Author: James Bovard

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.

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.

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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.

I was in New York last weekend and came across several rallies on both sides of the conflict. I attended the “Jewish Unity Event in Support of Israel” service at the West Side Institutional Synagogue on Sunday night. Speakers urged attendees to unquestioningly support the military policies of the Israeli government and to “speak out in defense” of the military campaign. One rabbi talked of how Israel in the old days had “exterminated 31 nations” as a result of God’s favor. He implored people to pray for divine favor this time around. He also stressed how “alone” Israel is at this time and that “we are all alone together.” Perhaps he had not heard that the House of Representatives had voted 410-8 in favor of a resolution endorsing Israeli military action. (This service occurred the day after the front page New York Times story detailing how the US government was rushing more bombs to resupply the Israeli air force, regardless that U.S. law prohibits the use of U.S.-supplied weaponry against noncombatants). I did not hear a word of concern or remorse for the Christian or Muslim civilians killed in Lebanon by Israeli bombs and missiles. (I don’t know if the Arabs or the Americans who attended the candlelight vigil for Lebanon at Union Square the night before expressed concern for the Israeli civilians killed by Hezollah rockets). The flier passed out at the service urged attendees to “get the facts” by reading From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters and The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz – two books whose credibility has long since been shredded by Norman Finkelstein.