by Thomas J. DiLorenzo / Lew Rockwell website –

http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo57.html

The neocon cabal is beginning to make the case for imprisoning or possibly executing members of Congress who oppose the war in Iraq.

An example of this development is a December 23 Insight magazine article by senior editor J. Michael Waller entitled “When Does Politics Become Treason?” (Insight is an appendage of the Washington Times, the voice of the Washington, DC neocon establishment.)

Naturally, the totalitarian/neocon case for imprisoning or executing the Bush administration’s political opponents is based on precedents established by Abraham Lincoln.

Members of Congress Were to Be Tried Before Military Tribubals
‘Lincoln’s policy was to have treasonous federal lawmakers arrested and tried before military tribunals, and exiled or hanged if convicted,’ Waller announces.

He quotes Lincoln as saying that “Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs who should be arrested, exiled or hanged.”

Lincoln “spoke forcefully of the need to arrest, convict and, if necessary, execute congressmen who by word or deed undermined the war effort.”

Of course, Lincoln defined a “saboteur” as virtually anyone who disagreed with his politics and policies and subsequently ordered the military to arrest literally tens of thousands of Northern political opponents, including dozens of opposition newspaper editors.

On the other side of the debate, the Nuremberg Tribunal established the moral obligation of politicians and individuals to confront illegal acts of their governing leaders. The concept is enshrined in the following statement:

“Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience…Therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring”
— Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950