Paul Craig Roberts is former Asst. Sec. of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration, a staunch supporter of Ronald Reagan and a harsh critic of GW Bush. He analyzes ( http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts169.html ) the president???s recent move to have the ???Justice (sic) Department???draft changes to the War Crimes Act and to US treaty obligations under the Geneva Conventions??? to retroactively insulate the Bush administration from charges of war crimes. Here are some selected passages:
??????Benjamin Ferenccz, a chief prosecutor of Nazi war crimes at Nuremberg, recently said that President Bush should be tried as a war criminal side by side with Saddam Hussein for starting aggressive wars, Hussein for his 1990 invasion of Kuwait and Bush for his 2003 invasion of Iraq.???
??????The US Supreme Court also exposed Bush to war crime charges under both the US War Crimes Act of 1996 and the Geneva Conventions when the Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld against the Bush administration???s military tribunals and inhumane treatment of detainees.???
???Under the US Constitution and US legal tradition, retroactive law is impermissible. What do Americans think of their President???s attempts to immunize himself, his government, CIA operatives, military personnel and civilian contractors from war crimes????
Well, what do you think?
I see it this way. Bush???s attempt to change the law to protect himself is no different in spirit (covering one???s unlawful ass) than Richard Nixon???s firing of Archibald Cox???the special government prosecutor assigned to investigate Nixon???s alleged crimes.
Systemic incompetence catalyzes corruption and illegality. Hello Bush administration.
Remember, elections are around the corner.
??????Benjamin Ferenccz, a chief prosecutor of Nazi war crimes at Nuremberg, recently said that President Bush should be tried as a war criminal side by side with Saddam Hussein for starting aggressive wars, Hussein for his 1990 invasion of Kuwait and Bush for his 2003 invasion of Iraq.???
??????The US Supreme Court also exposed Bush to war crime charges under both the US War Crimes Act of 1996 and the Geneva Conventions when the Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld against the Bush administration???s military tribunals and inhumane treatment of detainees.???
???Under the US Constitution and US legal tradition, retroactive law is impermissible. What do Americans think of their President???s attempts to immunize himself, his government, CIA operatives, military personnel and civilian contractors from war crimes????
Well, what do you think?
I see it this way. Bush???s attempt to change the law to protect himself is no different in spirit (covering one???s unlawful ass) than Richard Nixon???s firing of Archibald Cox???the special government prosecutor assigned to investigate Nixon???s alleged crimes.
Systemic incompetence catalyzes corruption and illegality. Hello Bush administration.
Remember, elections are around the corner.