Mary Matalin on Imus now saying the Bush Administration doesn't

[Freedom_from_Chains]

want to be prosecuted for war crimes.

[agates]

1. Whoa

She admitted it, right out loud?

[Freedom_from_Chains]

2. Yeah, said that the reason they want to get these new laws

passed is because there is a concern that later on down the road people could be charged with war crimes. Or at least that's they way I heard it.

[SpiralHawk]

7. "We're guilty as sin of torture, but do not want justice." - Matalin

"We republicons are special. We are above the law. As pResident AWOL often says at our White House staff meetings: 'Nah, nah, nah.'" - Matalin

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. I'm so TIRED of the privileged mindset.

What evil people, knowing all along that these privileged networks were available to them and they went out of their ways to attack people on welfare and those who got a chance through Affirmative Action.

[elehhhhna]

22. Matalins puffy hungover face is a war crime. Imus better watch out.

[Gman]

3. Matalin will go ahead and talk about the big elephant in the room

she knows its no big secret. She often seems to think its stupid not to talk about the obvious. Where her and I get crossways is when she talks about things she thinks are obvious from the GOP perspective. This one is a bit different.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

27. Yeah she was real up front about it.

Didn't preface it or pause or anything, just this is the way it is.

[Divernan]

4. Of course. Bush doesn't give a shit if CIA agents are prosecuted.

It's all about him, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld.

When considering legislation for military commissions, members of Congress should be careful not to open themselves to personal war crimes liability by denying the due process requirements incorporated in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.

Justice Stevens, writing the opinion of the SC in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006), warned that the military commission created by Bush "lacks power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions," adding: "at least one provision of the Geneva Conventions . . . applies," common Article 3. This prohibits the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

Stevens also cited Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (a treaty of the US that happens to reflect minimum due process guarantees under customary human rights law).

In his concurring opinion in Hamdan, Justice Kennedy emphasized the: by Act of Congress, moreover, violations of Common Article 3 ARE CONSIDERED WAR CRIMES, PUNISHABLE AS FEDERAL OFFENSES.

Therefore, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld have already committed war crimes. If Bush can bully Congress into passing a law approving torture, each member of Congress who voted for it will also be guilty of a war crime.

[gator_in_Ontario]

5. Well I can understand that

I wouldn't want to be prosecuted for robbing a bank...That is why I don't do it!!!!! lol

[Freedom_from_Chains]

10. That's what I thought, if I was out breaking the law I would probably

want to get the laws changed also. Going to the joint doesn't sound like my idea of fun.

[Nimrod2005]

6. Save this tape!!! any transcripts or video yet?

You can't later say, that after the fact, we changed the law, and therefore we can't be put on trial!!!

I love it.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

8. Unfortunately I wasn't recording when I heard it but my mouth

feel open. Geesh, she actually said what everyone knows.

[elehhhhna]

23. That Goddam Piece of Paper keeps getting in KimGeorge Illl's way.

[Totally Committed]

9. What she's hoping is.... enough Americans won't want

the President of the United States convicted of war crimes. She's just letting the Bush base know that's a possibility so they'll "do their thing" and bury their legislators and the MSM with letters and calls until there is protective legislation in place to get Bush off the hook.

TC

[Freedom_from_Chains]

11. I think you might be onto something there. n/t

[Totally Committed]

15. I think so. This wasn't as much an admission as a

call to arms, I think. I could be wrong, but that's how I see it!

TC

[Divernan]

12. Impunity attempts didn't work for tinhorn dictators, won't work for Bush.

Congress should not attempt to provide domestic immunity for criminal violations of rights and protections contained in the Geneva Conventions. Tin-horn dictatoships attempt such forms of impunity, but the attempt itself violates several treaties of the United States and, as Marcos, Milosevic, Noriega, Pinochet, various Argentinian generals and others have learned, have no legal effect abroad in foreign or international fora. Can you say World Court War Crimes Tribunal?

Congress should protect what's left of the tattered honor of the United States and maintain the rule of law.

[Totally Committed]

16. Let's hope! n/t

TC

[elehhhhna]

25. Saddam probaby pardoned himself, too. How's that working for him?

[calimary]

21. So then, what are WE gonna do? Sit on our hands and let them

take cover?

[elehhhhna]

24. You hit it on the head. Too bad/so sad. Public opinion doesn't trump

the Constitution or the Geneva Convention Treaties.

OPIINIONS DO NOT TRUMP FACTS

[godai]

13. Matalin: "pResident AWOL"? I don't think so n/t

[Uben]

17. Aren't ex post facto laws unconstitutional?

How do they intend to make these laws retro-active?

[elehhhhna]

26. Voodoo legislation

[Supersedeas]

31. giving definition to vagaries--wasn't that what John Yu's memo was for

[MaineDem]

18. Can't say I blame them

But not wanting to be and not being are two very different things.

[indepat]

19. One shouldn't have to worry about being prosecuted for war crimes if one

hasn't committed war crimes.

[kentuck]

20. I was wondering when she would show her face....

mostly after WHIG (group) in the White House was given breathing room by the Armitage confession?

[Beacho]

28. That's one of the reasons she quit when she did

Got while the gittin' was good

[Freedom_from_Chains]

29. I suppose that is a pretty good legal defense. n/t

[warrens]

30. I imagine bank robbers don't want to be prosecuted

For robbing banks. I guess they could redefine bankrobbing as "killing three or more guards in the process of acquiring a permanent, zero-interest loan from a financial institution. Otherwise, it's OK."