White House Trying To Limit Reach Of Criminal Law On Blackwater, Contractors
Michael Roston, Huffington Post
A tug of war has broken out between Congress and the Bush administration over legislation that would put private security contractors on a shorter legal leash.
The White House and Justice Department are trying to limit the reach of U.S. criminal law on Blackwater and other private war contractors. With a potential veto threat looming, several senators now want to alter the bill in a way that satisfies both the Bush administration and members of the House of Representatives, who overwhelmingly passed similar legislation last month.
Negotiators are continuing to work out the proposed bill’s language in the hopes of introducing it before the week is out.
In the House, staff members with knowledge of discussions surrounding H.R. 2740, the MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act, said that while they were “encouraged” about the progress of the negotiations in the Senate, there were certain lines that could not be crossed.
There’s new life in the accountability movement! The People v Bush: One Lawyer’s Campaign to Bring the President to Justice and the National Grassroots Movement She Encounters Along the Way (Chelsea Green) has just been published. Author Charlotte Dennett will be in Cambridge January 20 at the Harvard Bookstore at 7 pm to discuss it and the following day, January 21, at 7 p.m. in New York City at the 92nd St Y. Vincent Bulgiosi is flying all the way from the west coast and will join Naomi Wolf in helping her launch the book on the 21st.
