Coincidentally, according to Al Jazeera, Rummy has cancelled the trip.
Just a quick FYI, I've also heard that Kissinger won't visit certain European countries because if he does the governments in these countries will arrest him and put him on trial for war crimes. My point is, this kind of thing is not without precedent.
Check out the article to read more about it over at English.AlJazeera.Net. Click over to page 2 of this entry if the link is bad.From English.AlJazeera.Net:
Rumsfeld cancels trip after accusations
Friday 21 January 2005, 13:23 Makka Time, 10:23 GMT
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cancelled a planned visit to Germany after a US human rights organisation asked German authorities to prosecute him for war crimes, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) has learned.
Rumsfeld has informed the German government via the US embassy that he will not take part in the Munich Security Conference in February, conference head Horst Teltschik told dpa on Thursday.
The New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights filed a
complaint in December with the Federal German Prosecutor's Office against Rumsfeld accusing him of war crimes and torture in connection with detainee abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
Rumsfeld made it known immediately after the complaint was filed that he would not attend the Munich conference unless Germany quashed the legal action.
German legislation violations
The organisation alleges violations of German legislation, which
outlaws war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide independent of the place of crime or origin of the accused.
The prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe reportedly is examining the
roughly 170-page complaint to see whether an investigation is warranted.
The Centre for Constitutional Rights said it and four Iraqis allegedly tortured in US custody filed a complaint with German authorities against Rumsfeld, former CIA director George Tenet and eight other senior military and civilian officials over abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in Iraq.
The organisation said it had turned to German prosecutors "as a court of last resort" because the US government "is unwilling to open an independent investigation" and had "refused to join the International Criminal Court".
On February 10th German prosecutor refused to hear the case against Rumsfeld, Tenent, Cambone, Gonzales and six military officers, concluding that:
ReplyDelete"the United States is not unwilling to prosecute high-ranking officials for the abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in Iraq and that it is up to the United States to pursue initial legal action against the alleged perpetrators of torture and their superiors. The decision claimed that German prosecutors would intervene only if U.S. authorities failed to act.
What does this mean? CCR will file an appeal. Now, more than ever, is the time to join with 11,000 other signatories to CCR's letter to the German prosecutor in support of this case. Its here.
Well, what do we expect from a country that invented the Nazis? They're now on "our" side again--ignoring the reality that is staring them in their very faces. The USGov isn't "prosecute high-ranking officials," they are REWARDING THEM. Tenet got a God damn medal for Christ's sake!! The only people prosecuted for war crimes have been the two lowest on the totem pole!!
ReplyDeleteThere's something about being in government that forces you to be blind and/or stupid. It may be a requirement to run in the first place...
Thanks for that link, Apian--I'll be blogging on it in the few days.