Exclusive: Germany is Filing a lawsuit Against Rumsfeld, Gonzales & Tenet Over Prison Abuse

[truthpusher]

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1557842,00.html

Friday, Nov. 10, 2006
Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse
A lawsuit in Germany will seek a criminal prosecution of the outgoing Defense Secretary and other U.S. officials for their alleged role in abuses at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo
By ADAM ZAGORIN

Just days after his resignation, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany's top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The plaintiffs in the case include 11 Iraqis who were prisoners at Abu Ghraib, as well as Mohammad al-Qahtani, a Saudi held at Guantanamo, whom the U.S. has identified as the so-called "20th hijacker" and a would-be participant in the 9/11 hijackings. As TIME first reported in June 2005, Qahtani underwent a "special interrogation plan," personally approved by Rumsfeld, which the U.S. says produced valuable intelligence. But to obtain it, according to the log of his interrogation and government reports, Qahtani was subjected to forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, prolonged stress positions, sleep deprivation and other controversial interrogation techniques.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs say that one of the witnesses who will testify on their behalf is former Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the one-time commander of all U.S. military prisons in Iraq. Karpinski — who the lawyers say will be in Germany next week to publicly address her accusations in the case — has issued a written statement to accompany the legal filing, which says, in part: "It was clear the knowledge and responsibility goes all the way to the top of the chain of command to the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ."

A spokesperson for the Pentagon told TIME there would be no comment since the case has not yet been filed.

Along with Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Tenet, the other defendants in the case are Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone; former assistant attorney general Jay Bybee; former deputy assisant attorney general John Yoo; General Counsel for the Department of Defense William James Haynes II; and David S. Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. Senior military officers named in the filing are General Ricardo Sanchez, the former top Army official in Iraq; Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of Guantanamo; senior Iraq commander, Major General Walter Wojdakowski; and Col. Thomas Pappas, the one-time head of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib.

(snip)

link: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1557842,00.html

[Xenotime]

1. I want to be on the jury.

[cliss]

2. OMG.....I NEVER thought I would see this day.

This must be why they hung onto him for so long...

They knew the moment he was jettisoned, he would be facing charges.

FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.

[rainy]

3. I keep saying no matter if the Dems in power want to impeach or not

the world and the people will not let this group of criminals get away with what they have done. Justice will be served and I believe the Democrats, willing or not, will have to implement it or become irrelevant forever.

[melissinha]

10. My sentiments exactly, also with respect to science etc

I always knew in the back of my mind that the rest of the world would be able to objectively or at least see these crimes from a more removed perspective, believe it or not the vaccum the administration has created has no way of controling the rest of the world.

I also know that the advances of science and especially stem cell research will not be completely lost in this national vaccuum because there is a world of scientists out there that are not subject to the administration's power.

Bravo General Karpinski! Stand up for the little guy (take that, Cornyn you jerk!)

[QuestionAll...]

15. yes, yes and yes.

protectionism for war criminals does not fly, or shouldn't.
I am so glad there is another world out there attuned. 'Old Europe' just may bring justice to the new upstart gunslinging assholes.

[fooj]

4. Good. That's music to my ears.

Justice. Pure and simple.

Thank you, Germany. These people are war criminals and they aren't going to be able to hide behind Little Lord Pissypants forever. IMO, LLP ultimately will be going down, as well.

[Generator]

5. I will never tire of this story! KICK!

[lapfog_1]

6. criminal charges

Will the Bush admin ignore extradition from Germany?

Rummy better not travel to any country in the world (even just a stopover for a flight to somewhere safe) that has a treaty with Germany (I'm guessing that's just about everywhere).

[BonnieJW]

7. Please explain to me

how this has any teeth? So Germany is pressing charges and I certainly think these crooks are worthy of these charges, but what now? It seems very symbolic to me. I'm sure they won't be sent to appear in court. And if they are convicted in absentia, what then?

[WinkyDink]

9. Don't be too sure about this. They finally got Pinochet.

[malaise]

14. Remind them n/t

[WinkyDink]

8. So Rummy won't be touring Europe any time soon! Hee!

Maybe Saudi Arabia can shield him, as they did Idi Amin.

[Karenina]

11. His family in Germany

is totally digusted with him and has NO interest in seeing hin or claiming relationship. :evilgrin:

[porphyrian]

12. Holy shit! Cool! - n/t

[elehhhhna]

13. This explains why Sanchez & Rummy have "retired"

[Disturbed]

17. Can Rumsfailed be sued ?

After he is no longer a Govt. Official.

Further Evidence Rumsfeld Implicated in War Crimes
Please read this important post by Marty Lederman, Army Confirms: Rumsfeld Authorized Criminal Conduct.

