Could US officials be charged with war crimes? The Bush administration appears to be taking the possibility seriously. According to the Washington Post, the Bush administration has drafted amendments to the 1996 War Crimes Act. The law criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions and threatens the death penalty to US officials if U.S.-held detainees die in custody from abusive treatment. The White House is proposing changes that would narrow the scope of punishable offenses. The new list would exclude humiliating or degrading treatment of prisoners. Military law experts believe the Bush administration is effectively re-writing parts of the Geneva conventions.