I find it hard to believe that we as American citizens are even we Kossacks are actually having discussions on whether or not an "investigation" should be done into "possible" war crimes by our government.
If we have "investigations" that do not lead to prosecutions, then they better not find any violations of the Geneva Convention or the any other treaty entered into by the United States against torture. If these investigations result is anything else, we have to prosecute.
The reasons for this are many, but include (1) some countries comply with the Geneva conventions not out of some sense of good will, but due to the fear of the global political repercussions they would face should they fail to live up to these globally recognized conventions, (2) The U.S. does not torture, and for this reason, hundred if not thousands of U.S. military lives are saved when enemies surrender to us rather knowing they will be treated humanely... Do we really want to jeopardize this internationally recognized reputation for treatment of our enemies?, and (3) If we don't even punish those guilty of violations of human rights treaties, what amount of respect should be give to economic treaties, whose violation is far less important a mark of integrity on a global scale??????
(more after the fold)
