Some Americans are above the law… just not the 2.3 million in US jails
Mischa Barton smoking dope at an intersection in LA? Caught by paparazzi in broad daylight?
pacificcoastnewsonline.com
When I say some Americans are above the law, you think I’m talking about this famous & rich white chick who is ending 3 years probation after a DUI for driving all over the road in 2007. She seems to still be getting away with her blatant, in public, in-your-face breaking the law.
Nope, I’m talking about this guy who broke the War Crimes Act of 1996, a federal statute that makes it a federal crime for any American to violate the Geneva Convention by engaging in murder, torture or inhuman treatment. Anyone who knew about, ordered or failed to take steps to stop torture is guilty under the statute.
And if someone dies while being tortured? Then those who tortured, knew about, ordered or failed to take steps to stop torture are subject to life imprisonment and/or the death penalty…
Why isn’t he in jail? By his own words, he broke this law. He admitted telling the Justice Department to write arguments that waterboarding is legal. (Just as an FYI, remember that the Executive Branch is supposed to be SEPARATE from the Justice Branch, and the Legistlative Branch? That’s supposed to be the basis of the American governmental system, isn’t it?) Telling Justice to cover his ass means that he ordered others to commit illegality, which makes him a war criminal. AND, on TV last week, he defended CIA Operatives and Justice Department stooges who did waterboard, saying they shouldn’t be punished for doing what they were told…
I’m sorry, but the chain-of-command is always responsible for the illegalities they force their underlings to do… That was the point of the Nuremberg Trials. Cheney admits breaking the law, admits he made underlings follow his lead and yet is doing the equivalent of smoking a joint on a public street in front of tons of paparrazi; Cheney just did it on nationwide TV.
Where is the justice? Oh yeah, he co-opted it… Yet there is hope:
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 (see for example this report), that means that the death penalty would be appropriate for anyone found guilty of carrying out, ordering, or sanctioning such conduct.
That means that Cheney could be rounded up as a fugitive as long as he is alive, just like those old Nazis you see on the news.
There really should be ‘justice for all’, not just justice for the 2,300,000 Americans who aren’t either rich, famous or powerful enough to game the system…
We reported that Bristow was no longer a member of YAF. Over the weekend, the current leadership of the YAF reached out to us to clarify its gambling relationship with Bristow.