
the Geneva Convention begin proposed by Attorney General Alberto R.
Gonzales, that the the Bush Administration established policy it knew to
be illegal in its treatment of prisoners. Below is an except from
today's Washington Post with a link to the entire article, but the
entire article may require registration.
My guess is the Bush Admin will spend the last two years of its term
trying to clean up any incriminating evidence, including Top Secret
Documents, so as to leave a sanitized environment for a new incoming
Admin for 2008. We may never know the full extent of the threat posed
by neo-conservatives against the American Constitution and Bill of
Rights, American freedoms, and the American Way of life.
#-------------------------------------------
Detainee Abuse Charges Feared
Shield Sought From '96 War Crimes Act
By R. Jeffrey Smith
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/r.+jeffrey+smith/>
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 28, 2006; Page A01
An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago
has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops
involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war
crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts.
Senior officials have responded by drafting legislation that would grant
U.S. personnel involved in the terrorism fight new protections against
prosecution for past violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996. That law
criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions governing conduct in
war and threatens the death penalty if U.S.-held detainees die in
custody from abusive treatment.
In light of a recent Supreme Court ruling that the international
Conventions apply to the treatment of detainees in the terrorism fight,
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has spoken privately with
Republican lawmakers about the need for such "protections," according to
someone who heard his remarks last week.
Gonzales told the lawmakers that a shield is needed for actions taken by
U.S. personnel under a 2002 presidential order, which the Supreme Court
declared illegal, and under Justice Department legal opinions that have
been withdrawn under fire, the source said. A spokeswoman for Gonzales,
Tasia Scolinos, declined to comment on Gonzales's remarks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/27/AR2006072701908.html?referrer=email
or
http://tinyurl.com/pkyxv
#---------------------------------------
Regards,
LelandJ
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