Gen Petraeus: US violated Geneva Convention, the court of law could try terrorists: we made mistakes

[kpete]

Source: Crooks & Liars

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/gen-petraeus-believes-our-values-and-co

Gen. Petraeus joined FOX News and Martha MacCallum today and gave a blockbuster interview, but not one Fox expected. Once again, he called for the responsible closing of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. He also said that mistakes were made after 9/11 and that the Army Field Manual is all that we need to use to interrogate prisoners. In addition, he said that we have to have faith in our judicial system and we should try the Khalid Sheikh Muhammads in a court of law. Martha tried to give him the ticking time bomb scenario to justify torture and he really didn't bite. He did say maybe an Executive Order could be appropriate, but that it really wasn't necessary. Petraeus repudiated pretty much most of what Limbaugh Republicans and the Rove/Newt/Cheney Party have been saying.
(rush transcript)

.............

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 ope rationalize them in how we carry out what it is we're doing on the battle field 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.

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.


Read more: http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/gen-petraeus-believes-our-values-and-co

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VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaYkOuaEsUA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Frawstory.com%2F08%2Fnews%2F2009%2F05%2F29%2Fpetraeus-geneva-conventions%2F&feature=player_embedded

[JuniperLea]

1. I get the feeling...

That we are just now actually hearing Gen. Patraeus, that what we heard before during the BushCo Regime, was cherry picked like everything else.

[truthisfreedom]

3. Nail, meet hammer.

I think you've got something there.

[Downwinder]

6. I think you are hearing CYA. n/t

[EFerrari]

13. Bingo. This guy wouldn't recognize a moral value if it fell on his head.

[pleah]

16. Yep. n/t

[No Elephants]

18. Hard to know which is the real Patraeus. Maybe he just goes wherever his bread is buttered at that

moment.

Another one who has not been a Profile in Courage, IMO.

[bemildred]

2. Hmmmmm....

This ought to be good.
:popcorn::popcorn:

[jberryhill]

4. "I don't think we should be afraid of our values we're fighting for."

Bravo.

[shadowknows69]

5. Zoinks!

[totodeinhere]

7. This is quite a switch from Moveon.org's "General Betray Us."

At the time I thought that Moveon was going too far and I got a lot of criticism from progressive friends for saying so. But now based upon this interview it looks like the good general is not so bad. Or could it be that he knows there is a new sheriff in town now and he had better get with the program?

edited for typo

[EFerrari]

14. MoveOn didn't come up with that nickname. His men did. n/t

[TheWatcher]

15. "Now that our Football team won, these Criminals can be trusted, and I can believe in them now."

:crazy:

[tabasco]

8. This guy can't be trusted.

He's an ass-kisser just like Colon Bowel.

[Wednesdays]

9. K&R

:kick:

[Senator]

10. So "as we move forward," do we all get our virginity back too?

Or is the General preparing to "live our values...{and}...the agreements we have made" by surrendering himself to competent legal authority to be prosecuted for his part in this confessed violations?

I'm guessing not.

He's still the weasel he physically resembles -- just trying to butter both sides of his DC Daily Bread.

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[No Elephants]

19. I should have read the entire thread before

posting. As it turns out, though, we both posted about bread buttering.

Which, of course, means that I like the way you think!

[Senator]

20. Well, if the bread fits -- butter it.

Then court martial it, dishonorably discharge it, and send it to Levenworth.

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[flyarm]

11. committing torture..and rape and sodomy and murder with the sanctions of the president of the USA..

committing torture..and rape and sodomy and murder with the sanctions of the president of the USA..is not a freaking mistake!!!!!!!!!!! what was done in our names was deliberate and well thought out war crimes!

[mrdmk]

12. There is a difference between making mistakes and doing something on purpose

These people are and were leaders. As a leader you do not act on impulse. Bush and Cheney have a history of thuggery and their response to 911 (on their watch) was totally inappropriate. Bush and Cheney must be responsible for the action they took. Nothing else to said...

[24601]

17. The Vice President is not in the Chain of Command

He's not the Deputy Commander in Chief. Orders go from the President to the Secretary of Defense to the Unified Combatant Commanders. In reality, the only organization over which the VP presides is the Senate - and he can't "give orders" to Senators - well I suppose free speech means he can give them, but they are under no obligation to comply.