The Torturer Tries to Save His Own Hide
by Paul Craig Roberts
President George Bush, betrayed by the neoconservatives whom he elevated to power and by his attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, who gave him wrong legal advice, is locked in a desperate struggle with the Republican Congress to save himself from war crimes charges at the expense of America’s reputation and our soldiers’ fate.
Beguiled by neoconservatives, who told him that the virtuous goals of the American empire justified any means, and misled by an incompetent attorney general, who told him that the president of the U.S. is above the law, Bush was deceived into committing war crimes under Article 3 of the Geneva Convention and the U.S. War Crimes Act of 1996. Bush is now desperately trying to save himself by having the U.S. Congress retroactively repeal both Article 3 and U.S. law.
Under the U.S. Constitution, retroactive law is without force, but desperate men will try anything. (more…)