Here's a key section, but there's more:
The Army's charges against Jordan reflect the view, undoubtedly correct, that the use of forced nudity or intimidation with dogs against detainees subject to military control constitutes cruelty and maltreatment that Article 93 makes criminal. It doesn't matter whether they are or are not "torture," as such; nor does it matter whether the armed forces should be permitted to use such interrogation techniques: As things currently stand, they are unlawful, as even the Army now acknowledges.

But then how can we account for the actions of the Secretary of Defense and his close aides?

On November 27, 2002, Pentagon General Counsel William Haynes, following discussions with Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz, General Myers, and Doug Feith, informed the Secretary of Defense that forced nudity and the use of the fear of dogs to induce stress were lawful techniques, and he recommended that they be approved for use at Guantanamo.
(The lists of techniques to which Haynes was referring can be found in this memorandum.) On December 2, 2002, Secretary Rumsfeld approved those techniques for use at Guantanamo -- and subsequently those techniques were used on detainee Mohammed al-Qahtani.

In other words, the Secretary of Defense authorized criminal conduct.

...

Today's Army charge under UCMJ Article 93 against Lt. Col. Jordan -- for conduct that the SecDef actually authorized as to some detainees -- demonstrates that Rumsfeld approved of, and encouraged, violations of the criminal law.

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2006/04/further_evide...

[elehhhhna]

25. Hell yes! IIRC a sitting Prez can be sued: the Reeps changed that law

especially for Bill Clinton/Paula Jones

[Freedom_from_Chains]

16. I heard Rush ranting and raving about this today but

hasn't this been going on for awhile? Seems to me I heard something about this as it concerns Rumsfeld a couple of years ago.

[stop the bleeding]

18. Man this is a shitty week for Rumsfeld, but it keeps on getting better and

better for us.

[texpatriot2004]

19. I am oh so glad to hear that Gonzo and Tenet are invited too nt

[Jim Lane]

20. Sorry to be a wet blanket, BUT.....

It's just not accurate to say that "Germany is filing a lawsuit." No officer of the German government has taken any action with respect to Rummy and his co-conspirators. What's happened is that several Abu Ghraib and Gitmo victims have gone forum-shopping and decided that maybe they can get justice in Germany. (The two sites that are logical based on the places where the crimes were committed -- Iraq and the U.S. -- are obviously hopeless.)

As Freedom_from_Chains noted (post #16), there was a similar suit in Germany in 2004. It died when the prosecutor declined to pursue it.

The linked article explains why these plaintiffs hope they'll have better luck. Maybe they will and maybe they won't, but at this point I'd have to say the odds are against them.

[truthpusher]

21. Sorry, I was reading 'Germany's top prosecuter' as part of the state...

...either way, they are doing it...and it is a good thing mr.'wet-blanket'

[Jim Lane]

24. Prosecutor's role

I'm a lawyer, but I'm just guessing here. I can't claim to have studied Germany's war-crimes statute in law school. :) My impression from the article, though, is that some private citizens commenced a formal proceeding by which they asked the prosecutor to pursue the case. The prosecutor can decline. It's sort of like the DCCC complaining to the FCC about the Repugs' illegal robo-calls. They have a sound case, and I agree with you 100% that it's a good thing for the effort to be made, but let's not count our chickens before they hatch (on either side of the Atlantic).

Of course, the case might succeed. Furthermore, even if it ultimately fails, there's the possibility of some interim hearings along the way, possibly with damning testimony, ideally even with the German court directing that some relevant documents be made public. Then the administration can either disclose some of its embarrassing secrets or defy a court order.

[bluedigger]

22. Es macht nichts (It doesn't matter)

I don't see where they have any jurisdiction in the matter and I for one am not prepared to surrender my rights as a US citizen to any foreign nation, carte blanche.

That being said, of course Rummy is guilty as hell.

We'll clean our own dirty laundry, Germany, danke!

[Jim Lane]

23. German jurisdiction

I vaguely remember that the outcome last time was that the suit failed for the reason you allude to, namely lack of jurisdiction. I think that, although the German law by its terms confers jurisdiction over all war crimes, the courts and/or prosecutor chose to apply it in more limited fashion: only if significant events in the alleged crime occurred in Germany, or if a German citizen was affected (anywhere in the world). That isn't consistent with what the linked article reports about the 2004 suit, though, so I may be thinking of Belgium. I believe there was a similar attempt there.

[rman]

26. Rummy directly involved in interrogation

Democracy Now
Thursday, November 9th, 2006
War Crimes Suit Prepared against Rumsfeld
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/09/1444246

"There’s actually documents out there, that there’s part of the log that comes out. The log was published of his interrogation. And then there’s a report called the “Schmidt Report,” which was an internal investigation, in which there are statements in there about <b>Rumsfeld being directly involved</b> in the interrogation of al-Qahtani. So this guy has committed -- without any question, this guy has committed war crimes, violations of the Geneva Conventions."