You can help ensure a torturer & war criminal (Rummy) is charged

[JohnyCanuck]

for his war crimes.

Courtesy of the Center for Constitutional Rights (http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/home.asp ):

Today, CCR filed a criminal complaint in Germany under their universal jurisdiction law charging Rumsfeld, Gonzales and other high-ranking officials in the Bush administration with war crimes. We’ve taken this step on behalf of 11 Iraqis , and one detainee at Guantánamo Bay subjected to torture and abuse there under Rumsfeld’s specific authorization.

If Rumsfeld is going to be held accountable for authorizing torture and other human rights abuses, we need your help.

The German Prosecutor has discretion to decide whether to initiate an investigation. It is critical that you write to her so she knows that people around the world support this effort. Please urge the German Prosecutor to open an investigation into this case.

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ccr/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5929

At the link directly above theres's an option to submit a pre-formatted letter in German (with English translation) to the German prosecutors encouraging them to investigate the war crimes of Rumsfeld and others in the Bush administration. You also have an option to edit the letter if you wish. Here are some more details on the request by CCR to investigate Rummy's war crimes:

Why Germany?

The complaint is being filed under the Code of Crimes against International Law (CCIL), enacted by Germany in compliance with the Rome Statute creating the International Criminal Court in 2002, which Germany ratified. The CCIL provides for “universal jurisdiction” for war crimes, crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity. It enables the German Federal Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute crimes constituting a violation of the CCIL, irrespective of the location of the defendant or plaintiff, the place where the crime was carried out, or the nationality of the persons involved.

No international courts or personal tribunals in Iraq were mandated to conduct investigations and prosecutions of responsible U.S. officials. The United States has refused to join the International Criminal Court, thereby foreclosing the option of pursuing a prosecution in international courts. Iraq has no authority to prosecute. Furthermore, the U.S. gave immunity to all its personnel in Iraq from Iraqi prosecution. All this added to the United States’ unquestionable refusal to look at the responsibility of those of the very top of the chain of command and named in the present complaint, and the recent passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (see below) aimed at preventing war crimes prosecutions against Americans in the U.S., German courts are seen as a last resort to obtain justice for those victims of abuse and torture while detained by the United States.

http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/GermanCase2006/germancase.asp

Please keep kicked and cross post to other message boards.

[pretzel4gore]

1. damn right....

they executed danny rollings for crimes not a fraction as hideous as this rumbsmell guy's; and not near as cold blooded!
america's penchant for easy answers should be useful, for once. goddammit

[acmejack]

2. Proud signer.

I have my response from the appropriate German authorities.

[focusfan]

3. proud signer also

i sent the petition to some of my friends to sign.I wish they
could go after Bush when he leaves Office.

[DocSavage]

4. Will never

happen. And if it does, it sets a very bad presidence for any member of this govt. present, past or future. Just a question, why doesn't the group in Germany file against Castro, the leader Somolia, N. Korea, China, hell, the list of political leaders that abuse thier citizens and people from other countries.

[mmonk]

5. Probably because they are not representing prisoners

being held by those countries.

[mmonk]

6. Also, this government set the precedent (by having torture as policy),

not international law.

[petgoat]

12. why doesn't the group in Germany file against Castro

Because Castro (and this goes for leaders of the other countries you name)
is not pursuing an agenda of global domination.

Any more questions?

[DocSavage]

13. OK

so it is a purly political agenda. For a bit I actually thought they might have the interest of the people affected.

[petgoat]

14. "it is a purly political agenda."

It is an exercise of legal opposition to a clear and present threat to
world freedom.

Rummy's crimes are crimes under the Nuremberg Principles of international law.
Somebody has to take the historical stand--especially since it looks like the
democrats are more interested in raising the minimum wage than in the essential
task of marking just how far over the line Bush went, and lopping everything
beyond that line off forever.

Internal human rights matters are of a different scale.

[DocSavage]

15. The govt

of the US will never allow an appointed or elected official to be tried in a case like this. You may find a couple of Senators and congressmen that find no problem with it, but the serious players in both parties will never let it happen. You ready for some citizen of Kosovo or Somalia to bring charges against President Clinton and his Sec Def for the what happened there? Never mind setting the precedent for suing future administrations for anything that may happen.

[petgoat]

16. So your position is that US gov't officials are not subject to

international law?

Not even the Nuremberg principles we imposed upon the Germans?

[DocSavage]

19. They would be

if there were any similarity between the third reich and this administration. And if you are comparing the two, you need to do a little reading of history on WWII.

[petgoat]

20. There is a great deal of similarity between the third reich and

this administration.

Most of the difference lies in the fact that this administration has only
been in power for six years. Most of what distinguishes Hitler's
regime from it took place after six years and under the extreme
economic pressures of a long-standing war, aerial bombardment, etc.

[DocSavage]

21. Having known

a man with numbers tatooed on his forearm, and having a father in law that has experienced the hospitality of the Gestapo personally, I think I will continue to believe that there is little in common with this administration and the 3rd Reich. There are a few differences. BTW, if this administration were truly like the 3rd Reich, this board would not be in existence and you would have tatooed numbers on your arm, if you made it that far.

[petgoat]

22. Hitler's extermination camps were not established until1942,

nine years after he took power, and they were established
under the severe economic and social stresses of war on
several fronts.

Behavioral Psychology has come a long way since 1938, and the
fact that the methods have grown more subtle and the economic
stimuli are not yet severe does not change the fact of the
essential similiarity between the Bush regime and the Third
Reich. Harold Pinter has argued that in fact the Bushcists
are MORE dangerous than the Nazis because the USA is the
world's only superpower while Germany was just one world
power among many.

Those who fail to recognize the danger we are still in
in effect arguing that since Bush doesn't have a funny
little mustache and the police don't talk mit funny
gutteral accents when demanding to see our paepers
pleese! that the comparison is inapt. I table sometimes
for World Can't Wait and I have several times had elderly
people come up to me on the street and tell me they remember
Germany in the thirties and this is fascism.

Whether the Democratic majority in Congress will make any
difference depends on whether the Dems are willing to stand
up for American values and the Constitution or whether they
will continue to run interference in their craven way (citing
the need for bipartisan cooperation) for this neofascist regime.

Bush must be impeached and the lines he crossed must be clearly
marked so that future Presidents will know the limits of their
powers and his entire program must be rejected, repudiated,
and overturned.

[grizmaster]

24. They've just started using this law

and I'll place Castro's "crimes" as tiddly winks compared to rummy orchestrating the murder of 100,000 innocent Iraqis and the torture of countless prisoners who have committed no crimes.

And I'm all for using this to get other war criminals. How about we do Kissinger next. He's responsible for the murders of millions.

[DocSavage]

25. Too bad Arafat is

dead, could get him too. He has a little blood on his hands.

[helderheid]

7. recommended

[mmonk]

8. kicking for

another recommend.:kick:

[solara]

9. K&R

[babsbunny]

10. Proudly signed

and thanks!

[niallmac]

11. Done. Cook this turkey..the whole flocking bunch. nt

[Marrak]

17. Kick this Turkey!

Kick

:kick:

[Imagevision]

18. Ny. Times, LA. Times & Washington Post decided to sleep on this one /NT

[grizmaster]

23. K&R and I wish I could recommend it a hundred times more

if our country doesn't have the spine to jail our own war criminals I'm all for encouraging others to do the job our justice department and Congress so far have refused to bring to justice.