Antiwar.com Blog

The Washington Post today details how the Bush administration is desperately scrambling to get Congress to pass a law to retroactively legalize torture.

OK, this is not exactly what the Post said — they would not be so ill-mannered towards the government.

But the Supreme Court’s decision last month declaring that the Bush order on enemy combatants was illegal means that the Bush team also did not have the right to torture detainees.  With the War Crimes Act of 1996, Congress effectively incorporated the Geneva Convention on treating detainees into the U.S. statute book.

As the Post notes,

The law initially criminalized grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions but was amended without a hearing the following year to include violations of Common Article 3, the minimum standard requiring that all detainees be treated “humanely.” The article bars murder, mutilation, cruel treatment, torture and “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.” It applies to any abuse involving U.S. military personnel or “nationals.”

Attorney General Gonzales is sweating that even top government officials (like himself) could face charges if the law is vigorously enforced.

However, since it would be up to the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute, he probably has little to fear.  The Bush team wants Congress to amend the law to make it clear that it does not apply to high-ranking government officials.

The torture scandal continues to elucidate the prevailing Washington definition of decency.

I stumbled across former Ambassador Ed Peck on Fox News’ “Dayside” in the middle of his appearance today. It was unfortunate because the couple of minutes I watched were hilarious. Mike Jerrick seemed absolutely livid he had to listen to Peck and was openly rude to him. Peck, on the other hand, was charming, funny and kept Jerrick quite in check.

Oh yeah, Peck also gave the quote of the day: “We’re opposed to [a ceasefire] because we want to give Israel a chance to kill as many people as they can.”

Thankfully, Hot Air captured a bit of the show for those who missed it.

From the BBC today:

Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon “said that in order to prevent casualties among Israeli soldiers battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, villages should be flattened by the Israeli air force before ground troops moved in.
He added that Israel had given the civilians of southern Lebanon ample time to quit the area and therefore anyone still remaining there could be considered a Hezbollah supporter.

“All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah,” Mr Ramon said.

****

Ramon made these comments on Israeli Army radio. He was apparently not asked about the IDF’s practice of blowing up the cars full of civilians fleeing south Lebanon.

Ramon has made stark the standards that the Israelis are using, and there is no excuse for any American politician or citizen to continue denying that the Israelis are intentionally targeting civilians en masse.

Bush again embraced Israel’s effort in Lebanon today – even after the Justice Minister’s comments.

Interesting developments in the town where I was born:

As the fighting continues overseas, some lessons from the Middle East conflict are hitting home right here in Alabama. Members of the Montgomery Police Department SWAT team are in a five day counterterrorism school taught by a former Israeli servicemember.

Out at the practice range, the 12 member team learns that timing is everything. SWAT team member Todd Wheeler notes, “The way the Israelis do it, it’s extremely dynamic. It’s extremely fast and that’s the only way to fight counterterrorism.”

That’s also why the Montgomery SWAT team is training with Aaron Cohen. He’s a veteran of the Israeli counterterrorist unit. Now his four year stint with that team will work for this team. Cohen says he wants, “to be able to help them reduce risk while responding to terrorist threats while in crowded areas.” Cohen says these drills and the current situation in the Middle East are a powerful combination for him. He explains,”It’s tough. It hits home for me because my unit is working there right now.”

Doing this perhaps? Yep, residents of Montgomery can expect some mighty “dynamic” drug busts from now on.

That “robust” multi-national force Condolezza Rice wants to take over from the IDF in crushing Hezbollah is looking sicklier by the moment: NATO says it is otherwise engaged, and no one except the Italians and possibly the Turks has stepped forward to apply for the job. While Rice has so far denied there would be any American participation, the wording of her statement – as I explained in this blog post – suggested a reversal might be in the works.

And so it is. Ken Silverstein, writing in Harper’s, reports:

“A well-connected former CIA officer has told me that the Bush Administration is in fact considering exactly such a deployment. … According to the former official, Israel and the United States are currently discussing a large American role in exactly such a “multinational” deployment, and some top administration officials, along with senior civilians at the Pentagon, are receptive to the idea.”

If and when American troops take on Hezbollah, at least there won’t be any debate about whether we’re fighting a war for Israel’s sake.

From the London Times:

“Three young girls and a disabled man were among 16 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip today.”