View single post by Joe Kelley
 Posted: Tue Oct 30th, 2007 04:10 pm
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Joe Kelley

 

Joined: Mon Nov 21st, 2005
Location: California USA
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http://public.cq.com/public/20061122_homeland.html

With all the lawsuits over kidnapping and torture marching toward the Bush administration, you might think the top officials running the global war on terror would be worried just a little about the prospect that some day they might end up in court — if not having nightmares about getting measured for orange jumpsuits at Danbury Federal Prison.

Alas, no. Thanks to the legerdemain of Bush administration lawyers, a provision quietly tucked into the Military Commissions Act ([url=javascript:simplePopup('displaylawcard.do?lawNumber=366&congress=109','billCard',680,430);]PL 109-366[/url]) just before it was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on Oct. 17, would ease any worries they might’ve had. It not only redefines torture upward, removing the harshest, most controversial techniques from the definition of war crimes, it also exempts the perpetrators — interrogators and their bosses — from punishment all the way back to Nov. 1997.