Fwd: [ cacklinggrackle] Will Dems allow Bush to pardon himself?

[Guest guest]

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Lassiter Jonez <ljonez23

Sep 27, 2006 9:09 AM

[cacklinggrackle] Will Dems allow Bush to pardon himself?

cacklinggrackle

 

 

 

" Thirty-two years ago, President Gerald Ford created a

political firestorm by pardoning former President

Richard Nixon of all crimes he may have committed in

Watergate -- and lost his election as a result. Now,

President Bush, to avoid a similar public outcry, is

quietly trying to pardon himself of any crimes

connected with the torture and mistreatment of U.S.

detainees.

 

" The 'pardon' is buried in Bush's proposed legislation

to create a new kind of military tribunal for cases

involving top al-Qaida operatives. The 'pardon'

provision has nothing to do with the tribunals.

Instead, it guts the War Crimes Act of 1996, a federal

law that makes it a crime, in some cases punishable by

death, to mistreat detainees in violation of the

Geneva Conventions and makes the new, weaker terms of

the War Crimes Act retroactive to 9/11.

 

" Press accounts of the provision have described it as

providing immunity for CIA interrogators. But its

terms cover the president and other top officials

because the act applies to any U.S. national. "

 

Full story at:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/68705,CST-EDT-REF23B.article