In The Beginning, There Was War Crime

The worst administration ever signaled its intention to commit war crimes from very early on. Although it was remarked in 2002 that the steps it was taking were a contradiction of this country's history of humane behavior, it was inconceivable at the time that we would sink as far as we have in decency. This morning we learn about yet more crimes against humanity, injecting detainees with illegal drugs to keep them manageable.

The outcry that followed executive branch repudiation of the International Justice Court was barely noted in your standard issue media, which concentrated instead on the evidence, erroneously taken at its face value, that Iraq was a threat to the U.S. A little noticed measure was enacted to allow for U.S. action against a nation that would take our malefactors into custody. (Thanks to yoh-there for bringing this to my attention. He is sure that Holland, with its Hague tribunal, was intended for the invasion.)

The American Service-Members' Protection Act (ASPA) is a United States federal law introduced by US Senator Jesse Helms as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act and passed in August 2002 by Congress. The stated purpose of the amendment was "to protect United States military personnel and other elected and appointed officials of the United States government against criminal prosecution by an international criminal court to which the United States is not party".

It authorizes the President to use “all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any US or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court”. This has led opponents of the act to call it The Hague Invasion Act.[1][2]

The Act prohibits federal, state and local governments and agencies (including courts and law enforcement agencies) from assisting the Court. For example, it prohibits the extradition of any person from the United States to the Court; it prohibits the transfer of classified national security information and law enforcement information to the Court; and it prohibits agents of the Court from conducting investigations in the United States. (Emphasis added.)

Of course the pretense that the ICC is a threat to the troops is the usual White House lie, it is the criminals in high office that are at risk, and their backs they are guarding. At the time, these war-criminals-to-be were plotting how to lie the country into war, and were combating future prosecution by the international community they were about to outrage.

President Bushs decision to withdraw the U.S. signature from the Statute of the International Criminal Court threatens to undermine the administrations global campaign against terrorism.

The courts purpose is to try individuals who commit crimes against humanity -- acts of mass terror against civilian populations, such as the ones carried out against the United States last September. One would think that the White House would welcome such international cooperation in the war on terror. But it does not and is making an emphatic point of saying that it will not recognize the new court.

In defense of its action, the administration claims that the statute would enable foreign countries to arrest U.S. citizens for political reasons and hand them over for trial before foreign judges in The Hague.

In fact, however, a pretrial review panel will be set up to dispose of frivolous or politically motivated charges. Most cases will be brought by a chief prosecutor, or by the Security Council, where the United States has a veto. Most of the judges will be from countries allied to the United States. (Emphasis added.)

Of course, the politicization of every department of the executive branch was being conducted on a grand scale in that time, May, 2002. Political purposes were anticipated in response - by an administration that had political purposes even in going to war. It is willing to endanger its own troops to that end.

The situation couldn't be clearer: Despite its vast power, the U.S. feels trapped. Because its invasion of Iraq violated the U.N. Charter and defied the Security Council, it opened itself to a potential war crimes prosecution. Now, to avoid such a prosecution, it is forced to lose allies or potential allies - such as the 35 countries it abandoned and alienated - and to delay or impede important goals such as protecting peacekeepers.

Meanwhile, the U.S.'s own soldiers are in danger, dying every day in Iraq, and the U.S.'s past decision to flout the U.N., and invade in the first place, is doubtless harming its ability to protect even its own. It needs U.N. help for political cover, even though it threatened the U.N. with "irrelevance" before the war.

That was written before the administration's promotion of torture and unlawful detention had been uncovered. The original opposition to international justice indicated a direction that even the most suspicious didn't realize led to the depths of criminality that has come out. The bestiality of the behavior presaged was beyond the imaginings of those who warned where the executive branch was headed. The crimes have gone far beyond even the unilateral war-making, into the depths of human behavior. All of that criminality was anticipated by the occupied White House. Its intentions were to commit heinous crimes, and to ward off justice, from the beginning.

Criminal conduct was anticipated by the worst administration ever. It has worked to make the world safe for war criminals, not for its victims.

This administration has much to answer for, crimes that it intended to commit and tried to put beyond the reach of the law it broke, from the start.

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Can it be? Is Texas ready to stop the ruination of the entire world by the party of recidivism? Things are brightening.

In Texas, the political conversation centers on a Rasmussen Reports poll that shows Republican Sen. John Cornyn leading Democrat Rick Noriega by only four points, 47 percent to 43 percent.

According to pollsters, an incumbent who doesn't poll above 50 percent is considered in trouble.
(snip)
"It's wrong to think that there's a wave sweeping across the country and that it somehow stops at the Red River."

Mr. Noriega also could be helped by the Democratic primary race, which brought hundreds of thousands of new Democratic voters to the polls.

For those of us living in a state that is slowly awakening to the facts, that the right wing has nothing to offer Americans but more damage, overturning its representatives would be nothing short of pure joy.

Wish us luck, give support, you can help. Democrats in office will help you.