Posted on 12/01/2004 7:03:55 AM PST by pabianice
BERLIN, GERMANY — A group of American civil rights lawyers filed a criminal complaint in Germany on Tuesday, asking for an investigation of top U.S. officials including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former CIA director George Tenet, saying they are responsible for acts of torture committed at Abu Ghraib.
Attorneys from the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights said U.S. investigations of the Abu Ghraib abuses have not gone far enough and that they hope a German investigation will keep the situation at the top of the U.S. government’s agenda.
“I expect a serious investigation by Germany and would want it to prompt the U.S. government to say: ‘We’ve got to seriously investigate this ourselves,”’ attorney Michael Ratner said at a news conference in Berlin.
“This is not something we would have preferred to do . . . We are left with the last resort in my view.”
The attorneys said that since the United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court they could not take their case there, and chose Germany because it has legislation that allows for the prosecution of war crimes and human rights violations across national boundaries.
The complaint was filed Tuesday morning with the German Federal Prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe, said spokeswoman Frauke Scheuten.
“We have received it and are looking into it,” she said.
Scheuten said she could not comment on whether her office was likely to investigate the complaint. German attorney Wolfgang Kaleck, who helped file the complaint, said that it could be a long time before a decision is made whether to take up an official investigation.
Those charged in the complaint include Rumsfeld, Tenet, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez — former commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq who is now stationed in Germany — as well as seven other Pentagon and military leaders.
The abuses “were clearly authorized at the highest levels” of the chain of command, attorney Peter Weiss said. It “goes considerably beyond the question of merely inhumane treatment.”
The Abu Ghraib scandal last spring began when photos that showed U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi inmates became public, causing worldwide outrage.
So far, only low-level military service members have been charged in the abuses at the prison. An investigation headed by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger was independent, but it has been criticized because its panel was appointed by Rumsfeld.
An Army investigation headed by Maj. Gen. George Fay said the Army’s top commanders in Iraq shared some blame for management failures.
Four Iraqis who say they received electric shocks, beatings and sexual abuse, and that they were deprived of food and sleep are also part of the complaint filed Tuesday.
Hey Peter - put a pair of panties on your head and STFU
If the Germans accept this case than the U.S. should cut all aid and pull the remaining troups out!
Closing all of our remaining bases in Germany would be enough to put Germany in a near depression.
Yes, Rummy has a lot of enemies. I'm glad he's not mine.
These ACLU anti American Anti Christian Cretins are really becoming a true source of Evil.
The U.S. should see that the ACLU receives no funding in any way from taxpayer funds at any time.
They have too much money and too much tome on their hands.
Keeping the US out of the ICC was a smart thing to do. Otherwise every liberal in the world would be using it to further their agenda.
Obviously this is an attempt by the neo-communists to further divide Germany and the U.S. and make Europe even more anti-U.S. The ACLU is getting ambitious. No longer satisfied with just persecuting Boy Scouts, the ACLU is trying to dismantle NATO. That is what this ultimately is -- an attempt to undermine NATO.
How does one spell T-R-E-A-S-O-N?
This is very simple to fix. The U.S. criminal code needs to be amended to provide that any person not situated in the United States who requests, seeks or issues an indictment against a U.S. official, acting in his or her capacity as such, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment. (Of course, the exception to this provision is if the U.S. consents via treaty to such indictments being issued). Throw into this proposed statute the ability of the U.S. to actively seek extradition or issue indictments against such persons who violate the statute.
In short, if some Judge in Europe wants to get political by issuing indictments or if the ACLU wants to get cute, they should never travel over here or think about coming home lest they face prosecution.
I thought we already had laws regarding this. It is called sedition, I think. Time for the HUAC or whatever it was called to be adjourned!
I hate the ACLU and the UN as much as anyone, BUT I never baught off on the prosicution of only the enlisted soldiers being at fault. By covering the Officers and civilians also at fault with a coat of whitewash, the Army has been asking for someone to bring this to light.
Yes, but that covers OUR citizens. This law would tell foreign citizens that if they participate in this type of shyt, they are quilty of a felony in the U.S. and will be prosecuted here, i.e. tit for tat.
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