Reply #12: Call it what it is "War Criminals Protection Act of 2006" !!!

[pat_k]

We can go a long way to killing this thing if we can insert the name War Criminals Protection Act into the noise machine.

Even Holtzman neglects perhaps the most abominable, and sweeping, part of their attempt to protect themselves (page 79 of http://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/nkk/documents/MilitaryCommissions.pdf">Bush's version):

(b) RIGHTS NOT JUDICIALLY ENFORCEABLE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—No person in any habeas action or any other action may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto as a source of rights, whether directly or indirectly, for any purpose in any court of the United or its States or territories.

So, now it's:

. . .We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable, UNENFORCEABLE, Rights.

The War Criminals Protection Act of 2006 has ONE goal -- to protect the War Criminals in the Executive Branch from prosecution for the the war crimes they have committed (and continue to commit). This is what we need to focus on to kill this thing. No modification of provisions, no modifying definitions, can touch the contemptable goal.

To that end, the bill seeks to gut U.S. Code of any avenue through which they could be prosecuted, even going so far as to strip our courts of the ability to enforce the most fundemental human rights for ANY OF US. It is a transparent attempt to escape the consequences that their actions would demand in any civilized society. Their attempt to escape prosecution demonstrates their consciousness of guilt.

We have EVERYTHING we need in the provisions for Courts-Martial in the Military Code of Justice and in the Geneva conventions, which are codified in our own Federal Statute under Title 18, Section 2441 (War Crimes). The War Crimainsl Protection Act does nothing but undermine our ability to go after the terrorists in our own midsts.

The War Crimainsl Protection Act CANNOT be "fixed" -- it must be killed. Seeking to "fix" it just promotes the the Bush/Cheney/Rove propaganda that the Executive Branch requires unlimited power to "protect us."

I have yet to see a member of the Democratic leadership object to the "RIGHTS NOT JUDICIALLY ENFORCEABLE" provision -- Spector is the only one to date, and he speaks in legalisms that fail to convey the true horror. {"Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said Sunday he "vigorously" disagrees with the habeas corpus provision of the bill." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092400516.html">WP Article).

Wake up DEMS! (Where's my http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cluestick">Cluestick?)