{"id":159,"date":"2006-07-28T10:06:51","date_gmt":"2006-07-28T15:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/07\/28\/redefining-war-crimes-out-of-existence\/"},"modified":"2006-07-28T10:27:54","modified_gmt":"2006-07-28T15:27:54","slug":"redefining-war-crimes-out-of-existence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/07\/28\/redefining-war-crimes-out-of-existence\/","title":{"rendered":"Redefining War Crimes out of Existence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post today details<\/a><\/strong> how the Bush administration is desperately scrambling to get Congress to pass a law to retroactively legalize torture.<\/p>\n

OK, this is not exactly what the Post said — they would not be so ill-mannered towards the government.<\/p>\n

But the Supreme Court’s decision last month declaring that the Bush order on enemy combatants was illegal means that the Bush team also did not have the right to torture detainees.\u00a0\u00a0With the War Crimes Act of 1996, Congress effectively incorporated\u00a0the Geneva Convention on treating detainees\u00a0into the U.S. statute book.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the Post notes,<\/p>\n

The law initially criminalized grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions but was amended without a hearing the following year to include violations of Common Article 3, the minimum standard requiring that all detainees be treated
\n“humanely.” The article bars murder, mutilation, cruel treatment, torture and
\n“outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading
\ntreatment.” It applies to any abuse involving U.S. military personnel or “nationals.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Attorney\u00a0General\u00a0Gonzales is sweating that even top government officials (like himself) could face charges if the law is vigorously enforced.<\/p>\n

However, since it would be up to the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute,\u00a0he\u00a0probably has little to fear.\u00a0 The Bush team wants Congress to amend the law to make it clear that it does not apply to high-ranking government officials.<\/p>\n

The torture scandal continues to elucidate the prevailing Washington definition of decency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post today details how the Bush administration is desperately scrambling to get Congress to pass a law to retroactively legalize torture. OK, this is not exactly what the Post said — they would not be so ill-mannered towards the government. 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The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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