Posted on 06/29/2006 7:11:53 AM PDT by pabianice
Edited on 06/29/2006 7:41:43 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Breaking...
Update:
WASHINGTON The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Bush overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees, a rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policies.
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion, which said the proposed trials were illegal under U.S. law and Geneva conventions.
The case focused on Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who worked as a body guard and driver for Usama bin Laden. Hamdan, 36, has spent four years in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo...
Excerpt. Read more at: Fox News
SOOOOO Bush COULD be tried under the Geneva Convention? If he broke the law?????
This is crazy.
I don't know about "irrelevant", just not applicable to the President's powers to wage a war. There are a number of provisions of law that are only activated under a declared war(such as enhanced punishments, and suspensions of rights), and I don't think they've been tested.
I don't think it's about the prisoners or Gitmo it is about the tribunals.
You should be proud, very proud. Thank you and your son.
Pabianice outlines it well here, in #13.
EXACTLY...POW's ..afforded rights under the Geneva Conventions.
Article 3 of GC applies...this is UNREAL.
Article 3
In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:
1. Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) Taking of hostages;
(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
2. The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.
An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.
The Parties to the conflict should further endeavour to bring into force, by means of special agreements, all or part of the other provisions of the present Convention.
The application of the preceding provisions shall not affect the legal status of the Parties to the conflict.
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm
It will help only if the Republicans can get to the cameras and if we get some representatives besides McCain and Hagel on the airwaves.
The pubbies must become more aggressive!
I don't think it's about the prisoners or Gitmo it is about the tribunals.
Exactly......it's how we try these terrorist.....I'm okay with a CM......
Do you have a link for this? I gotta see that thread!
Osama the terrorist: "Send our friends on the US Supreme Court a 'thank you' card."
It means that "commander in chief" doesn't trump "supreme law of the land" which international treaties are presumed to be.
The problem here is what constitutes "these sorts of things". They've merely restricted the form under which this handful of prisoners may be tried. It isn't like they said he had to be released tomorrow, or that Gitmo was unconstitutional.
I PRAY that the terrorists move next door to the liberal judges like Stevens, Breyer, Ginsberg.
Perhaps the CO of Gitmo should just machine-gun them all now and then report himself in arrest to the JAG office for murder. Better one man's life ruined than letting the serpents out of the snake-pit.
I'm kidding, of course. Killing defenseless prisoners would be murder.
"Actually we don't need another Justice we need a COngress to stand up and be heard. Tell SCOTUS that their powers are limited. They do not have the power to make terrorists signatorees of the Geneva Convention and that they have no power whatsoever to make treaties with baby killing scum by judicial fiat."
You are exactly right. But, in case you haven't looked at our Congress lately, we all know that it's more likely to get a seat on the Supreme Court than get our spineless Congress to get some guts.
"Think of all the campaign commercials that will be made this fall using the statements that we will see today and over the weekend."
My point exactly. perception is the truth regardless of reality.
Fade in: (dark slow music)
Voice over: "The Republicans have failed in their War on Terror."
(music)
VO: "Not only did they fail in Tora Bora. But Bin Laden is still making videos."
(music)
VO: "No WMD. No Bin Laden. And now, no legal standing."
(music)
VO: "Time to set this nation back on course."
(music)
VO: Vote Kucinich, the peoples President. The only army he has been in, is the KISS army." (stolen line from Coulter)
I don't know the answer to this. It would seem that based on what was posted at SCOTUSblog that the Court went out of its' way to note that such a determination was within the purview of the Executive - I don't know the process if someone were to challenge that.
Lindsey Graham is going to submit legislation that permits the administration to try the jihadists in a military court.
Greta says that military courts provide some protections that civilian courts don't provide.
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