Gen. Petraeus: We violated the Geneva Conventions
MacCallum: Where do you think those people should go?
Gen. Petraeus: Well, it's not for a soldier to say. What I do support is what has been termed the responsible closure of Gitmo. Gitmo has caused us problems, there's no question about it. I oversee a region in which the existence of Gitmo has been used by the enemy against us. We have not been without missteps or mistakes in our activity since 9/11 and again Gitmo is a lingering reminder for the use of some in that regard.
MacCallum: What about the concern that a Khalid Sheikh Muhammad or anybody of that ilk might be tried here in a US court and the possibility that some of the treatments that were used on them that they could go free.
Gen. Petraeus: Well, first of all, I don't think we should be afraid of our values we're fighting for, what we stand for. And so indeed we need to embrace them and we need to operationalize them in how we carry out what it is we're doing on the battlefield and everywhere else. So one has to have some faith, I think, in the legal system. One has to have a degree of confidence that individuals that have conducted such extremist activity would indeed be found guilty in our courts of law.
MacCallum: So you're confident that they will never go free.
Gen. Petraeus: I hope that's the case.
MacCallum: (Ticking time bomb scenario)
Gen. Petraeus: ....T here might be an exception and that would require extraordinary but very rapid approval to deal with, but for the vast majority of the cases, our experience downrange if you will, is that the techniques that are in the Army Field Manual that lays out how we treat detainees, how we interrogate them -- those techniques work, that's our experience in this business.
MacCallum: So is sending this signal that we're not going to use these kind of techniques anymore, what kind of impact does this have on people who do us harm in the field that you operate in?
Gen. Petraeus: Well, actually what I would ask is, does that not take away from our enemies a tool which again have beaten us around the head and shoulders in the court of public opinion? When we have taken steps that have violated the Geneva Conventions, we rightly have been criticized, so as we move forward I think it's important to again live our values, to live the agreements that we have made in the international justice arena and to practice those.
Ok people -- What Else Do We Need to Convict The Bush Administration of War Crimes?
Scoop!
May 29, 2009 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's certainly shocking when a member of the government finally calls a spade a spade and publicly admits what everyone else has understood for years but the government has been denying.
May 29, 2009 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey Coonsey, goooood find!!!
May 29, 2009 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess what he said is good. But when a country takes steps that violate the Geneva Conventions, is "rightly criticized" enough of a consequence?
May 29, 2009 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
To see the look on Cheney's face would be priceless. I wonder what Hannity, Limbaugh and the gang has to say now?
May 29, 2009 6:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cheney's reply, "So?!?" Petraeus is a soldier. Cheney has no respect for the military. If he did, he might have served.
May 30, 2009 2:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
A clear statement from a military general. Thanks!
May 29, 2009 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why can't we believe that somebody like Gen. Petreaus would want to follow the Rule of Law in all respects. But I think what he is saying is that he or anybody else in the his position, if faced with a ticking time bomb scenario would run it up the chain all the way up to the Pres if necessary, for the cover needed required by the situation, all through the back channels of course.
Otherwise, we need to stick to our basic values.
May 29, 2009 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
One element here: he says we should have a high degree of confidence that mass murderers would be convicted in U.S. courts. I think that's probably right.
But people can be forgiven for being unsure. You can almost purchase reasonable doubt in our wacky system where a defendant with unlimited funding can afford a lawyers like the late Johnny Cochran or Alan Dershowitz. Klaus von Bulow made this work for him. It took several tries to get John Gotti. O.J.'s first trial in particular changed the way people viewed this.
Also, yes, quite an admission on violating Geneva Conventions! Cheney mustn't be happy!
May 30, 2009 3:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Um, proof?
May 30, 2009 7:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Quite so. On the one hand, I think that I'm as convinced as anyone that Bush, Cheney, and many others, in and out of uniform, are guilty of crimes, including crimes under the Geneva Conventions, the UN Convention against Torture, and US law. And I reject any argument that some "greater good" favors "looking ahead not back". On the other hand -- Yes; there is the matter of proof, introduced under and only under the rules of evidence, in a court of law (sitting in open court, no kangaroos invited), with the defendants represented by competent legal counsel and with the right to appeal any final order entered against them, if any such order is in fact entered.
May 30, 2009 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
I just finished watching the three part series on Torturing Democracy (url: http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/) Someone there is definitely starting to connect the dots with what lead up to the US breaking the Geneva Convention for a quick and dirty kangaroo courts. I suspect there'll be many more Generals hitting the talkshow circuits making the same profound statements. By the way, in the video, many of the government legal beagles during the Bu$h years who were against the policy kept saying that regardless of what the President authorized, torture is a war crime and those who authorized or committed the acts could face international criminal charges. I suspect this is why Obama has been side stepping the issue...he'll let the media do their job and get the public all fired up on the subject.
May 30, 2009 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink