The Pennsylvania Progressive

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Thursday, July 13, 2006

Bush Still Doesn't Understand Hamdan Decision

The White House is asking Congress to pass legislation legalizing its kangaroo courts for detainees held at the Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba. This is quite disheartening because it shows a complete lack of comprehension in the Oval Office for the rule of law. Complete and absolute. Either that or a complete disdain for rule of law. The Supreme Court ruled just last week that these military tribunals that provide no legal rights to defendants are against U.S. law and ALSO violate our international treaty obligations, mostly the Geneva Conventions.

U.S. law is comprised not only of laws that Congress enacts but also any and all international treaties into which the country participates and approves. This means Congress cannot simply pass a new law that is in violation of the Geneva Conventions. Is George W. Bush this stupid, this stubborn, have this little regard for law, or all of the above?