John D. Hutson, a retired rear admiral who was the top uniformed lawyer in the Navy until 2000, is one of a number of retired senior military lawyers who have filed briefs challenging the administration’s legal approach.
“We’re at a crossroads now,” Admiral Hutson said. “We can finally get on the right side of the law and have a system that will pass Supreme Court and international scrutiny.”
He and some other current and former senior military lawyers are scheduled to testify this week before one of the three Congressional committees looking into the matter. He said he plans to urge Congress to avoid trying to get around last month’s Supreme Court ruling.
Beginning shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the military lawyers warned that the administration’s plan for military commissions put the United States on the wrong side of the law and breached international standards. Most important, they warned, the plan could endanger members of the American military who might someday be captured by an enemy and treated the way detainees at Guantánamo have been.
As far as I'm concerned, the families of every member of our military killed in retaliation for the treatment of Gitmo and Abu Gahraib prisoners should be suing BushCo for wrongful death.
2 comments:
This has been a great victory!!
What better way to show the world that our system, however fucked up it gets sometimes, is supported by the People and is designed to correct itself. The system is designed to prevent anyone from ruling us. I take special note that this court is a conservative one and their ruling strengthened the law. Not that I like this court! But whatever make-up of the court has been, the Supreme Court has a long history of supporting the law and not politics. They're appointed for life and don't have to care about politics or even public opinion.
I agree, this is huge, and given some of the more boneheaded decisions coming out of the SCOTUS recently, a bit unexpected.
Although I can't believe I am even saying that. OF COURSE we must abide by the Geneva Convention. We've known that all along. It's just that we've gotten so used to BushCo pulling shit out of their ass that we've forgotten what basic truths are anymore.
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