The Bush Administration appears intent to go out on a low note. The United States has asked for as many as 15,000 Iraqi prisoners to be held without charge in Iraq even though the authority to hold the prisoners expired at the beginning of the New Year. I discussed the plan as well as the investigation of war crimes on Rachel Maddow in this segment.
The United States has been holding prisoners without charge under the authority of a U.N. Security Council resolution which expired on December 31. Under an international agreement taking effect on January 1st, the Bush Administration had agreed that all of its prisoners would be transfered to Iraqi custody for criminal charges or or freed “in a safe and orderly manner.”
U.S. military spokesman Major Neal Fisher now says that the Bush Administration wants the prisoners held without charge in violation of both the pact and Iraqi law. It appears that the Administration is seeking to shape its Iraqi government in its own image — asserting absolute
authority to disregard both international and domestic laws.
For the full story, click here.
Torture or Cruel Treatment… Professor Turley, you speak with clarity and purpose on the need to investigate the actions of the Bush Administrations. I agree but believe there can be a short circuit to the Vice President’s Office. “W” is simply too detached to have cared and would not have had either the imagination or the will power to have made Iraq happen or to have enforced “verschaerfte Vernehmung” where as Cheney had purpose, opportunity, and commitment. The bad apples of Abu Ghraib were innocent in comparison to those who set the “tone at the top”.
# mespo727272 1, January 10, 2009 at 12:28 am
‘We should all be on this bandwagon.’
# 25
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JT’s passion is no surprise to me. At one time we were the band circling the Constitutional wagon. It’s the reason I continue to show up here, even though the blog has lost focus since DW’s passing.
I still miss him very much.
http://jonathanturley.org/2008/01/27/commencement-address-for-the-john
That is good news Jill. Now let’s hope that a thorough investigation is done.
This is interesting and heartening: (from Alternet)
“A whopping 70,000 questions poured into Change.gov over the past week, in response to the Obama transition team’s call for citizen queries to the President-Elect. After votes from about 100,000 people, the top ranked question asks Obama whether he will appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of torture and illegal surveillance by the U.S. government.”
Мог бы долго с вами спорить на эту тему 🙂