Have Bush and Cheney Committed War Crimes?

Have Bush and Cheney Committed War Crimes?
The Stump
AOL News Elections Blog
Posted Oct 29th 2006 2:01PM by Michael O'McCarthy
Filed under: Iraq War, Key Issues, President Bush

http://www.aolelectionsblog.com/2006/10/29/have-bush-and-cheney-committed-war-crimes/

On October 20, Professor Marjorie Cohn became president of the National Lawyers Guild. In an interview with me Sunday, the new president of the NLG identified several instances in which she says President Bush has violated U.S. and international law. Here they are:

1) Bush illegally invaded a sovereign nation under false pretenses and then put laws in place to immunize himself and his high officials from war crimes prosecutions. Even before Bush removed his hand from the Bible Laura held as Chief Justice William Rehnquist swore him in as President, Bush was planning to attack Iraq and change its regime.

2) Bush ignored warnings of the 9/11 attacks, then used that tragedy as an excuse to invade Iraq and push laws through a shell-shocked Congress too timid to stand up for our Constitution.

3) Under the guise of fighting the terrorists, but undoubtedly aimed at those who criticize his policies, Bush inaugurated a secret program of warrantless spying on Americans that violates the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

4) Bush's USA Patriot Act creates a crime of domestic terrorism that the government is using to target environmental rights activists.

5) Bush illegally suspended the Geneva Conventions, ordered the summary execution of those he suspected of terrorist connections, and put policies in place that resulted in torture and inhuman treatment of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo and the CIA's "black sites."

6) Bush pushed the Military Commissions Act through Congress that unconstitutionally destroys habeas corpus rights for non-US citizens and waters down our obligations under the Geneva Conventions. It also allows Bush to classify both US and non-US citizens as "unlawful enemy combatants" and lock them up indefinitely.

Cohn is a criminal defense attorney and teaches criminal law and human rights at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. She lectures on international human rights and U.S. foreign policy. She is a news and legal consultant for CBS News, Court TV, BBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Air America Radio, NPR and Pacifica Radio. Her book, "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law," is to be published, spring 2007 by PoliPointPress. Professor Cohn is the U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists.

Professor Cohn said, "The Guild was founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association which excluded people of color. The Guild's guiding motto is that "human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests."