Bush to the Hague?

Reagan’s Commandant of the Marine Corps and one of his White House lawyers say that George W. Bush is a war criminal.

Gen. P.X. Kelley, Marine Commandant under Reagan, and Robert F. Turner, a Reagan-era White House lawyer, seem to have caught Bush Derangement Syndrome. There’s been a lot of that going around lately.

Having established by clear reasoning that the latest White House rules on interrogation are in violation of Common Article III of the Geneva Conventions, which the Supreme Court has ruled protects all detainees, Kelley and Turner go on to say:

Violations of Common Article 3 are “war crimes” for which everyone involved &#8212 potentially up to and including the president of the United States &#8212 may be tried in any of the other 193 countries that are parties to the conventions.

Kelley and Turner argue that even actions short of “torture” can still constitute war crimes.

Why does a four-star Marine general support the terrorists? Maybe Tony Snow can explain.

Since we’re not really going to send bush to the Hague for trial, and since the Military Commissions Act more or less completely immunizes him from domestic prosecution for his war crimes, President Obama should consider establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com