Military Commissions Act of 2006 V. Statements before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (Senator Patrick Leahy; MG Scott C. Black, Mr. Steven G. Bradbury, RADM Bruce MacDonald, MG Jack Rives, BG Kevin M. Sandkuhler)

Statements before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (Senator Patrick Leahy; MG Scott C. Black, Mr. Steven G. Bradbury, RADM Bruce MacDonald, MG Jack Rives, BG Kevin M. Sandkuhler) Military Commissions Act of 2006 [i] (August 2, 2006)

handle is hein.leghis/mca0020 and id is 1 raw text is: Statement
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
RESCHEDULED--The Authority to Prosecute Terrorists Under The War Crime Provisions of
Title 18
August 2, 2006
The Honorable Patrick Leahy
United States Senator, Vermont
Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy,
Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee
The Authority to Prosecute Terrorists Under
The War Crime Provisions of Title 18
Judiciary Committee
August 2, 2006
In 1996, working with the Department of Defense, Congress passed the War Crimes Act
to provide criminal penalties for certain war crimes committed by and against Americans.
The next year, again with the Pentagon's support, Congress extended the War Crimes Act
to violations of the baseline humanitarian protections afforded by Common Article 3 of
the Geneva Conventions. Both measures were supported by a broad bipartisan consensus,
and I was proud to sponsor the 1997 amendments.
The legislation was uncontroversial for a good reason. As I explained at the time, the
purpose and effect of the War Crimes Act as amended is to provide for the
implementation of America's commitment to the basic international norms we subscribed
to when we ratified the Geneva Conventions in 1955. Those norms are truly universal:
They condemn war criminals whoever and wherever they are.
That is a critically important aspect of the Geneva Conventions and our own War Crimes
Act. When we are dealing with fundamental norms that define the commitments of the
civilized world, we cannot have one rule for us and one for them, however we define us
and them.
As Justice Jackson said at the Nuremburg tribunals, We are not prepared to lay down a
rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked
against us.
In that regard, I was disturbed to read recent reports that the Department of Justice is
drafting legislation to narrow the scope of the War Crimes Act to exclude violations of
the Geneva Conventions and retroactively immunize past violations. Before taking such a
drastic step there is much we need to know. In particular, I have been concerned for some
time that this President has thought he could immunize conduct otherwise illegal. I want
to know whether the Administration has sought to immunize illegal conduct and on what
basis.
But the Chairman convened this hearing today to consider the Government's authority to

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