Mass School of Law: BUSCHO & Others Will BE LEGAL TARGETS-Even AFTER They Leave Office

[kpete]

BUSH, CHENEY, AND OTHERS RESPONSIBLE FOR TORTURE, INCLUDING LAWYERS, WILL BE LEGAL TARGETS EVEN AFTER THEY LEAVE OFFICE: RATNER
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-11-13 16:45. Criminal Prosecution
THE MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL OF LAW INTERVIEW
World Radio Network, Dean Lawrence R. Velvel, Host

President Bush and any of his aides that advocated or participated in torture will be the targets of legal action even after they leave office, President Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights(CCR), New York, said.

“After Bush is out of office, the Center(CCR) will pursue Bush and (Vice-President) Cheney. We are not going to let go of these people,” said Ratner, whose organization coordinates the work of more than 600 lawyers nationally involved in defending the rights of prisoners held by the U.S. at Guantanamo, many of whom say they have been tortured. The non-profit CCR is the leading civil rights litigating and advocacy organization in the nation.

“We think (those responsible for) this systemic program of torture (conducted by) this country have got to be made accountable whether it takes us one year or five years or ten years. And (we’re going) to go after the key architects of this torture program and make it particularly hot for them, particularly to travel to Europe,” Ratner said.

...........

He also said Vice President Cheney is considered to be “the architect of a lot of the torture programs” and “there’s a lot of evidence George Bush had to sign off on executive orders that approved essentially the torture program, (and) extraordinary rendition.” “We believe there is clear evidence the Bush administration went off the pages of law and implemented a torture program which essentially violated the Geneva Convention against torture and its own (U.S.) laws whether at Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib (Iraq) or Pakistan,” Ratner told Dean Lawrence Velvel of Massachusetts School of Law at Andover, host of the program, “What The Media Doesn’t Tell You,” aired globally over the World Radio Network.


more at:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/28671

[bullimiami]

1. probably, only after they leave office. it that ever happens.

[blm]

2. Depends WHO becomes next Dem president, doesn't it?

Because what happened the LAST time BushInc was cornered and just oval office documents away from being fully exposed on IranContra, Iraqgate, BCCI and CIA drugrunning?


http://consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

How did it work out for our party, the nation and this world the last time BushInc was protected?

[dflprincess]

4. Exactly

and during the last debate Clinton said it's "time to turn the page" on Bush - I'd like to know exactly what she means by that. I have a feeling if she's elected we're going to get another one of those let-them-get-away-with-it for the "good of the country" speeches.

[blm]

5. They're already setting it up. Bill said last week the country doesn't want Bush and Cheney

held to account that they just want to move past it all.

Since WHEN, Bill?

[dflprincess]

7. The fix is in

I've been very uncomfortable with Bill and Poppy's relationship - after all it was Bill who let Poppy off the hook.

[mod mom]

18. Notice how the DLC has been silent on the issue of election fraud:

I am convinced that the failure of the DLC to acknowledge Gore's win in 2000 (in fact they blame his "loss" on breaking with the DLC and becoming a populist-i'll post a link below) and their active role in keeping Kerry from challenging Ohio in 2004(thanks to Clinton ally James Carville (also posted below) was calculated as to allow a HRC run in '08. If either would have taken the office they won, then HRC and her corporate cronies would not have had a chance in 2008. Also look how they try to undermine Howard Dean. Anyway, here are some links:

FIRST..GORE BROKE WITH THE DLC TO BECOME A POPULIST:

Published on Sunday, August 20. 2000 in the Boston Globe
Thank You, Al Gore
by Robert Kuttner
A funny thing happened to Al Gore on the way to his surprisingly effective acceptance speech. He became a liberal.

The speech was as liberal as anything FDR or LBJ or Jesse Jackson or one of the Kennedys might have delivered. It was built around a commitment to fight for ordinary people, against large and powerful interests. This, of course, is precisely what made it effective.

The emotional heart of the speech, Gore's honoring of four ordinary American lives, did not just salute the struggles of workaday families, the way Ronald Reagan often did. It identified who was dishonoring their struggles - corporations. He singled out heartless HMOs who pressure a family to sacrifice a child; drug companies that force a pensioner to choose between food and medicine; corporate polluters; corporations that pay workers inadequate wages.

And he identified the solution: strong, reliable public Social Security; better Medicare; welfare reform that rewards work rather than punishing the needy; higher minimum wages; and more investment in public - not voucher - schools, so that working families don't have to send kids to crumbling classrooms.

What is the evil? Corporate power. What is the remedy? Effective government.

