Marjorie Cohn, interviewed by Randy Dotinga
From Randy Dotinga: “On the legal front, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have few bigger enemies than Marjorie Cohn, a professor at San Diego’s Thomas Jefferson School of Law.
So Cohn fights on. In an interview, she talked about the responsibility of soldiers to disobey wrongful orders, the prosecution of government lawyers and the country’s ability to withstand the distraction of putting a former president and vice president on trial.”
What are your biggest recent successes on the war-crimes front?
My testimony has corroborated the reasonableness of the belief of some service members that it would be illegal for them to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. We’ve had some success with that testimony.
How so?
In one case, the service member was given no time in custody. In another case, he was separated from the military under very favorable conditions.
Can someone be prosecuted for merely having a legal opinion?
What do you think should happen to the lawyers in this case?
Should they go to prison?
How far up would you extend the prosecutions for war crimes?
What do you think will be the negative consequences if Bush and Cheney are prosecuted? Will the country be torn apart, and does that worry you?
The Republicans will oppose it. The country is divided on many issues; it’s divided on health care and the war in Afghanistan.The fact that some people, especially Republicans, might be upset if members of the Bush Administration are brought to justice should not prevent the president and attorney general from doing the right thing.
What about the issue of distraction? A trial would be all the country would think about for months or years when there are other issues out there.
There are all kinds of distractions. We are capable as a country of taking care of business in many different areas at the same time. That’s a red herring.What do you think President Obama should do now regarding the wars abroad?
He should pull out and use diplomacy and foreign aid and more peaceful means of resolving problems than escalating the military involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.Is there anything that will change the tide in your favor?
What could change the tide is a strong and vigorous anti-war movement. We don’t have that now. We did during Vietnam, and one of the reasons was that we had a draft, and college students protested.What is your vision of humanity? Some people look at war and conflict and think that humans fight, this is inevitable. Then there are the peace activists who say we can work things out through diplomacy instead of violence.
I’m not a pacifist. There are times when people have to act in self defense. But the United States government has not been acting in self defense.Most problems between countries and within countries can be handled with peaceful means. Violence and fighting is a last resort. But unfortunately, the U.S. has used it as a first resort too often.