Did Administration Construct Legal Foundation Clearing Way for Abuse

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA3OO8JBUD.html

Did Administration Construct Legal Foundation Clearing Way for Abuse Scandal?

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Iraq prisoner abuse scandal shifted on Sunday to the question of whether the Bush administration set up a legal foundation that opened the door for the mistreatment.

Within months of the Sept. 11 attacks, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales reportedly wrote President Bush a memo about the terrorism fight and prisoners' rights under the Geneva Conventions.

"In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions," Newsweek magazine reported. Secretary of State Colin Powell "hit the roof" when he read the memo, according to the account.

The White House did not immediately comment Sunday.

more

[Just Me]

1. More like an argument without legal foundation. ARGH! n/t

[NNN0LHI]

2. I bet Gonzales is another Chickenhawk n/t

[Tellurian]

3. Yes, this is the catalyst of absurd thinking that has propelled Rumy

into the situation he is sitting in now..

ABOVE THE LAW!

"The roots of the scandal lay in a decision approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to expand a classified operation for aggressive interrogations to Iraqi prisoners, a program that had been focused on the hunt for al-Qaida, The New Yorker magazine reported."

and this is the thinking that has hobbled them:

in their own words:

Within months of the Sept. 11 attacks, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales reportedly wrote President Bush a memo about the terrorism fight and prisoners' rights under the Geneva Conventions.

"In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."

Alberto Gonzales in an effort to curry favor with Bush has placed himelf on the highest list of traitors to the US of America in the history of the world.

[loftycity]

6. Gonzales is straight out of Orwell--

Tellrian--traitor is right.
He is a nazi. Spotted him from the beginning and he is right up there with Rove.

[Tellurian]

11. Yes, Gonzales is a soulless opportunist for sale to the highest bidder. nt

[Chicago Democrat]

4. DUH, No Duh

[remfan]

5. A question of WHETHER?

There's a QUESTION of whether?

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[Gothmog]

7. Gonzales can forget about being first hispanic SC Justice

Bush wants to put Gonzales on the SC as the first hispanic supreme court justice. I think that Gonzales can forget about this now.

[aquart]

8. I begin to suspect Alberto is not a good man.

Just a suspicion.

[Democat]

9. This guy was one of Bush's top Supreme Court picks - a torture supporter!

What the fuck.

It's becoming more and more likely that Bush was involved in approving the torture.

Can you imagine if Clinton was in Bush's place?

Democratic politicians are probably too weak to get the job done - Bush needs to go down hard over this.

[Terran]

10. The colossal ego of this podunk Texas lawyer

deciding on his own that the Geneva Convention no longer applies because of a terrorist attack. That's real good lawyering there, son, real smart.

[indepat]

12. If when you went to bed it had not snowed in weeks and when you got up

the next morning there were twelve inches of snow on the ground, couldn't you rightfully conclude it had snowed during the night?

[bemildred]

13. Yeah, I expect the Constitution is "quaint" too. nt

[struggle4progress]

14. "We need to take this as far up as it goes," said McCain.

It sounds like a number of people are wondering what George knew and when he knew it!

[calimary]

18. Yeah. Right. McCain AND Biden danced all around that one.

SURE they wanna "take this as far up as it goes."

My ass.

I would like JUST ONE of these pseudo journalists to ask them the following question:

Okay, Mr. Senator, you've said repeatedly now that you think we need to take this as far up as it goes. WHAT IF it goes straight to rumsfeld? What if it goes higher? Are you REALLY willing to take this as far up as it goes, if you suspect it really does go all the way to the top? (Or areya gonna choke? - well, maybe I wouldn't get that combative. For now, anyway...)

I'd just like to hear ONE reporter or talk show moderator or SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE, broach that question. DO THEY REALLY want to, or see the need to, take this as far up as it goes?

While watching a replay of "Meet the Press" tonight, I was amazed at how fawning and how delicate and diplomatic they were trying to be. See how they tiptoe! See how they sidestep! See how they avoid any finger-pointing at all costs! See how they practically break their necks to avoid even hinting at the suspicion that we have a criminal for a president. My Dear God, they're fearful! How high up is high up? Maybe to some captain or major somewhere? DAMN!!! Every day I think I couldn't be more ashamed of my former profession. Every day, I'm proven wrong. AGAIN.

[dArKeR]

15. Did White House Blaze Abuse Path? - CBS

The Iraq prisoner abuse scandal shifted Sunday to the question of whether the Bush administration set up a legal foundation that opened the door for the mistreatment.

Within months of the Sept. 11 attacks, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales reportedly wrote President Bush a memo about the terrorism fight and prisoners' rights under the Geneva Conventions.

"In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions," Gonzales wrote, according to the report in Newsweek magazine. Secretary of State Colin Powell "hit the roof" when he read the memo, according to the account.

The White House did not immediately comment Sunday.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/30/iraq/main614905.shtml

The Monica Affair was impeachable but Bush's Butcher Affair is NOT?

[dArKeR]

16. White House memo shifts abuse inquiry’s focus - MSGOP

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4855930/

[neverforget]

17. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the neo-con nazi's should

be fitted for their orange jump suits for prison.

[Just Me]

22. and share a cell with yellow walls, white chairs and orange prison garb

,...ugh!!!

:cry:

[calimary]

19. Okay, Mr. McCain, Mr. Biden, you guys told Tim Russert this morning

that we need to take this as far up as it leads. Has it occurred to you that this leads right into the White House?


Sigh...

Can we impeach NOW?

[struggle4progress]

20. kick

:kick:

[Spazito]

21. Found this VERY interesting section on presidential findings...

on Findlaw and it lays out the President's responsibility to Congress and the Intelligence Committees. It is fascinating reading!

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/50/chapters/15/subchapters/iii/sections/section_413b.html

[diatribe]

23. International Criminal Court and The Gonzalez Memo

Hello all.

U.S. Opposes joining the Internation Criminal Court in 2002:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&e=8&u=/nm/20040514/wl_nm/iraq_abuse_court_dc

White House "Gonzalez Memo" from "within months of 9/11" which says:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4855930/

"“In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva’s strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions,” Newsweek reports in its May 24 issue, quoting an excerpt from the Gonzales memo."
________________________________________

So we have secret memos from late 2001 saying that the "Geneva Conventions limitations are obsolete" and refusal in 2002 to join the International Criminal Court which is to deal with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Coincidence?

[Just Me]

24. Hi Ya' "diatribe"!!!

:hi:

Welcome to DU!!!

:hi:

Thanks for the info. Great name *smile*.

:kick: