Torture is a prosecutorial war crime under US domestic laws: The Convention Against Torture(CAT) and the 1996 War Crimes Act. It is also a prosecutorial war crime under the Nuremberg & Tokyo Protocols written by the United States of America after WWII. It is a prosecutorial war crime under the Geneva Conventions General Article III of 1949. And all it takes to be charged, convicted and imprisoned-or hanged, is for anyone who is convicted in a court of law for violating any one of these laws. And it only takes the commission of ONE single offense for the wheels of justice to roll over the offenders. Not 100. Not 180. Just one. But we have seen our new President and his Democratically-controlled 111th Congress move heaven and earth to protect the Bush-Cheney war criminal cabal from the long arm of justice. More under the fold...
Our new President has(sadly) used the immense power of his office to obfuscate, obstruct, stonewall, and otherwise cover-up and hide the evidence of their war crimes, thus denying the justice that they sorely deserve in the worst way.
And claiming a "state secrets" privilege that is at best debatable-and at worst, makes him accessory after the fact, really misses the mark. President Obama, as Commander-in-Chief is privy and has unlimited, unfettered access to ALL of the truth, the state secrets, and now has first-hand knowledge of every war crime that Bush-Cheney ever committed.
The day he became our President he no longer has any cloak of "plausible deniability" with which to hide behind any longer. Either he is for the rule of law-or he is for the war criminals who broke our laws; and on the eve of another July 4th celebration, he has cast a dark shadow on everything this great nation ever stood for.
So which is it, Mister Obama? The truth or a lie? Justice or Injustice? Or does it mean we might as well throw our Constitution into the shredder right now and stop lying to ourselves that the rule of law even matters? If so, then we better stop living under this grand illusion that America stands for anything worth fighting and dying for anymore. Because without justice and the rule of law applied to everyone, equally and without prejudice, well, it just doesn't mean a damn thing to me anymore!
President Obama swore an Oath of Office to defend the Constitution, and as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the United States, he is duty-bound to enforce our laws no matter what position of power and influence the perpetrator may hold-without bias, and without playing favorites, just because somebody else found that it's not politically expedient to obey the law. He doesn't have that luxury to cherry-pick and choose who obeys the laws and who gets a pass. His duty is just as clear as his refusal to uphold his oath of office, thus far.
Outing a CIA covert operative not only endangered Valerie Plame Wilson and everyone that she ever had contact with; it is tantamount to giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and in a time of war, that ladies and gentlemen is treason any way you slice this pie. It has a very special significance to me because as a son of a former Commanding General who "wore two hats"(in the regular USAF and as one of the heads of special covert ops), I know how these brave, selfless patriots risk their very lives to defend us from our nations sworn enemies. But those enemies aren't supposed to be within the power hierarchy of our nation's government!
And if our President continues to aid and abett these war criminals in their escape from justice, that makes him just as guilty under the law as though he committed those war crimes by his own orders, signed sealed and delivered by his own hands!
New Evidence Cheney Swayed Reaction to Leak
Discussions of CIA Agent Listed in Filing
By R. Jeffrey SmithWashington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 3, 2009
snip
A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration's public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's employment by the CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration deliberations.
The administration's discussion of Wilson's link to the CIA was meant to undermine criticism by her husband of administration allegations that Iraq attempted to acquire uranium, a matter that her husband had probed for the CIA, according to testimony presented in a 2007 trial.
A list of at least seven related conversations involving Cheney appears in a new court filing approved by Obama appointees at the Justice Department. In the filing, the officials argue that the substance of what Cheney told special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald in 2004 must remain secret.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Read this article by the Washington Post. Analyse the whole thing, read it and weep! Chew it up real good and see if you can stop the uncontrolled urge I had to puke all over my keyboard! I supported Obama. I voted for him. But I did not vote for him so he could let self-confessed war criminals like Cheney walk around bragging how they got away with torture, and how they made light out of how treasonous the act is of outing true American patriots who risk their lives everyday in service to this nation!
Yes, I am pissed about it and I promised everyone here once Obama was elected that I would hold his feet to the fire just as strongly as I held "Little Boots"(Caligula)to the light of examination. Trust is earned; and implicit trust is a premium I'm not prepared to give anyone!
And nobody gets a blank check drawn against my freedom! The public has a right to know all of the truth, no matter how unpleasant it may be, because every law Bush-Cheney broke; every heartbeat they stopped; every drop of blood that was spilled for their lies, was all done in our names.