Posted on 12/06/2004 3:57:38 PM PST by AMBIVILANCEkilledTHEcat
Alleging responsibility for war crimes and torture at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, a human rights group has filed a criminal complaint in Germany against US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top US officials.
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Berlin's Republican Lawyers' Association said they and five Iraqi citizens mistreated by US soldiers were seeking a probe by German federal prosecutors of leading US policymakers.
They said they had chosen Germany because of its Code of Crimes Against International Law, introduced in 2002, which grants German courts universal jurisdiction in cases involving war crimes or crimes against humanity.
It also makes military or civilian commanders who fail to prevent their subordinates from committing such acts liable.
"No other place to go"
"We filed these cases here because there is simply no other place to go," CCR vice president Peter Weiss said in a statement, adding that the US Congress had "failed" to seriously investigate the abuses. "It is clear that the US government is not willing to open an investigation into these allegations against these officials."
The Center for Constitutional Rights noted that while several US soldiers were facing court martial for the abuse and sexual humiliation of prisoners at the US-run Abu Ghraib detention center in Iraq, their superiors looked set to escape discipline.
The complaint names Rumsfeld, former CIA director George Tenet, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Steven Cambone, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, Brigadier General Janis L. Karpinski and other military officers who served in Iraq.
Five victims part of the case
"From Donald Rumsfeld on down, the political and military leaders in charge of Iraq policy must be investigated and held accountable," CCR president Michael Ratner said in a statement issued in Frankfurt, Germany.
The CCR said that the five Iraqis it was representing had been victims of mistreatment including electric shock, severe beatings, sleep and food deprivation and sexual abuse.
It noted that Sanchez and other officers involved in the case were based in Germany. Germany's federal prosecutor now has to decide whether the case warrants further investigation.
DW staff/AFP (win)
Ciao for now pal.
Missed the Zot...woe is me!
Not bad for a third grader. When you get ready to play with the big kids, look us up.
We gave the following petition to the US embassy:
"We, the International Capitalists, Jonge Fortuynisten & ECTT ( Europe Counter Terrorist Team ), would like to express our unconditional support to the Bush Administration's war on terror because the invasion of Iraq removed a serious threat to peace and increased our security.
We thank the American people who did not hesitate to make sacrifices to defend a free world, and we thank the American soldiers for their courage to fight for all of us."
ASPHALT ON STANDBY!!
Oooh, the Germans are mad at me... I'm so scared! Oooooh, the Germans...Uh oh...The Germans are coming after me... Oh, don't let the Germans come after me... Oh, the Germans are coming after me... No, they're so big and strong... Protect me from the Germans!" -- Mr. Burns
Hope you like jam cuz yer toast!
Not in this joint, pal. They're probably out slamming down a Guinness at the pub. LOL
It's the best smell in the world.
LOL!
Click the Pic
Awww...that kitty is adorable. :-)
I was 'drug' before I was dragged. I hate it when that happens.
Hi. Nice to meet you. I am a middle-class white male.
I am also a citizen of the United States of America, not a citizen of 'The World'. Therefore, I recognize no 'world' authority to try me or any of my countrymen in their 'world' courts. You may be all gung-ho to subvert your legal rights to an unelected bunch of supposedly enlightened psuedo-intellectual socialists in Belgium or Germany or wherever, but leave me out of your stupid plans.
Also, the lawsuit you reference was brought by an American group that apparently are inclined to believe, like you, that the United States is crap, and that unless Kofi and some Belgian bureaucrats have endorsed something, then it is worthless.
Please do me a fovor and start wearing an armband, say Red with a hammer and sicle. That way, when the shooting starts, I will more easily be able to acquire targets.
"Universal jurisdiction" does not mean anything unless the person who allegedly committed a war crime is actually actionable in Germany. Such as a former Nazi hiding out somewhere outside the jurisdiction of Germany per se. Any other over-reaching interpretation, by the likes of say Joska Fischer or Schroeder would be -- merely typical liberal over-reaching. Liberal feel-goodism.
Is Rumsfeld going to answer to a German court? Is Pres. Bush going to extradite him? This whole thing is silly.
Anyone, like this esteemed zot-predicted poster, who thinks this is an example of a world-wide condemnation of our policies, is also silly: This is a publicity-stunt, a filing. Jurisdiction shopping in the extreme . . .
Yes, the Third Reich is over. The aftermath caused the German nation to be very sensitive about war crimes and crimes against humanity. Such is what the world community wants the German nation to be, not? If they were not hyper-sensitive about war crimes and crimes against humanity, they would be accused of being . . . well, Nazis, maybe.
So they ARE hyper-sensitive about war crimes and crimes against humanity and get accused of being . . . well, Nazis maybe . . .
"Upper class white American males don't say "Cheers all"."
LoL! You got that right!
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