Bush officials committed war crimes

[Yellowdogtexan]

The US General how investigate Abu Grahaib has gone on record that the bush administration have committed war crimes and the only issue is swho ordered the use of torture. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/41514.html The Army general who led the investigation into prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison accused the Bush administration Wednesday of committing "war crimes" and called for those responsible to be held to account.

The remarks by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who's now retired, came in a new report that found that U.S. personnel tortured and abused detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, using beatings, electrical shocks, sexual humiliation and other cruel practices.

"After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," Taguba wrote. "The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

Taguba, whose 2004 investigation documented chilling abuses at Abu Ghraib, is thought to be the most senior official to have accused the administration of war crimes. "The commander in chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture," he wrote.
These are very serious charges and bush would be advised not to leave the country after he leaves office

[Yellowdogtexan]

These are very serious charges and it appears that one or more other countries are considering war crime indictments for a group of bush administration officials http://www.tnr.com/toc/story.html?id=597957fd-6bbf-4d02-b29f-3dbd35176038Is it likely that prosecutions will be brought overseas? Yes. It is reasonably likely. Sands's book contains an interview with an investigating magistrate in a European nation, which he describes as a NATO nation with a solidly pro-American orientation which supported U.S. engagement in Iraq with its own soldiers. The magistrate makes clear that he is already assembling a case, and is focused on American policymakers. I read these remarks and they seemed very familiar to me. In the past two years, I have spoken with two investigating magistrates in two different European nations, both pro-Iraq war NATO allies. Both were assembling war crimes charges against a small group of Bush administration officials. "You can rest assured that no charges will be brought before January 20, 2009," one told me. And after that? "It depends. We don't expect extradition. But if one of the targets lands on our territory or on the territory of one of our cooperating jurisdictions, then we'll be prepared to act."

Viewed in this light, the Bush Administration figures involved in the formation of torture policy face no immediate threat of prosecution for war crimes. But Colin Powell's chief of staff, Colonel Larry Wilkerson, nails it: "Haynes, Feith, Yoo, Bybee, Gonzales and--at the apex--Addington, should never travel outside the U.S., except perhaps to Saudi Arabia and Israel. They broke the law; they violated their professional ethical code. In the future, some government may build the case necessary to prosecute them in a foreign court, or in an international court." Augusto Pinochet made a trip to London, and his life was never the same afterwards.

The Bush administration officials who pushed torture will need to be careful about their travel plans.

[wvpeach]

I watched those c-span hearings the other day. The people who committed these crimes kept saying the detainees didn't fall under the Geneva convention since they were not wearing uniforms there fore they could torture them.

Geez I guess being human beings doesn't count.

Well , our soldiers have this crap to thank when they find themselves tortured one day. Hey pay back is always a bitch.

[Yellowdogtexan]

The disclosure of this general combined with the disclosure of the International Committee of the Red Cross really paints a bad picture of the US. It is clear that the US has committed war crimes