Retroactive War Crime Protection Proposed - Don't get distracted, DU!

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/08/09/ap2939284.html

The Bush administration drafted amendments to the War Crimes Act that would retroactively protect policymakers from possible criminal charges for authorizing any humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees, according to lawyers who have seen the proposal.

The move by the administration is the latest effort to deal with treatment of those taken into custody in the war on terror.

At issue are interrogations carried out by the CIA, and the degree to which harsh tactics such as water-boarding were authorized by administration officials. A separate law, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, applies to the military.

The Washington Post first reported on the War Crimes Act amendments Wednesday.

<snip>

Much more here
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/08/09/ap2939284.html

I don't want to say that but I believe that.

One section of the draft would outlaw torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, but it does not contain prohibitions from Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions against "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment."A copy of the section of the draft was obtained by The Associated Press.

Another section would apply the legislation retroactively, according to two lawyers who have seen the contents of the section and who spoke on condition of anonymity because their sources did not authorize them to release the information.

One of the two attorneys said that the draft is in the revision stage but that the administration seems intent on pushing forward the draft's major points in Congress after Labor Day.

"I think what this bill can do is in effect immunize past crimes. That's why it's so dangerous," said a third attorney, Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice.

emphasis added

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1872060>

:thumbsup:

It is a distraction.

this is very important
Bush is trying to change the law so they can not be tried for the crimes they have committed. I think the poster meant don't lose track of this it is important

that makes it a capital offense for a president to do what Bushler is doing right now.

the terrorists involved in this plot couldn't be interrogated with torture because of laws that hamper our getting information.

And, again on MSNBC their terrorism expert said Great Britain was able to expose this plot because they are "FREE to Wiretap" and follow people around with taps while the US hampers those efforts.

Buchanan was tying his statements to "soft on terror Dems" and the Terrorism Analyst was pushing for us to have more wiretapping that would "follow people around."

I hate these rat bastards, I truly do.

They are killing everything that is good about the United States.

PB

:kick: