Obama must abide by the law and punish the torturers

[Beaverhausen]

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20081207_Obama_must_abide_by_the_law_and_punish_the_torturers.html

Obama must abide by the law and punish the torturers

He can help restore faith in the legal system by undoing the Bush pretense.

Anthony D'Amato
is the Leighton Professor at Northwestern University School of Law

Jordan J. Paust

is the Mike & Teresa Baker Professor at the Law Center of the University of Houston and former captain, U.S. Army JAG Corps

President-elect Barack Obama has a duty to prosecute those reasonably accused of having authorized, committed and abetted war crimes or crimes against humanity during the Bush administration's "program" of "coercive interrogation" and secret detention, which denied protections to detainees under the Geneva Conventions. Extradition to a foreign country is an alternative.

Under the Constitution, the president is expressly and unavoidably bound to faithfully execute the laws, and the Supreme Court has recognized - in several cases since the founding of our government - that such laws include U.S. treaties and international law.

In fact, every relevant federal judicial opinion for 200 years has affirmed that all persons within the executive branch are bound by the laws of war. Moreover, Obama has assured the American people that he will work to restore the rule of law and integrity in our government, which clearly have been among the casualties of the Bush administration's "war" on terror.

The 1949 Geneva Civilian Convention, which is treaty law of the United States, expressly and unavoidably requires that all parties search for perpetrators of breaches of the treaty and bring them "before its own courts" for "effective penal sanctions" or, "if it prefers ... hand such persons over for trial to another High Contracting Party."

The obligation is absolute. The United States must either initiate prosecution or extradite to another state.

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more at the link

[stray cat]

1. Who actually has the legal responsibility to prosecute - congress? F.B.I? Federal prosecuters?

[justinaforjustice]

2. Federal Justice Department Has Duty to Act on War Crimes.

But, the Bush administration has packed the DOJ with Bush apologists, including the Attorney General who says he will not prosecute. It remains to be seen whether Obama's appointee, thought to be Eric Holder, will change that policy and carry out his constitutional duties.

[Meeker Morgan]

3. Dream on. n/t

[RainDog]

4. k&r - this is SO important

in order for us to maintain that we are a democracy, we must have laws that apply to the powerful as well as the poor.