Obama is going to dump this scandal on the Bush Presidency and make it an issue for Democrats to run on in 2016. The United States War Crimes Act of 1996, a federal statute set forth at 18 U.S.C. § 2441, makes it a federal crime for any U.S. national, whether military or civilian, to violate the Geneva Convention by engaging in murder, torture, or inhuman treatment. The statute applies not only to those who carry out the acts, but also to those who ORDER IT, know about it, or fail to take steps to stop it. The statute applies to everyone, no matter how high and mighty. 18 U.S.C. § 2441 has no statute of limitations, which means that a war crimes complaint can be filed at any time. The penalty may be life imprisonment or — if a single prisoner dies due to torture — death. Given that there are numerous, documented cases of prisoners being tortured to death by U.S. soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan, that means that the death penalty would be appropriate for anyone found guilty of carrying out, ordering, or sanctioning such conduct. Obamas claim that he stopped the torture soon after taking office is unproven, but at the very least his failure to arrest and prosecute the torturers of the previous administration makes him an accessory after-the-fact.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 16:59:34 +0000
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