Nine Reasons to Investigate War Crimes Now

[Breeze54]

Nine Reasons to Investigate War Crimes Now

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080804/brecher_smith

By Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith

July 18, 2008

Retired General Antonio Taguba, the officer who led the Army's investigation into Abu Ghraib,
recently wrote in the preface to the new report, Broken laws, Broken Lives:

"There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes.
The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture
will be held to account."

Should those who ordered war crimes be held to account? With the conclusion of the Bush regime approaching, many people are dubious, even those horrified by Administration actions. They fear a long, divisive ordeal that could tear the country apart. They note that such division could make it far harder for the country to address the many other crises it is facing. They see the upcoming elections as a better way to set the country on a new path.

Many Democrats in particular are proposing to let bygones be bygones and move on to confront the problems of the future, rather than dwelling on the past. The Democratic leadership sees rising gas prices, foreclosures, and health care costs, as well as widespread dissatisfaction with the direction of the country, as playing in their favor. Why risk it all by playing the war crimes blame game? Perhaps some Democratic leaders are also concerned that their own role in enabling or even encouraging war crimes might be exposed.

Meanwhile, the evidence confirming not only a deliberate policy of torture, but of conspiring in an illegal war of aggression and conducting a criminal occupation, continues to pile ever higher.

More...........

1. World peace cannot be achieved without human rights and accountability.....

2. The rule of law is central to our democracy.....

3. We must not allow precedents to be set that promote war crimes....

4. We must restore the principles of democracy to our government....

5. We must forestall an imperialist resurgence....

6. We must have national consensus on the real reasons for the Bush Administration's failures....

7. We must restore America's damaged reputation abroad....

8. We must lay the basis for major change in US foreign policy....

9. We must deter future US war crimes....

Much more at link... Good Read.

[yourout]

1. History has already shown the Neocons are like a garden weed. If you dont kill it....it will keep...

coming back again. We need to give them the "Roundup" treatment.

Round them up and put them in Jail.

[Breeze54]

3. Agreed and Friday's hearings should be a start!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[gratuitous]

2. I'll repost

Because this topic sank like a rock previously, I posted a few thoughts there. I'll do the same here:

If we don't prosecute these war crimes, someone will. I don't know if it will be an organized tribunal such as The Hague, or an extra-legal ad hoc group like the 9/11 hijackers. But these crimes will be answered for, just maybe not by the perpetrators. If you feel all right paying the price for aggressive wars of empire while the architects walk free, then not prosecuting is a perfectly acceptable choice for us.

If we don't prosecute these war crimes because there are other, more pressing issues, the lesson we're imparting is that if you fuck things up colossally enough, even war crimes can be glossed over. Ten years ago, the Republicans who ran Congress said that "the flag was falling" if Bill Clinton wasn't impeached for whatever he had been accused of doing. America would be humiliated on the world stage, and our prestige would be irreparably damaged. Well, if that was the case in 1998, how much more will the United States suffer if we excuse war crimes because we have so many other more "pressing" matters?

Next, why would holding criminals accountable "tear the country apart"? The only people who could possibly object to prosecuting crime would be . . . well, the criminals. Since when do we let the accused decide whether to investigate, develop evidence and then try the offenders based on that? The unspoken but quite clear subtext here is that the foaming-at-the-mouth blowhards on the Repressive Right would be so obstructionist and make such a stink about this, that the country would just give it up. Well, I'm not willing to let the criminals get away with it, and I'm guessing that when the evidence is publicized, a large majority of the public will be on board for prosecutions. In fact, I'm quite sure a majority of the country is on board already. I'm not afraid of these war criminals and their sycophants and apologists in the popular media, and I'm surely not afraid of them prospectively even before they've been indicted. Anyone who's against these investigations before they've even started should be presumed to be complicit.

[Breeze54]

4. "The only people who could possibly object to prosecuting are the criminals"

Exactly!! Good post!!

Sorry I missed your post.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Breeze54]

5. kick

:dem: