Rumsfeld is warned: “A torturer is an enemy of all humankind”

[babylonsister]

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Rumsfeld is warned: “A torturer is an enemy of all humankind”

Former US secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld now faces criminal charges in France for ordering the torture of prisoners in Iraq and at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. Charges aganst Rumsfeld were filed with a French court while Rumsfeld was in Paris for talks sponsored by Foreign Policy magazine.

The charges, supported by some the world’s most prominent human rights law groups, formally charge Rumsfeld with "....authorizing and ordering torture".

Those responsible have rarely been called to account. Nonetheless, the need to prosecute those responsible for atrocities has been recognised ever since the International Military Tribunals of Nuremberg and Tokyo. The impunity of responsible persons abets new crimes. The recourse to legal instruments is becoming ever more important in order to effectively uphold human rights.

--European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)

ECCHR is joined by the French League for Human Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and other groups throughout Europe.

Can similar charges against Bush be far behind?

“Rumsfeld must understand that he has no place to hide,” Ratner <ECCHR> added in a statement after filing the complaint. “A torturer is an enemy of all humankind.”

The charges against Rumsfeld were brought under the 1984 Convention against Torture, ratified by both the United States and France, which has been used in France in previous torture cases.

The criminal complaint states that because of the failure of authorities in the United States and Iraq to launch any independent investigation, it is the legal obligation of states such as France to take up the case.

Ratner and his colleagues in France’s legal community contend that Rumsfeld and other top US officials are subject to criminal trial because there is sufficient evidence to prove that they had authorized the torture of prisoners held on suspicion of involvement in terrorist acts.

“France is under the obligation to investigate and prosecute Rumsfeld,” said FIDH president Souhayr Belhassen. “It has no choice but to open an investigation.”

--Rumsfeld Charged with Torture in French Court

It was Rumsfeld’s presence on French soil that gives French courts jurisdiction to prosecute him. Pssst! Don't tell Bush about this.

more...

http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/2007/10/rumsfeld-is-warned-torturer-is-enemy-of.html

[ixion]

1. sending Rummy the Dummy to the Hague would be a good start at restoring

our republic, and our international standing.

[AndyA]

2. No biggie. Rummy will just avoid France from now on.

The seriousness of this will likely escape Rummy and the rest of his gang of torturers.

He probably never really liked France anyway, right? :shrug:

[LakeSamish706]

3. What I want to know is why has similar action against these scum bags...

not been brought in the US?

[Cha]

4. Too bad they don't include the

"We don't do torture"..faux pres(sic) bushit in there, too.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. On a related note, has Henry Kissinger ever been charged as a war criminal anywhere?

[Fridays Child]

6. Chimpy is so freaked out that he's having...

...all of the french doors in the White House replaced with patio sliders. :evilgrin:

[L. Coyote]

7. MAKE NO MISTAKE. This is also an indictment of Bush and Cheney, albeit unnamed

only because they are not in France.

Someone, please invite them to dinner in Paris :rofl:

[kestrel91316]

8. I demand justice for Rummy!!!!

[rodeodance]

9. Here: Like a common criminal, Rummy flees France:

http://www.alternet.org/stories/66425/

[Basileus Basileon]

10. Jesus Christ. I never thought I'd have to read about

the former Secretary of Defense having to flee a friendly nation to avoid criminal prosecution for torture--especially the same week that the Senate is likely to confirm an Attorney General who will support the same policies of torture.

[JohnyCanuck]

14. In 1947 a Japanese officer was sentenced to 15 year hard labor for waterboarding an American

Mukassy won't say Waterboarding is Torture, but in 1947 the US called it a war crime, sentenced enemy officer to 15 years hard labor

Immoral Relativism: George Bush’s nomination of Michael Mukasey for U.S. attorney general — once thought to be smooth sailing — is experiencing a bit of turbulence. The problem is, Mukasey can’t bring himself to say whether or not waterboarding is torture:


During his confirmation hearings earlier this month, Mukasey said he believes torture violates the Constitution, but he refused to be pinned down on whether he believes specific interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, are constitutional.

“I don’t know what’s involved in the techniques. If waterboarding is torture, torture is not constitutional,” he said.

But after World War II, the United States government was quite clear about the fact that waterboarding was torture, at least when it was done to U.S. citizens:

In 1947, the United States charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for carrying out another form of waterboarding on a U.S. civilian. The subject was strapped on a stretcher that was tilted so that his feet were in the air and head near the floor, and small amounts of water were poured over his face, leaving him gasping for air until he agreed to talk.

“Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) told his colleagues last Thursday during the debate on military commissions legislation. “We punished people with 15 years of hard labor when waterboarding was used against Americans in World War II,” he said.

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2007/10/29/mukasey-wont-say-waterboarding-is-torture/

[The Wielding Truth]

11. There is justice. It is coming to * and his cronies.

:toast:

[Bandit]

12. So if France finds him guilty and asks the USA to extradite him

Will the new US President honor that extradition? We know the current Criminal Cabal would never do so but does anyone here thing a Democratic president would do so?

[billyoc]

13. Bounty hunters. nt

[Oak2004]

15. You know, this is how it will end for them

Like Pinochet, like Pol Pot, like other international criminals who spent the final days of their lives in custody or running from justice.

Iraq isn't like the misdeeds of Vietnam (which can be rationalized away by other world leaders as the price of doing business in the world of global politics). Iraq is a flagrant criminal act that has shocked the world's conscience.

[babylonsister]

16. From your lips, or fingertips... I hope you're right! nt