
July 14, 1955: The United States ratifies the 1949 Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War. Of the four conventions, the third is the “Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.”
August 21, 1996: President Clinton signs the War Crimes Act of 1996. “After 40 years, after the ratification of the Geneva Conventions, [we discovered] that it was not self-enacting, and we actually have never passed the necessary legislation to accept jurisdiction within our Federal courts to prosecute war crimes that we were aware of,” says Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe.
Subsection (d)(1)(A) of the War Crimes Act expressly defines and forbids torture: “The act of a person who commits, or conspires or attempts to commit, an act specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation, coercion, or any reason based on discrimination of any kind.”
Violation of the War Crimes Act is a felony with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, or death if the torture victim dies.
September 11, 2001, 12:05 pm: Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld is told that al Qaeda is likely responsible for the morning’s attacks, based on a phone call the NSA intercepted 15 minutes after the Pentagon was hit.
September 11, 2001, 2:40 pm: Rumsfeld demands “Best info fast. Judge whether good enough hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] at same time. Not only UBL [Osama bin Laden].… Need to move swiftly.… Go massive. Sweep it all up. Things related and not.”
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