An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts.
But don't worry:
Senior officials have responded by drafting legislation that would grant U.S. personnel involved in the terrorism fight new protections against prosecution for past violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996. That law criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions governing conduct in war and threatens the death penalty if U.S.-held detainees die in custody from abusive treatment.
Isn't that nice? So, they're changing the law to make what they did un-illegal!
DAMN, THOSE REPUBLICANS ARE SMART!
Too bad a UN human rights body has already issued a report nailing the USG to the wall for it's behavior. Check out a clip from [http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004365082|a July 28, 2006 article] at AllHeadlineNews.Com that reports:
A UN human rights body on Friday called on the U.S. to close any "secret detention" facilities it was operating. In a 12-page report, the Committee said that the secret jails authorized by the U.S. were against the international law and that the International Committee of the Red Cross must be given access to prisoners held in the war on terrorism.
The report published Friday condemned the Bush administration for human right abuses saying that the United States appeared to have been detaining people "secretly and in secret places for months and years".
"The state party should immediately abolish all secret detention," it said.
The report also called on the U.S. stop transferring prisoners to countries where there is a risk they will be tortured and "acknowledge the applicability'' of international law for individuals.
Those damn hippies at the UN! Don't worry, though, the article goes on:
In response to the report, the U.S. State Department said that it was "disappointed'' with the findings of the report and the committee "loses perspective and credibility'' by spending more time criticizing the U.S. than "countries with no civil and political rights'' such as North Korea.
WHEW! That was close! The fact that those countries don't stand for the same principles we do shouldn't make a difference, either, since ... DAMN that Ann Coulter has nice legs!
In the end, the USG makes the illegal legal again (not bringing up how the immoral is still immoral) and then tells critics while pointing to NoKo and China, "I know I am but what are they?"
Damn, Republicans can't even follow laws they, themselves passed! Nor can they accept a little constructive criticism from the UN. It's like they just don't want to get along with the rest of the world--or don't care to.
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