American Bar Association Convention Set to Criticize Bush on Interrogations Order

I often disagree with the American Bar Association on issues and, in fact, am not a member because I believe the membership cost far exceeds any usefulness I receive from membership. However, on this issue, the ABA is on the right track and sincerely I hope the resolution passes. What Chimperator Bush and his Christianist regime has done to civil rights of American citizens and the USA's standing in the world is a travesty. Here are some highlights on this issue from Raw Story (http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Lawyers_convention_set_to_criticize_The_0808.html):

The American Bar Association will gather its membership for an annual national convention next week. One topic on the agenda will be President George W. Bush's July 20 executive order on interrogations and torture, which the body may criticize in a proposed resolution. "The resolution concludes that the Executive order is 'inconsistent with US obligations under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions,'" said Michael Posner, the President of Human Rights First, a nonprofit organization that was formerly known as the Lawyers' Committee on Human Rights.

"This resolution will be debated and voted on by the House of Delegates next Monday or Tuesday at the ABA’s annual meeting in San Francisco," the human rights attorney said. "It is noteworthy that the resolution has been endorsed by the ABA’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security, which has been supportive of many of the Administration’s post-9/11 policies and actions and traditionally has favored broad executive authority on matters of national security."

The rebuke of Bush's executive order by the top national organization for attorneys comes in an indirect manner. The resolution calls on Congress to pass legislation that supersedes the July 20 executive order. It also calls on Congress to ensure that wherever detainees are held by US government agencies, including the CIA, they are protected under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Common Article 3 guarantees basic rights of humane treatment for individuals caught up in armed conflict, regardless of their status. In a report accompanying the proposed ABA resolution, the president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York described why corrective action was needed.

"The actions urged by these recommendations are necessary to protect American troops who may be detained by other nations that would be disinclined to honor their treaty commitments in light of the U.S. government’s failure to honor its own," stated Barry W. Kamins. "Furthermore, these actions are necessary to re-establish the nation’s credibility in asserting the rights of people everywhere. The world’s most powerful nation must exercise its power while demonstrating its respect for the rule of law."