9/17/2006

Will Bush Ever Be Impeached for War Crimes?

by Ian Mosley

Everyone who is heartily sick and tired of George W. Bush and his little Zionist neocon friends, from left-liberals to true conservatives to just plain decent people of all stripes, must have occasionally entertained themselves with dreams of Bush somehow being brought to book for his horrible administration, in some kind of trial for war crimes or crimes against humanity. It probably won’t happen, but it looks like Bush may be a bit more worried about it than most people might think.

According to an article in Salon Magazine, Bush has introduced legislation establishing military tribunals to try suspected Muslims. There are a few interesting clauses in the fine print: “The bill does much more than establish tribunals, and…its true impact is not fully appreciated. Among other things, the White House is seeking to ensure that the Geneva Conventions are no longer an enforceable standard for the United States in the conduct of war.”

Bush’s bill in effect puts the finishing touches on the Federal government’s post-9/11 practice of legalizing torture. According to Salon it “would allow CIA interrogators in a special program to employ what Bush has called ‘tough’ interrogation techniques that would otherwise contravene the Geneva Conventions.” Excuse me, but it’s called TORTURE, and I have noticed that even lefty-libs at places like Salon seem to have an incredible reluctance to use the word. I believe the actual technique is something called the Dershowitz Protocols, which were originally formulated by Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz. (Anyone care to guess Dershowitz’s “ethnic heritage?”)

Salon further reports that “…A group of retired military officers is readying a letter to the president that articulates serious objections to Bush’s proposal. …The former military attorneys claim that the legislation would condone abusive interrogations of the sort that were prohibited by the Supreme Court’s recent Hamdan decision, and largely gut the War Crimes Act of 1996, a law that gives U.S. courts the authority to convict Americans (including politicians) for Geneva Conventions violations.”

Now…just who precisely might be worried about facing some kind of trial for Geneva Conventions violations in the future? Of course, if the Geneva Conventions are no longer recognized by the United States as legally enforceable statutes in US Courts, then obviously no one can be charged with violating them, right? The 1996 War Crimes Act holds politicians accountable for torture and these politicians could face the death penalty if a prisoner were tortured to death (which has happened a number of times including one Iraqi general).

This change might also get the military off the hook for some embarrassing war crimes committed by our soldiers. Including characters like former PFC Steven Green, who with a group of five or six buddies stalked, home-invaded, raped and murdered a teenaged Iraqi girl, as well as murdering her entire family. My understanding of this is that because Green’s crimes were committed in a foreign land while serving in the military in a combat zone, Green could walk out of the courtroom Scot free because his acts were not committed within any applicable jurisdiction except the Army, and since Geneva Convention violations are no longer legally enforceable even the Army might not want to deal with him.

But it’s pretty clear that this little bit of fine print Bush is sneaking through Congress isn’t meant to protect people like Green. If Bush cared at all about his soldiers, he wouldn’t have sent them out there to die in the first place. This is meant to cover the derriere of one George W. Bush and his power-mad gang of deranged Zionist neocons.

Perhaps the most curious thing about all this is why would George be worried at all? His dad launched an unjustified war against Iraq and Panama. Bill Clinton launched an unjustified war on Serbia so that Albanian drug lords could operate more freely in Europe. I suppose the widespread torture is the new twist, which causes a tiny pang of fear in Bush’s tiny mind. Perhaps Americans will get tired of being called barbarians and thugs by the remaining civilized nations. Perhaps a war crimes trial of Bush will be seen as a way of purging this evil from America’s soul.

If the Democrats gain control of Congress in November and thereby get subpoena power, they could put a very dark cloud over the last two years of Bush’s presidency. They could begin serious, real investigations of the Iraq War, of Abu Ghraib prison and of all the dirt from the previous six years. Throwing a spotlight on every sordid action in every secret prison and on all the lies that pushed America into Iraq might cause a snowball effect of repulsion against the Bush regime. There could be a popular demand for impeachment and/or a war crimes trial.

It may be a long shot, but isn’t it wonderful to think of George W. Bush, Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, a cabal of neocons and maybe Ann Coulter to add some spice, all sitting in orange jump suits in a long row in a courtroom, with numbered placards on their chests. At least we know Bush is having a few nightmares about being the scapegoat if America ever regains its conscience.

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