Thursday, July 13, 2006

Rewriting Common Article 3

It looks like Ted Obenchain (in comments here) was exactly right. The Los Angeles Times today finds signs in Defense Department testimony yesterday before the House Armed Services Committee that "the White House is likely to remain aggressive in asserting its authority over detainee policy." Marty Lederman notes that the Bush administration "is asking Congress for statutory authorization for the United States to violate Common Article 3" of the Geneva Conventions. Jack Balkin draws attention to a new report on Guantanamo issued by the Center for Constitutional Rights and suggests that the Bush administration's stance on Common Article 3 indicates that the administration "believes that the appropriate remedy for violations of basic standards of decency and humanity is not to punish the wrongdoers but to make the conduct legal after the fact."

So much for the restoration of American integrity.