DamSpot’s World

October 28, 2005

The War Crimes Act of 1996, a federal statute set forth at 18 U.S.C. § 2441, makes it a federal crime for any U.S. national, whether military or civilian, to violate the Geneva Convention by engaging in murder, torture, or inhuman treatment.

The statute applies not only to those who carry out the acts, but also to those who ORDER IT, know about it, or fail to take steps to stop it. The statute applies to everyone, no matter how high and mighty.

18 U.S.C. § 2441 has no statute of limitations, which means that a war crimes complaint can be filed at any time.

The penalty may be life imprisonment or — if a single prisoner dies due to torture — death. Given that there are numerous, documented cases of prisoners being tortured to death by U.S. soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan, that means that the death penalty would be appropriate for anyone found guilty of carrying out, ordering, or sanctioning such conduct.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The general in charge of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq stated this week that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other top administration officials ORDERED that inhuman treatment and torture be conducted as part of a deliberate strategy.

It has also recently come out that, even after the torture at Abu Ghraib hit the news, torture still continues at that prison and, indeed, the U.S. is still torturing people worldwide. Even to the casual observer, it is obvious that the administration has no plans to stop, but has instead been working tirelessly to make it easier to carry out torture in the future.

Let’s recap. We now know that torture in Iraq was ordered by top officials, and that torture is continuing, notwithstanding the administration’s claims that it was only “a couple of bad apples” that were responsible for Abu Ghraib. Making a potential prosecutor’s job easier, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wrote a memo in January 2002 to President Bush saying that America should opt out of the Geneva Convention because top officials have to worry about prosecutions under 18 U.S.C. § 2441. By attempting to sidestep the Geneva Convention, Gonzales created a document trail that can be used to prove that top administration officials knowingly created a policy of torturing prisoners, and that such a policy could reasonably have been expected to result in the death of some prisoners.

The U.S. did opt out of the Geneva Convention for the Afghanistan war, but we never opted out of the Geneva Convention for Iraq. Indeed, President Bush has repeatedly stated that Geneva applies in Iraq (although he has since claimed that foreign fighters captured in Iraq are not covered). Thus, there would be very little room for fancy footwork by defense lawyers in a prosecution against top officials concerning torture in Iraq.

The Abu Ghraib general’s recent statements about torture coming from the top is an important piece of evidence for convicting Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, and a host of other top administration officials for violation of the War Crimes Act of 1996. Upon conviction, they could be sentenced to life in prison, or even death.

Additionally, violation of the war crimes act almost certainly constitutes a “high crime or misdemeanor” which would allow impeachment of such officials.

Well, Harriet Miers has withdrawn from the Supreme Court nomination. Looks like Carl Rove is going down…..maybe Cheney too. And, even Tom Delay has admitted that he screwed up.

So. Where’s all the celebration? Where’s all the fiery, Democratic speeches? Where’s ‘ol Yee Ha, from the Midwest, and his screaming enthusiasm?

Oh Wait. Here’s a response.

John Kerry has stepped up to the plate! And, as he walks up to the podium, we all hold our breathe in vapid anticipation as we think he’ll take back the party.

He clears his throat, and say’s;
“I think the government should allow 20,000 soldiers to come home for Christmas, from Iraq.”

By Golly. After that news’s, we can all sleep better, close down Air America Radio, and go back to enjoying our tax breaks, in the land of the free, and the home, of the AWOL.

Last Wish

The old priest lay dying in the hospital. For years he had faithfully served the people of the nation’s capital. He motioned for one of his aides to come near.

“Yes father” said the aide.

“I would really like to see President Bush and Congressman DeLay before I die” whispered the priest.

“I’ll see what I can do, father” replied the aide.

The aide sent the request to the White House and waited for a response. Soon the word arrived. The president and congressman would be delighted to visit the priest. As they went to the hospital, Congressman Delay commented to the president “I don’t know why the old priest wants to see us, but it will certainly help our images after the number the Democrats have done on us.” The president couldn’t help but agree.

When they arrived at the priest’s room, the priest took President Bush’s hand in his right hand and Congressman DeLay’s hand in his left. There was silence and a look of serenity on the old priest’s face.

Finally Congressman DeLay spoke “Father, of all the people you could have chosen, why did you choose us to be with you as you near the end?”

The old priest slowly replied “I have always tried to pattern my life after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

“Amen” said President Bush

“Amen” said Congressman DeLay

The old priest continued…”He died between two thieves. I would like to do the same.”

