Former President George W. Bush may feel quite comfortable with bragging about his support for “waterboarding” and may even believe, as he claimed, that he single-handedly saved Britain in doing so. But he seems to have forgotten why his administration was comparatively secretive about the practice in the first place.
This is because internationally waterboarding is recognized as torture and the practice has been banned. President Bush’s comments, in his newly published memoirs, then amount to an admission of an extremely serious international crime, and it is one that many are taking quite seriously.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R – UT) even said he was willing to participate in an official Congressional probe of the former president’s torture. This may be a tough sell for many longer serving officials, who have their own culpability to worry about but Chaffetz, elected in 2008, says he was not elected to protect the Bush Administration, and his votes against the Afghan War suggest he is more than willing to defy party pressure.
A number of human rights groups have also been quick to call for the prosecution of the former president on the basis of the admissions in his book, with Amnesty International warning that the US has an obligation under its international agreements to prosecute Bush for torture. Bush insisted that his legal adviser assured him waterboarding wasn’t technically torture, but it seems that this claim may eventually be tested in Congressional probes, or in a court of law.
Best news I've heard all week. Confiscate his home and money, put his ass in a prison, and let his wife work the parking lot behind Waffle House for rent money.
Lets hope it really happens.
There was a Democratic Congressman, Nadler of NY, on TV last night pushing for this, too. He's one who has made a lot of comments critical of Obama. Obama will be making a big mistake to do nothing about this. The murderer GOP candidate, Pantano, actually lost, despite Palin and Giuliani endorsing him and despite the Democratic candidate not hitting him on it. The voters don't want to elect monsters.
I would point out that everyone knew he was a war criminal and a torturer in 2004 when they re-elected him. America loves its war criminals and monsters. Let's just hope that some justice can be had despite the lack of morality on the part of most americans.
Won't happen. The pro-war Republicans and Tea Party denizens will denounce anyone who supports a probe as a terrorist loving traitor. Fox News will jump in with 24 hour coverage on the 'traitors' and will concoct all types of legal nonsense to shield Bush et al.