Time for The Hague to Convene a Tribunal
Law professor Jonathan Turley interviewed on MSNBC Friday night
I never thought I would say this, but I think it might, in fact, be time for the United States to be held internationally to a tribunal. I never thought, in my lifetime, that I would say that, that we have become like Serbia, where an international tribunal has to come to force us to apply the rule of law. I never imagined that a Congress, a Democratic-led Congress would refuse to take actions, even with the preeminent institution of the Red Cross saying, this is clearly torture and torture is a war crime. They are still refusing to take meaningful action.
So, we've come to this ignoble moment where we could be forced into a tribunal and forced to face the rule of law that we've refused to apply to ourselves.
His comments come in response to a secret, Red Cross report that concludes that our government is guilty of torture. (I'd recommend reading the entire Glenn Greenwald blog post for a perspective on the several issues which inform Turley's assessment.)
I'm not normally one to argue for the prosecution and incarceration of anyone. However, the current administration's human rights violations are so grievous that there is no other remedy which has a prayer of restoring the rule of law other than prosecution.
Blanket pardons are likely forthcoming during the last few days of the administration, and a spineless Democratic congress seems averse to prosecuting its constitutional duty.
The only entity that will not be constrained to honor the president's pardon would be an international tribunal convened to prosecute the war crimes of the past 7 years.
Read the Greenwald post. It's a road map to a just government and an America I could support.