Why Bush Really Came Clean About the CIA's Secret Torture Prisons

[laststeamtrain]

Why Bush Really Came Clean About the CIA's Secret Torture Prisons

By MARJORIE COHN

With great fanfare, George W. Bush announced to a group of carefully selected 9/11 families yesterday that he had finally decided to send Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 13 other alleged terrorists to Guantánamo Bay, where they will be tried in military commissions. After nearly 5 years of interrogating these men, why did Bush choose this moment to bring them to "justice"?

Bush said his administration had "largely completed our questioning of the men" and complained that "the Supreme Court's recent decision has impaired our ability to prosecute terrorists through military commissions and has put in question the future of the CIA program."

He was referring to Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in which the high court recently held that Bush's military commissions did not comply with the law. Bush sought to try prisoners in commissions they could not attend with evidence they never see, including hearsay and evidence obtained by coercion.

The Court also determined that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to al Qaeda detainees. That provision of Geneva prohibits "outrages upon personal dignity" and "humiliating and degrading treatment."

Bush called on Congress to define these "vague and undefined" terms in Common Article 3 because "our military and intelligence personnel" involved in capture and interrogation "could now be at risk of prosecution under the War Crimes Act."

Congress enacted the War Crimes Act in 1996. That act defines violations of Geneva's Common Article 3 as war crimes. Those convicted face life imprisonment or even the death penalty if the victim dies.

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http://www.counterpunch.org/cohn09072006.html

[sarcasmo]

1. Kick and Nom. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld all Criminals and all should be

Convicted

[Tellurian]

2. In this particular Bush quote,

"Bush signed the bill, but attached a "signing statement" where he reserved the right to violate the DTA if, as commander-in-chief, he thought it necessary."

In this attached caveat, Bush rises above the judgment of the court. Using his own Executive Power as the final word taking full responsibility for his actions. In essence, absolving Congress, the military, the CiA consequentially, damning himself as solely responsible for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. imo, of course.