no, george, that’s not the way to go

Apparently the Bush administration wants to try and make itself and other U.S. officials immune from war crimes charges, further distancing itself from both the Geneva Conventions and any accountability for its flawed military actions:

The Bush administration has drafted amendments to a war crimes law that would eliminate the risk of prosecution for political appointees, CIA officers and former military personnel for humiliating or degrading war prisoners, according to U.S. officials and a copy of the amendments….

The draft U.S. amendments to the War Crimes Act would narrow the scope of potential criminal prosecutions to 10 specific categories of illegal acts against detainees during a war, including torture, murder, rape and hostage-taking.

Left off the list would be what the Geneva Conventions refer to as “outrages upon [the] personal dignity” of a prisoner and deliberately humiliating acts — such as the forced nakedness, use of dog leashes and wearing of women’s underwear seen at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq — that fall short of torture.

So basically, BushCo wants to allow our government officials and soldiers to be able to act like stupid Americans and abuse prisoners without any recourse.

It’s the wrong move, George.

The right move? Make the United States accountable to the International Court of Justice, which the U.S. hasn’t recognized for itself since 1986 – even though the government has prosecuted others through said court over the past 20 years. We also should allow our citizens, military leaders and government officials to be tried by the Interational Criminal Court, established in 2002 to prosecute extreme war crimes, such as genocide and crimes against humanity.

Sure, some Bush administration members could be charged in said court – as could others from the Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Reagan administrations – but if we’re going to refer people to said court, we need to allow our own leaders to be accountable in kind.

It’s known as being a true participant in the global system – though that’s something that BushCo fails to understand, recognize or care about.