ACLU Clamoring for Criminal Probe of Bush

Slam ex-prez over authorizing waterboarding
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 12, 2010 6:19 AM CST
ACLU Clamoring for Criminal Probe of Bush
Former President George W. Bush gives a Veteran's Day address, Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010, at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.   (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

The ACLU and some US officials are calling for a criminal investigation of George W. Bush after he acknowledged directly authorizing the use of waterboarding ("damn right") in Decision Points and throughout his book tour, the Huffington Post reports. “The admission cannot be ignored,” wrote the ACLU in a letter to the attorney general. “In our system, no one is above the law or beyond its reach, not even a former president.”

“Under our statute, under our international law, we are bound to prosecute,” noted a House Democrat, but it’s unlikely the administration would follow through on such a request, he said. “They say, let`s look forward, not backward, by that standard no one would ever prosecute any crime.” A British lawyer said Bush’s “retirement travel plans may well be circumscribed,” since he could be arrested in countries which have adopted UN torture rules.
(More George W Bush book stories.)

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