Why the prosecution of the war criminals will never see the light of day....

[Aviation Pro]

...in the U.S.

From Froomkin:

Will They Be Held to Account?

Marc Ambinder blogs for the Atlantic that "it remains one of those hidden secrets in Washington that a Democratic Justice Department is going to be very interested in figuring out whether there's a case to be made that senior Bush Administration officials were guilty of war crimes."

But legal blogger Jack Balkin says no way. "Sections 8 and 6(b) of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 effectively insulated government officials from liability for many of the violations of the War Crimes Act they might have committed during the period prior to 2006. Moreover, as has pointed out, there's a strong argument that a later Justice Department would not prosecute people who reasonably relied on legal advice from a previous Justice Department. . . .

"And putting aside the purely legal obstacles to a prosecution for war crimes, there's also the political cost. Why would an Obama or Clinton Administration waste precious political capital early on with a politically divisive prosecution of former government officials? . . .

"It is not that certain members of the Bush Administration haven't committed war crimes. I'm pretty certain that at least some of them have. The point rather is that it is very unlikely that they will ever be brought to justice for it, at least in our own country-- despite the fact that there are statutes on the books which assert that the commission of war crimes violates our laws. . . .

"As I noted in a previous post, the most likely prosecution for war crimes will not occur in the United States; if it occurs at all, it will come through the use of universal jurisdiction against Bush Administration officials who make the mistake of traveling outside the United States."

Personally, I'd like to show the world that we can hold the criminals accountable and then send them to Supermax. The more likely, but still doubtful outcome, is that they will end up at the Hague. However, don't hold your breath.

[gateley]

1. Maybe we could

start to bring pressure to Obama and Clinton to address this issue while they're campaigning.

Once we have nom, we can forget it, unless POLLS show that that's what American people want.

Any suggestions, anyone??

I will be furious and feel dismissed if these despicable human beings get off scott free.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. ..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3140686&mesg_id=3140686

[RainDog]

3. Simon Wiesenthal kidnapped Eichmann in South America

and brought him to trial.

No one seemed to hold it against Israel that Eichmann was put on trial. Personally, I think many, many Americans would be relieved if that happened because, since this govt seems too broken to work, at least the consequences for actions would matter somewhere and would, maybe, stop another fascist administration.