Ok, I know I said that I wouldn't engage in any political discussions. I don't think you guys will find my position to be unreasonable but I figured I'd give you some warning. I was just so shocked when I saw this that, i don't know...
This video is from this past week. In it, President Bush says that he doesn't know how the law is being enforced on private contractors. These are organizations that work closely with the government providing military services including interrogating prisoners at Abu Ghraib. When this person asked Rumsfeld the same question, he said he wasn't sure but he thought they would fall under Iraqi law. Her contention is that Iraqi law is far from enforceable at this juncture and some other solution need to be proposed. It doesn't take to much imagination to come to that conclusion.
Here's the thing. Even Rumsfeld is wrong. I knew that immediately when I was watching it. I remember from back when (sometime in 2004) that people claimed private contrators were being used to interrogate prisoners and there were claims they were torturing. If this was true, people wondered how they would be brought to justice.
Their conclusion? "[A]s Phillip Carter, a former Army officer now at UCLA Law School, says, “Legally speaking, [military contractors in Iraq] actually fall into the same gray area as the unlawful combatants detained at Guantanamo Bay.” Normally "an individual’s crimes would then fall under the local nation’s laws. But, of course, there are few established Iraqi legal institutions.” That is why we are running prisons in Iraq in the first place€” and, besides, coalition regulations explicitly state that contractors don’t fall under their scope."
This isn't some conspiracy theory. This was an op-ed in the LA times. And they still haven't figured this one out? Opinion alert- it's my feeling that they don't really care. An op-ed in the LA times- "the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States (after The New York Times)" - would draw the attention of more than a few staffers in the White House. And if I've known about this issue for the past 2 years, someone in the White House or Pentagon knew as well. It's just not a priority.
That or they need to hire me because I'm a genius, and I'm pretty sure you guys don't think that's true...
2 comments:
Jon...most likely you are a genius and my IQ is 2 standard deviations below yours because my eyes were glazed over by the 2nd paragraph. Some of us (shamefully so) just don't care about politics. But, I think you probably have some very wise points for those who care about that stuff. The political gene just didn't make it into my genetic makeup. I know...how are we related???
I think your a genious and sexy! Post more political stuff. The chicks LUV it.
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