Just a reminder to everyone who are beginning to celebrate the possibility of Bush & Company being indicted for anything.

We are still paying a ridiculous price for fuel, both auto and heating.
We are still not pulling out of Iraq. 2000 Dead and going strong.
John Kerry still thinks he’ll run in 2008. And, Democrats want him to.
Radioactive material is still going to be stored near Las Vegas.
Even in jail, Cheney will make more money than you ever will.
Despite 28 hurricanes, they’ll still rebuild the South, in the same place.
Somewhere is that ‘Zack’ fellow still running around with Anthrax.
The majority of Americans still believe Arabs caused 9/11.
The majority of Americans still believe Israel is our friend.
And….the majority of Americans still think Hitler was bad. But, he really was elected.

`The Greatest Strategic Disaster
in U.S. History’

by Michele Steinberg

Eyewitness reports from U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq, as well as from exiled Iraqis who have just visited Baghdad after many years, establish, without question, that the United States must immediately initiate the process to leave Iraq now—while such an exit is still possible. The only question remaining, one retired Special Forces officer told this news service, is whether the United States can “walk out of Iraq,” or whether it has to “fight its way out.” The U.S. occupation has destroyed the nation of Iraq, and has so botched the drafting of a so-called “constitution,” that one retired Army officer and specialist on Iraq, told EIR, that the United States had better hope that the constitution is voted down, so that there is another chance to draft a new one. The present constitution is so divisive, and punishing toward the Sunnis, that the result will be civil war. These officers are only two of a number of high-ranking officers, both British and American, who say the Iraq War has not only become a quagmire, but that the Bush Administration has already lost the war.

(more…)

Civics Student…or Enemy of America?
By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive
Posted on October 7, 2005, Printed on October 8, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/story/26503/
Selina Jarvis is the chair of the social studies department at Currituck County High School in North Carolina, and she is not used to having the Secret Service question her or one of her students.
But that’s what happened on September 20.
Jarvis had assigned her senior civics and economics class “to take photographs to illustrate their rights in the Bill of Rights,” she says. One student “had taken a photo of George Bush out of a magazine and tacked the picture to a wall with a red thumb tack through his head. Then he made a thumb’s-down sign with his own hand next to the President’s picture, and he had a photo taken of that, and he pasted it on a poster.”
According to Jarvis, the student, who remains anonymous, was just doing his assignment, illustrating the right to dissent. But over at the Kitty Hawk Wal-Mart, where the student took his film to be developed, this right is evidently suspect.
An employee in that Wal-Mart photo department called the Kitty Hawk police on the student. And the Kitty Hawk police turned the matter over to the Secret Service. On Tuesday, September 20, the Secret Service came to Currituck High.
“At 1:35, the student came to me and told me that the Secret Service had taken his poster,” Jarvis says. “I didn’t believe him at first. But they had come into my room when I wasn’t there and had taken his poster, which was in a stack with all the others.”
She says the student was upset. “He was nervous, he was scared, and his parents were out of town on business,” says Jarvis. She, too, had to talk to the Secret Service.
“Halfway through my afternoon class, the assistant principal got me out of class and took me to the office conference room,” she says. “Two men from the Secret Service were there. They asked me what I knew about the student. I told them he was a great kid, that he was in the homecoming court, and that he’d never been in any trouble.”
Then they got down to his poster.
“They asked me, didn’t I think that it was suspicious,” she recalls. “I said no, it was a Bill of Rights project!”
At the end of the meeting, they told her the incident “would be interpreted by the U.S. attorney, who would decide whether the student could be indicted,” she says.
The student was not indicted, and the Secret Service did not pursue the case further.
“I blame Wal-Mart more than anybody,” she says. “I was really disgusted with them. But everyone was using poor judgment, from Wal-Mart up to the Secret Service.”
When contacted, an employee in the photo department at the Wal-Mart in Kitty Hawk said, “You have to call either the home office or the authorities to get any information about that.”
Jacquie Young, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart at company headquarters, did not provide comment within a 24-hour period.
Sharon Davenport of the Kitty Hawk Police Department said, “We just handed it over” to the Secret Service. “No investigative report was filed.” Jonathan Scherry, spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington, D.C., said, “We certainly respect artistic freedom, but we also have the responsibility to look into incidents when necessary. In this case, it was brought to our attention from a private citizen, a photo lab employee.”
Jarvis uses one word to describe the whole incident: “ridiculous.”
Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive.
© 2005 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/26503/