Truth Hits Everybody

No doubt Judge U.S. District Judge James Robertson (a former Navy man and Clinton appointee to the bench) will be crucified by the right-wing echo chamber and the GOP as an activist judge for shutting down the military trial of Osama bin Laden’s Yemini driver by declaring that the U.S. government has violated the Third Geneva Convention in its handling of 550 Afghan war prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay (all but four of whom have been held without charges, trial, or any legal recourse for more than three years). Judge Robertson is an all-American hero in my book -- a true Patriot. Thank god he as the cojones to stand up to the Bush administration and uphold both domestic and international law. Check out these choice tidbits from the Boston Globe:

“The Geneva Conventions were ratified by the US Senate in the 1950s, making them "the highest law of the land" under the Constitution.

In addition, the Republican-led Congress in 1996 passed the War Crimes Act, which President Clinton signed. That law makes any "grave breach" of the conventions committed by a US official a domestic felony for which punishment could mean the death penalty. Not giving a prisoner of war the fair trial prescribed by the conventions is one of a short list of violations considered to be a "grave breach."

In a once-secret memo written on Jan. 25, 2002, by White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, Bush's top lawyer warned that prosecutors in a later administration could bring "unwarranted charges" against high-level Bush administration officials for war crimes as a result of their treatment of Al Qaeda members captured after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Gonzales noted in the memo, leaked to the media earlier this year, that a critical advantage in declaring that Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters did not have protections under the Geneva Conventions is that it "substantially reduces the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act."

The memo, lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees have contended, demonstrates that the administration was aware of the laws of war but sought to avoid them.”

The Constitution and Bill of Rights (which are worth reading over in these troubled times) are the sacred precepts of this nation, and the brilliant Founding Fathers would be OUTRAGED by King George’s abuse of his power. The president is not above the law, but sworn to defend the Constitution, which he has clearly violated in regard to the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and by authorizing the use of torture at Abu Ghraib. If there is any justice in the world, Bush will be impeached for violating the War Crimes Act!

(I’m not declaring that we shouldn’t be capturing and prosecuting terrorists that want to kill Americans. But we must follow the law in doing so, or our democracy means squat.)