Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Short rant

From what I know of the U.S. Constitution, international treaties that the US signs on to become the law of the land. To wit, Article 6:
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
With that being said, let us look at international treaties that we have signed regarding the use (or non-use) of torture by us (and other signatories):

The Third Geneva Convention (of 1949) which deals with the conduct of handling prisoners of war states (Part 3, Section 1):
"No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion"

The Fourth Geneva Convention (also of 1949) deals with the handling of civilians and non-combatants and states (Part 1, Section1):
...combatants who are hors de combat (out of the fight) due to wounds, detention, or any other cause shall in all circumstances be treated humanely
And goes on to list torture as one of the things that are not allowed to be done to them.

Also, the United States signed the UN Convention Against Torture.

Since the Geneva Conventions and the UNCAT are both international treaties that we (the US) signed on to (and haven't removed ourselves from), then we are constitutionally bound to uphold them, and to investigate and prosecute people who break these "supreme Laws of the Land".

... right?

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