Is Asscroft about to have his head explode? Feinstein asks him

[liveoaktx]

about the Geneva Conventions and he is rambling, with saying that there are different circumstances on whether the GC apply (such as whether one wears uniforms???)
Geneva Convention doesn't apply everywhere, he says.

[DenverDem]

1. Yes, we don't have to behave in a humane way

if we don't want to because gawd is on our side.

[htuttle]

2. For being the Attorney General

Ashcroft's knowledge of the law is pathetic...

Either that, or he's just lying again.

[wndycty]

4. Both

:kick:

[tom_paine]

6. Both

Undoubtedly.

[quinnox]

3. I was watching that part, he does look frazzled

Now there is a rubber-stamp republican from Idaho coming to his rescue.

[emulatorloo]

9. I thought he was pretty critical of JA's autocratic ways.

WHo was that guy?

[Fovea]

5. I remember Jimmy Carter

and Human Rights.
His strong moral stance bankrupted the policies of the
ethically corrupt Soviet Bloc.

Now, less than 40 again later, here we are
with the Executive Branch working to provide
justification to violate human rights when convenient.


Am I the only one who sees this as America in deep, desperate trouble?

[tom_paine]

8. No. Free American number in the TENS of MILLIONS now

It may well be that, for this round anyway, the danger of Orwellian Imperial Tyranny is over.

But we must not be complacent, and there is much work to be doen AFTER November even IF Kerry wins!

Let us not forget what was done to the nation the last time (the 1990s) we grew complacent.

Complacency is Tyranny's Best Friend. Or perhaps Apathy is Tyranny's Best Friend.

Either way, all three are VERY CLOSE.

[lanparty]

12. I see the light at the end of the tunnel ...

But we aren't there quite yet. Bush still has the electronic voting machines up his sleeves. We may have to get a massive super-majority to overcome all his vote theft.

Hey, that reminds me. Do you think that all the "unfriendly" officers have been sent over to Iraq. That way if Bush DOES overthrow democracy all the competent oppostion is overseas.

[tom_paine]

14. Very possible. The Busheviks aren't Uber Geniuses

and I'm sure they fuck things up, but I think it's a distinct possibility.

[AndyTiedye]

15. This Isn't the End of the Tunnel -- It's the Middle of the Tunnel

So if you see light, it may not be a good thing.

[Wapsie B]

7. The next time someone asks you a question like that John,

I want it to be at the Hague before the World Court, standing trial for war crimes. To do anything less would be an abomination to those real war heroes we just honored on D-Day.

[jmowreader]

10. He's flat wrong

The Geneva Conventions were written to address the idea that a nation might be too cheap or too broke to raise a traditional army--one under government control, with uniforms and regulations and everyone having the same kind of rifle. That's why they use the term belligerents over and over and don't use the term soldier once.

If this nation were ever to be invaded, our guys would do the same thing the Iraqis are--John, Joe, Frank, Sam and Mark who work out at the steelyard would get their guns, buy up all the ammo they could, form a rifle squad, and go to war against the evil invaders. (The difference here is that the "insurgents" in Iraq are the old Iraqi Army, who formed militia groups after Bush came to town and fired them all.) We would demand that all the Franks and Sams who the invaders captured be treated according to the Geneva Convention.

Unfortunately, Frank and Sam aren't demanding we treat Ali and Hassan according to the Geneva Convention, because those guys are just "towel-heads" and "camel-jockeys" and therefore subhuman. (How many of those "camel-jockeys" have never been on a camel? It's a bunch--after the truck came to Arabia, use of the camel declined dramatically because a camel is as unpleasant as it is useful.)

[lanparty]

11. Was Nick Berg covered????

Nick Berg presumably wasn't wearing a uniform when he was captured. Nor was a member of the armed forces. Should he have been treated with the decency required by the Geneva conventions?????

The fact is that one must apply SOME standards to prisoners taken in a conflict. The closest EXISTING standards are the Geneva conventions.

Many Iraqis see Americans as colonizing their nation. To them, that makes civilian contractors enemy combatents. I'm sure that Ashcroft would want the mercaneries for Titan, KBR, et al to be treated with decency. In other words, their captors should shove broomsticks up their asses.

Our prisoners so far (besides Nick Berg, and I think that was a CIA job) have reported fair and decent treatment. They were not humiliated. They weren't sodomized. They were fed properly. So far the "terrorists" seem to treat their prisoners in a more humane way than the US Military.

So I ask you ... based on that, WHO are the terrorists?????

[dand]

13. The only things missing with JA are the jackboots

and the armband. He is the arch typical war criminal.

[wndycty]

16. Join the drive

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1747458