-snip
http://www.commondreams.org/views/082000-105.htm

SECOND, AFTER GORE'S WIN THEY BLAME HIS 'LOSS' ON BREAKING WITH THE DLC:

Strange Theory on Why Gore Lost



The so-called Democratic Leadership Council has decided that Al Gore should have acted more like a Republican in order to win the 2000 presidential electoral college vote in addition to his nationwide popular vote victory. This strange finding has drawn some attention, including coverage by the Associated Press and the Environmental News Service -- we have a few excerpts from their reports for you here.
Al Gore, the self-styled environmental candidate in the 2000 Presidential election, lost his bid for the White House because he campaigned on an outdated "populist" platform that was too liberal for most Americans, according to a new report drafted by the Democratic Leadership Council.

The 40-page report, titled "Why Gore Lost, And How Democrats Can Come Back," concludes that the Democratic Party must move towards the political right -- towards the Republicans -- if it wants to regain control of Congress in 2002 and the White House in 2004.

Al From, the DLC's founder and CEO, opened a freewheeling discussion forum by arguing that Democrat Al Gore made a huge tactical mistake by continually emphasizing that he would "fight for the people and not the powerful" as the nation's first president of the 21st Century.

-snip

http://www.progress.org/goredlc2.htm

AND FINALLY, CLINTON ALLY JAMES CARVILLE'S ROLE IN THE QUICK KERRY CONCESSION:

Did Carville Tip Bush Off to Kerry Strategy (Woodward)


By M.J. Rosenberg | bio




On page 344, Woodward describes the doings at the White House in the early morning hours of Wednesday, the day after the '04 election.

Apparently, Kerry had decided not to concede. There were 250,000 outstanding ballots in Ohio.

So Kerry decides to fight. In fact, he considers going to Ohio to camp out with his voters until there is a recount. This is the last thing the White House needs, especially after Florida 2000.

-snip

"Carville told her he had some inside news. The Kerry campaign was going to challenge the provisional ballots in Ohio -- perhaps up to 250,000 of them. 'I don't agree with it, Carville said. I'm just telling you that's what they're talking about.'

-snip

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/oct/07/did_carville_tip_bush_off_to_kerry_strategy_woodward

RESEARCH THIS FOR YOURSELVES, BEFORE YOU CAST A VOTE FOR ANY DLC CANDIDATE!

[mod mom]

17. Exactly. We need a Dem willing to fight for justice and not sweep bfee scandals

under the rug.

We need a POPULIST NOT A CORPORATIST!!!

[DCKit]

3. Except that even the lawyers are worried about this legacy.

When a national organization of attorney's feels stained by association, it's got to be really bad.

[The Magistrate]

6. Quite True, Sir

There is clear and abundant evidence that torture of prisoners violating international law and Federal law occured and was ordered from the top of the administration. Grave breaches of the Geneva conventions have no statute of limitations, nor is required that persons still hold official office to be prosecuted for official acts.

[Atman]

8. But it would require leader who would actually DO SOMETHING.

I don't see that happening.

.

[LiberalFighter]

9. We need an organization not controlled by the government

That can perform rendition operations on people like Bush and Cheney.

To really scare the hell out of them they should do renditions of Rove, Karen Hughes, Tony Snow and others.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. The CCR is the closest you will come to that

and they are not state sponsored

So you know Mr. Rattner is in the no fly list... you wonder why?

[hootinholler]

13. Maybe we could all chip in and hire Blackwater to pick them up?

That would be sooo poetic!

-Hoot

[ellenfl]

10. does paraguay have an extradition treaty with the u.s.? eom

[cosmicdot]

15. a list of extradition treaties by country

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_extradition_treaties

went into effect in 2001 ... of course, who knows what Bu$hCo has done with it ... they cancel treaties which interfere with the NeoCon corporate agenda

Paraguay November 9, 1998 March 9, 2001

Extradition Treaty with Paraguay
http://www.oas.org/JURIDICO/mla/en/traites/en_traites-ext-usa-pry.pdf

Article I obligates each Party to extradite to the other, pursuant
to the provisions of the Treaty, any person sought in the Requesting
State for trial or punishment for an extraditable offense.

[ellenfl]

16. that's hopeful! is there any sign of a signing statement? eom

[formercia]

12. New lyrics anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdD3MUFKleQ

[lpbk2713]

14. That probably explains why BushCo bought a large chunk of Paraguay.

They will be so wealthy and influential (not to mention big bribers) that the Paraguayan powers that be will not extradite.

[blm]

20. RevMoon sweetdealed that land for BushInc. Moon bought up over a million acres

there and now controls all the land above the world's largest freshwater aquifer - the Guarani Aquifer.

[The Stranger]

19. I want them to fry.

And I want them to fry good.

[L. Coyote]

21. Isn't there a signing statement for this? K&R