Thursday, July 26, 2007
Two Reagan Administration Officials Say Bush Can Be Charged with War Crimes (2:24 am)
P.X. Kelley and Robert F. Turner have written an editorial in WaPo titled “War Crimes and the White House; The Dishonor in a Tortured New ‘Interpretation’ of the Geneva Conventions.”
One of us was appointed commandant of the Marine Corps by President Ronald Reagan; the other served as a lawyer in the Reagan White House and has vigorously defended the constitutionality of warrantless National Security Agency wiretaps, presidential signing statements and many other controversial aspects of the war on terrorism. But we cannot in good conscience defend a decision that we believe has compromised our national honor and that may well promote the commission of war crimes by Americans and place at risk the welfare of captured American military forces for generations to come.
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The Geneva Conventions provide important protections to our own military forces when we send them into harm’s way. Our troops deserve those protections, and we betray their interests when we gratuitously “interpret” key provisions of the conventions in a manner likely to undermine their effectiveness. Policymakers should also keep in mind that violations of Common Article 3 are “war crimes” for which everyone involved — potentially up to and including the president of the United States — may be tried in any of the other 193 countries that are parties to the conventions.
posted by Brian Zick
Reader Comments
Ultimatly our loyalty to the president is contingent on his loyalty to the constitution. Through the presidents treason he has squandered all the promise and hopes that america has brought to the world for more then two generations, and even as he still continues to “slant the truth”, for the sake of his administation, he neglects his oath of office, his electorate, the constitution,and our many allies, he makes the world an evermore dangoures place to be, while claiming the exact opposite. We must take a stand and hold him accountable to us (we the people),as it is not acceptable anymore to say he is our president we must stand by him. We must remember Theodore Roosevelt who surmised It is not only patriotic, but also ones duty to speak truth to power.
posted by mathew idicula on 7-26-07 at 3:07 PM
Joey—Your excuse is the behavior of the enemy? I’m sorry, but we have always been better than that. This nation has prided itself on holding a higher moral ground than others. This nation was built to prominence (superpower), not on militarism, but on the fact that we have been seen as a model to follow, not a nation that follows.
What the enemy does is no matter for us to worry about. They will see justice. We must ensure that we maintain our high ground. If we do not, like many empires that came before us, we will fall. It will not be pretty if we do.
posted by Mad Man Moon on 8-6-07 at 1:14 AM
ABSOLUTELY! Bush AND his cronies should be charged, tried and convicted for war crimes. This is the ONLY way our nation can take back it’s dignity. This man is a criminal and should be treated as such. Impeachment would never be enough for this crew of renegade cowboy wanna-be’s. I pray everyday that these criminals be charged, convicted and executed for the horrible crimes they committed in our name.
posted by Amen on 12-22-07 at 3:02 PM
Discussion Closed
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Is being beheaded allowed in the Geneva Convention? Or wearing explosive vests to deliberately kill civilians? If not, someone from Geneva really needs to speak to the crazies in Iraq and Afghanistan. . .
posted by Joey on 7-26-07 at 10:57 AM