Benderman Defense Trust

 Congress needs to stop pussy footing around with this administration and start impeachment proceedings immediately for the vice president and the president. Congress passed a bill to fund the ill begotten war in Iraq and the president vetoed it. They offered a compromise bill with timelines with a waiver provision and he threatened to veto it. This president has no intention of ever pulling the troops from the Middle East because there is where the Project for the New American Century acolytes told him to put them and to never bring them out.

When Nancy Pelosi said that impeachment is off the table for this administration it made me think that she may have something to gain from not impeaching the most criminal administration this country has ever seen. What Nixon did was child’s play compared to this, what Clinton did was careless and stupid compared to this. Nixon wanted to know what the opposition was doing to get elected and Clinton wanted to get a little on the side.

Bush and his minions want to use our military and economic might to take over the Middle East and stay there permanently.

They have killed almost 3,500 American service members in the process, they have gotten 25,000 grievously wounded, some of which will never fully recover, and we do not know how many are suffering from mental health and emotional problems because they do not allow those numbers to be seen. There is no telling how many innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed because of this administrations desire to be the rulers of the world. These people are criminally abusing our military and yet our congress is doing nothing to stop them.

Their arrogance in doing this is astounding to me as they tell us to mind our own business when we question what they are doing. A good example of this is the situation with Paul Wolfowitz and the World Bank, this man thought that he could just give his female companion a huge raise and cushy position and not have any questions asked. And he was supposed to be the person who stopped the corruption at the World Bank.

Vice President Cheney is the person who has master minded this situation in Iraq, wanting to use our brave men and women serving in the United States armed services to line his own pockets with more money than he could possibly spend. He has disrespected their desire to defend America by selling them a bill of goods that only benefits him and  his company, Halliburton with no bid and uncontested contracts.

Here is a prime example of the arrogance of these people in the area of trying to control what our congress can learn about the true nature of what is happening in this war of choice and against a much maligned nation of “Muslim Fanatics”.

If congress does not have the nerve to stand up to this administration then they should get out of the way of people who do have the nerve and who will not hesitate to use it. This entire government we have currently is undermining everything our constitution says and sets forth as law. I am going to show you some examples;

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.

According to the Red Cross/Red Crescent, the U.S. has signed each of these international agreements. However, a signature does not bind a nation to the treaty unless the document has also been ratified by that nation (in the U.S. , Congress ratifies such treaties). Generally, these treaties are open for signature for a limited time period after they're written. The U.S. ratified all the Geneva Conventions with the exception of the two protocols of 1977.

61. Prisoners of War Defined

A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:

(1) Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict, as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.

(2) Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfill the following conditions:

a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;

(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;

(c) That of carrying arms openly;

(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.

(3) Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.

(4) Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews, war correspondents, supply contractors, members of labour units or of services responsible for the welfare of the armed forces, provided that they have received authorization from the armed forces which they accompany, who shall provide them for that purpose with an identity card similar to the annexed model.

(5) Members of crews, including masters, pilots and apprentices, of the merchant marine and the crews of civil aircraft of the Parties to the conflict, who do not benefit by more favorable treatment under any other provisions of international law.

6) Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading force, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war.

B. The following shall likewise be treated as prisoners of war under the present Convention:

(1) Persons belonging, or having belonged, to the armed forces of the occupied country, if the occupying Power considers it necessary by reason of such allegiance to intern them, even though it has originally liberated them while hostilities were going on outside the territory it occupies, in particular where such persons have made an unsuccessful attempt to rejoin the armed forces to which they belong and which are engaged in combat, or where they fail to comply with a summons made to them with a view to internment.

(2) The persons belonging to one of the categories enumerated in the present Article, who have been received by neutral or non-belligerent Powers on their territory and whom these Powers are required to intern under international law, without prejudice to any more favorable treatment which these Powers may choose to give and with the exception of Articles 8, 10, 15, 30, fifth paragraph, 58-67, 92, 126 and, where diplomatic relations exist between the Parties to the conflict and the neutral or nonbelligerent Power concerned, those Articles concerning the Protecting Power. Where such diplomatic relations exist, the Parties to a conflict on whom these persons depend shall be allowed to perform towards them the functions of a Protecting Power as provided in the present Convention, without prejudice to the functions which these Parties normally exercise in conformity with diplomatic and consular usage and treaties.

C. This Article shall in no way affect the status of medical personnel and chaplains as provided for in Article 33 of the present Convention. (GPW, art. 4.)

Section III. GENERAL PROTECTION OF PRISONERS OF WAR

Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.

Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited. (GPW, art. 13.)

Women shall be treated with all the regard due to their sex and shall in all cases benefit by treatment as favorable as that granted to men.

Prisoners of war shall retain the full civil capacity which they enjoyed at the time of their capture. The Detaining Power may not restrict the exercise, either within or without its own territory, of the rights such capacity confers except in so far as the captivity requires. (GPW, art. 14.)

And we now have two republican presidential candidates, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, advocating law breaking and the complete disregard for our constitution when they say they would allow torture on enemy prisoners of war.