Sunday, August 13, 2006
Bush Admin RhetIraq: Retroactive Protection from War Crimes?
Source: Associated Press via Findlaw
Quotes: From article titled, "Proposed War Crimes Act protection for Bush administration would apply retroactively"
The Bush administration drafted amendments to the War Crimes Act that would protect policymakers retroactively from possible criminal charges for authorizing humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees, according to lawyers who have seen the proposal.
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
The White House, without elaboration, said in a statement that the bill "will apply to any conduct by any U.S. personnel, whether committed before or after the law is enacted."
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 the Labor Day holiday in September.
"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.
Fidell said the initiative is "not just protection of political appointees, but also CIA personnel who led interrogations."
Interrogation practices "follow from policies that were formed at the highest levels of the administration," said a fourth attorney, Scott Horton, who has followed detainee issues closely. "The administration is trying to insulate policymakers under the War Crimes Act."
Senator Lindsey Graham, a former military lawyer, said Congress "is aware of the dilemma we face, how to make sure the CIA and others are not unfairly prosecuted."
He said that at the same time, however, that Congress "will not allow political appointees to waive the law."
Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's executive director, said that "President Bush is looking to limit the War Crimes Act through legislation" now that the Supreme Court has embraced Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. In June, the court ruled that Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates Common Article 3.
Quotes: From article titled, "Proposed War Crimes Act protection for Bush administration would apply retroactively"
The Bush administration drafted amendments to the War Crimes Act that would protect policymakers retroactively from possible criminal charges for authorizing humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees, according to lawyers who have seen the proposal.
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
The White House, without elaboration, said in a statement that the bill "will apply to any conduct by any U.S. personnel, whether committed before or after the law is enacted."
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 the Labor Day holiday in September.
"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.
Fidell said the initiative is "not just protection of political appointees, but also CIA personnel who led interrogations."
Interrogation practices "follow from policies that were formed at the highest levels of the administration," said a fourth attorney, Scott Horton, who has followed detainee issues closely. "The administration is trying to insulate policymakers under the War Crimes Act."
Senator Lindsey Graham, a former military lawyer, said Congress "is aware of the dilemma we face, how to make sure the CIA and others are not unfairly prosecuted."
He said that at the same time, however, that Congress "will not allow political appointees to waive the law."
Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's executive director, said that "President Bush is looking to limit the War Crimes Act through legislation" now that the Supreme Court has embraced Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. In June, the court ruled that Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates Common Article 3.
