High Crimes and Misdemeanors

[struggle4progress]

<snip>
The Centre for Economic and Social Rights, an American human rights group, ... released a report called Beyond Torture: US Violations of Occupation Law in Iraq. The report, twenty eight pages of carefully researched documentation of the crimes committed by the Bush Administration in Iraq, is damning. The top ten list in the Executive Summary lists Failure to Allow Self-Determination, Failure to Provide Public Order and Safety, Unlawful Attacks, Unlawful Detention and Torture, Collective Punishment, Failure to Ensure Vital Services, Failure to Protect the Rights to Health and Life, Failure to Protect the Rights to Food and Education, Failure to Protect the Right to Work, and Fundamentally Changing the Economy.

Beyond Torture clearly points to the complete disregard for the law that has been exhibited by the Bush administration. The first paragraph of the conclusions reads, “This report is grounded in the assumption that the U.S. is not above the law, but rather should be bound and limited by law. Such limitation would have profound implications for Bush Administration policies in Iraq. International law forbids imperialism in any guise; forbids unilateral aggression in the guise of “pre-emptive” war; forbids military occupation in the guise of providing security; forbids hand-picking political leaders in the guise of promoting democracy; forbids economic pillage in the guise of reconstruction; forbids extraterritorial impunity for war crimes in the guise of establishing rule of law; and forbids criminalizing resistance in the guise of fighting terrorism. In essence, the entire thrust of U.S. policy in Iraq stands in contradiction to the post-World War II legal order and particularly the legal framework governing occupation.” It goes on to call for all war criminals, US and Iraqi, to be tried for their crimes and for the US to pay reparations.

That seems unlikely to happen at this point. The United States sought and received immunity from the ICC when it first came into being. To receive the immunity they vetoed further UN missions in Bosnia, basically blackmailing the rest of the Security Council into either backing them or abstaining from the vote. The Bush administration then revoked military aid to some 35 countries who would not issue a guarantee that US citizens would not be turned over to the International Criminal Court if the were suspected of committing war crimes.
<snip>

Our neighbour to the south has become the greatest threat to world peace and advancement. They have done so under the tutelage of those who consider profit for privately held companies to be more important than the rights and needs of people, yet they claim to be a democratic nation.
<snip>
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php?story=20040614184239226

[AndyTiedye]

1. We're Sorry, There Has Been an Outbreak of Mad Cowboy Disease

we are still struggling to contain it.

[struggle4progress]

2. CESR Report

<snip>
"Torture is only the tip of the iceberg," said Roger Normand, an international lawyer who directs the Center. "From unlawful killings, mass arrests, and collective punishment to outright theft and pillage, the U.S. is violating almost every law intended to protect civilians living under foreign military occupation."

The report blames the Bush Administration for misusing the war against terrorism to exempt itself from the Geneva Conventions and other legal norms, creating a climate of impunity in which ordinary soldiers feel free to torture and abuse Iraqis. Rather than scapegoat those caught on camera, the report recommends that George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and other responsible U.S. officials be held accountable for war crimes resulting from their policies.

According to the report, these crimes are so entrenched in U.S. policies towards Iraq that they will end only when the occupation itself is ended. This would require withdrawal of U.S. troops and an end to U.S. control over Iraq's political, economic and military affairs. Absent these fundamental changes, the purported June 30th "transfer of sovereignty" to Iraqi authorities is "a form of political theatre with no legal effect" on U.S obligations as an occupying power, notwithstanding the diplomatic fig leaf provided by yesterday's UN Security Council resolution.
<snip>
http://www.cesr.org/beyondtorture.htm

[Disturbed]

3. The USA don't need no permission.

Hey, ya'll foreigners the USA does what it wants. Who is gonna stop the USA Govt.from invading any country it feels like, change their regime and take over their land and economy and rape, beat, abuse, and torture whoever it wants to.

Jus like here in the USA the Govt does what it wants to and nobody can stop it from doing whatever.

USA is a Right Wing Dictatorship sponsored by the Multi-Corps and nothing and nobody can change that unless the American people vote overwhelmingly to do so.

Will they?

[indepat]

4. The worst crime, IMHO, is not the crimes purportedly committed by

this Administration and our military and contract mercenaries in Iraq, but rather is the absence of a resounding and continuous rage and condemnation of such actions by the Congress, the Supreme Court, the mainstream media, and we the people. Sadly tens of millions of ignorant, apathetic, brainwashed, and/or brain-dead citizens still shill for this regime, its policies and actions including assault on the Constitution, and its pre-emptive war viewed by most of the civilized world as illegal, and thus unnecessary, immoral, unjust, and inhumane.