When will the war crimes trials begin?

This from Think Progress, dated June 18, 2008.

At a meeting of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil Rights on June 18, which was a hearing on torture, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson confessed to Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) "that over 100 detainees have died in U.S. custody, with up to 27 of these declared homicides."

Nadler asked Wilkerson this: "Your testimony said 100 detainees have died in detention; do you believe 25 of those were in effect murdered?"

Mr. Wilkerson responded: "Mr. Chairman, I think the number's actually higher than that now. Last time I checked it was 108, and the total number that were declared homicides by the military services, or by the CIA, or others doing investigations, CID, and so forth -- was 25, 26, 27."

Nadler asked: "Were declared homicides?"

Wilkerson replied: "Right, starting as early as December 2001 in Afghanistan."

Nadler again: "And these were homicides committed by people engaged in interrogations?"

Wilkerson: "Or in guarding prisoners, or something like that. People who were in detention."

Nadler: "They were in detention, not trying to escape of anything, declared homicides by our own authorities."


According to Think Progress, "A February 2006 Human Rights First report found that although hundreds of people in U.S. custody had died and eight people were tortured to death, only 12 deaths had 'resulted in punishment of any kind for any U.S. official.'"

These are war crimes! How can this go unpunished? Have we become the enemy?