The following points illustrate the war crimes that the Bush/Cheney administration, with full knowledge of the implications, sanctioned and committed:
• The White House's top lawyer warned more than two years ago that U.S. officials could be prosecuted for "war crimes" as a result of new and unorthodox measures used by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism, according to an internal White House memo and interviews with participants in the debate over the issue.2 [click here for Bybee memo]
• There was much heated debate in 2002 that U.S. officials could be prosecuted for "war crimes" as a result of new and unorthodox measures used by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism. Then Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed strong objections in a January 2002 memo. [click here for PDF of Powell's memo]3
• In an Aug. 1, 2002, memo—drafted by Yoo, signed by Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee and addressed to Gonzales—it was concluded, among other things, that only severe pain or permanent damage that was "specifically intended" constituted torture. Mere "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment did not qualify.4 [click here for Yoo Delahunty memo]
• In a memorandum from February 7, 2002, signed by President George W. Bush, on the treatment of Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, the president’s unilateral determination that the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war “does not apply to either al Qaeda or Taliban detainees.” is clearly expressed. This decision is of dubious validity because there is no provision in the Geneva conventions that would countenance a unilateral decision to exempt prisoners from Geneva protections. [click here for February 7th memo]5
• Documents indicated that eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration’s terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004. The documents contradicted sworn Senate testimony by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. A four-page memo—dated May 17, 2006—from the national intelligence director’s office said the White House briefing with the eight lawmakers on March 10, 2004, was about the terror surveillance program, or TSP.6 [click here for Gonzales memo]
• The office of the vice president has played a central role in breaking the limits of coercion of prisoners in U.S. custody, commissioning and defending legal opinions that the Bush administration has since portrayed as the initiatives, months later, of lower-ranking officials. Cheney pioneered a novel distinction between forbidden "torture" and permitted use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading" methods of questioning.7
...still more to come
Please visit the links here to get the facts. And pass the URL for this site along to spread the word and encourage more Americans to stand up for our rights, human rights, and the future of our world.
