Did you know about the War Crimes Act of 1996? I didn’t either:
[I]t makes grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions a federal crime… [I]t carries the death penalty. If death results from torture or inhuman treatment, then there is a death penalty, and that means there’s no statute of limitations. That means that if any high level official violates the War Crimes Act, and somebody died, they can be prosecuted. They are subject to prosecution for the rest of their lives.
This is the law Alberto Gonzalez warned Bush about way back when. So Bush sidestepped the Geneva Conventions. I didn’t know that there was internal legislation that connected us to Geneva – besides the initial ratification. And the War Crimes Act also applies to higher ups – all the way to the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Bonus shudders:
We knew the U.S. government and the British at the same time knew, for example, that the Jewish community of Rome was going to be rounded up by the Nazis; and we can’t find any action that was taken to warn the community, to tell the Germans not to do it.
Leave a Reply to Nick Homyak Cancel reply