I'm interested what the board thinks about the potential for the Bush Administration to be charged with war crimes. In light of more and more torture accusations and memos coming to the surface, I think it is a valid discussion. From Wikipedia, I found this: "War crimes are defined in the statute that established the International Criminal Court, which includes:

1. Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, such as:
1. Willful killing, or causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health
2. Torture or inhumane treatment
3. Unlawful wanton destruction or appropriation of property
4. Forcing a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of a hostile power
5. Depriving a prisoner of war of a fair trial
6. Unlawful deportation, confinement or transfer
7. Taking hostages

I think a case could be made that the U.S. has committed some these crimes. I understand that the U.S. is not participating in the International Criminal Court, but I wonder is the some international figure may back a statement by suggesting the U.S. has committed War Crimes and should be held accountable. I also think this note could apply where issues of rendition have occurred: "However, that a citizen of one of the 'objector nations' could still find himself before the Court if he were accused of committing war crimes in a country that was a state party, regardless of the fact that their country of origin was not a signatory." What say you?

Prosecution for war crimes is and has always been basically victor's justice. Leaders of strong countries don't get tried.

Hey, there are two "1s". The second 1 and the 4 are quite ridiculous .

When I saw the former Imam at Guantanamo speak, he said that the administration had tried to effectively shield itself from charges of "Depriving a prisoner of war of a fair trial" and "Unlawful deportation, confinement or transfer" by referring to those held at the camps as "detainees" rather than "prisoners of war." And since the American people don't seem to care that there is a concentration camp for Muslims under the adminstration of the government, I'm not sure there's much that's going to happen.

As Jonathan Turley said on Olbermann last night, it was never a question of whether war crimes are being committed, it's a question of who's gonna have the [balls] to bring the charges.

I heard that last too, hence the topic of discussion. It would be interesting to see if someone had the balls to bring up charges.

The UT Law School is one of the few groups that actually has lawyers defending the Guantanamo prisoners and trying to bring about some sort of change. It's a very unpopular position to take.