US warns Belgium on war crimes cases(Lawyers Preparing a Case Against President Bush)

Reuters | 3/18/03 | Jonathan Wright

[kattracks]

US warns Belgium on war crimes cases

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) - The United States has warned Belgian authorities about the effects of legislation that allows suits against foreign leaders on what Washington considers to be politically motivated charges, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday.

If such prosecutions proliferate, it could be difficult for senior officials to visit Belgium, which hosts NATO headquarters, he told a group of reporters.

The families of victims of a U.S. attack on a Baghdad shelter in the 1991 Gulf War plan to file a complaint in Belgium against Powell, former U.S. President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and former U.S. commander Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. The complaint would be under a law enabling its courts to hear human rights cases.

Powell was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under Bush, father of current president, when the United States went to war against Iraq in 1991.

Powell joked that the next NATO ministerial meeting might be short because of the prosecution threat.

He added: "It's a serious problem. The Belgian legislature continues to pass laws and modify them over time, which permits these kinds of suits, and it's the same kind of law that affected (Israeli) Prime Minister (Ariel) Sharon."

"We have cautioned our Belgian colleagues that they need to be very careful about this kind of effort, this kind of legislation, because it makes it hard for us to go places that put you at such easy risk," he added. "If you show up, next thing you know you're being... Who knows?"

U.S. pilots attacked the Amiriyah air raid shelter in a residential suburb of Baghdad on Feb. 12, 1991, in the mistaken belief that it was a military command center, not a refuge for civilians. More than 400 people died, including 261 women and 52 children, according to Iraqi official figures.

Powell said the case was without merit.

Powell also said lawyers in Belgium were also preparing a case against current U.S. President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "even before anything has happened," apparently a reference to a possible invasion of Iraq.

The most prominent case so far under the disputed Belgian law was a complaint against Sharon for his alleged role in the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in Beirut.

That case, temporarily suspended while Sharon has immunity from prosecution as prime minister, has severely strained relations between Belgium and Israel. ((Writing by Jonathan Wright;

[tomahawk]

It WAS a command center, but the Reuters F**ks are too STUPID to know that or too LAZY to find out. They are shills for Islamofascism.

[glock rocks]

we can't go to belgium?

bummer. hey, NATO,

[Dog Gone]

Dissolving NATO would take care of the problem, because there is no other reason to go to Belgium, anyway.

[george wythe]

By his own admission, Castro has executed tens of thousands of people for political "crimes."

During the 1970s, Castro sent his troops to Africa to support Marxist guerrilla movements. Eyewitness accounts relate the mass killings of tribes considered potential sympathizers with the enemies of the Marxist guerrillas.

None of those crimes have ever been investigated by the UN or Belgium.

But again, do anyone here really think that the North Korean Butcher Extraordinaire is going to be indicted in Belgium soon?

[oldtimer]

This so called World Court can go pound sand up their clintons.

BTW, and as you probably know, libs like xlinton have long lusted that we would be part of the "world community", meaning that we subvert ourselves to the UN communist pacifist cannibal club.

Let's build our top secret missile/nuclear defense technology, get the UN the hell out of the US...and I think GWB is on a roll.

I think back to the 2000 campaign and the libs were all over FreeRepublic "Go Pat Go", bashing GWB as disguised Conservatives.

We have a great POTUS, and maybe the UN will end up in Paris before this is all over.

[george wythe]

The US has nothing to fear from these Belgian court cases as all the actions taken by the US military are legal

What is legal in the US might be illegal in Belgium.

As a matter of fact, Belgium keeps changing its own laws in order to accommodate this political theater.

[glock rocks]

what should the United States do about the belgium condition?

here's my recommendation...

[MississippiMan]

It's like the world has forgotten that people die in war. That's what it is. It's a tragic thing, but the tragedy makes people want to avoid the next one.

MM

[FreedomPoster]

The next time Dick Cheney is in Europe, he needs to drop in on the Belgians, sit down with their top 2 or 3 HMWIC's in whatever kind of pissant government they have, look them in the eye, and tell them that if they arrest and hold any American citizens for prosecutions under this, that we will consider it an act of war.

And then he should immediately leave, with no opportunity for questions.

[HBAR223]

It is Saddam who put the shelter under a military target. He is the one guilty of war crimes.
BTW... Dr. Evil is from Belgium.

[PETAMember]

The Belgians have an unmatched history of attacking their protectors and sucking up to their enemies. In the opening days of BOTH WW1 and WW2, these dimbulbs concluded that Britain and France were the biggest threats to their sacred neutrality, and barred the Allies from forward-basing troops. Of course, both times, the shrewd Belgians ended up playing doormat for the Germans. What hope is there for a people who just refuse to learn?

[Cicero]

Maybe they should worry about the child rapists and murderers high up in the Belgian government before they worry about political crimes abroad.

[Greenpees]

First,

Let them indict Rumsfeld

Second,

Have Rumsfield go to Belgium and be arrested by the

"frog-lites"

Third,

Rumsfield waits on the tarmac for extraction after kicking the ass of the entire Belgium government.

[Greenpees]

First,

Let them indict Rumsfeld

Second,

Have Rumsfield go to Belgium and be arrested by the

"frog-lites"

Third,

Rumsfield waits on the tarmac for extraction after kicking the ass of the entire Belgium government.

[steveegg]

Yeah, looks like it's about time to re-open the Warsaw Pact under new management.

Interesting way to look at it.

[Wolfstar]

Actually, these actions have been taken under Belgian law, not the International Criminal Court. The goofy Belgian legislature passed a law that enables their courts to try heads of state and others for "war crimes." As for the International Criminal Court, Clinton signed the ICC treaty, but the Senate never ratified it. When he took office, President Bush rescinded his predecessor's signature. So we are not a party to the treaty that created the ICC.

[steveegg]

We have a great POTUS, and maybe the UN will end up in Paris before this is all over.

I prefer Atlantis myself.

[4integrity]

Count me in!

[americanbychoice]

We didn't join the world court, thank god. This is a Belgian law that the legislature passed, the first to be indicted was Sharon. If they keep this up, we may have to sever relations with that country, which has become too big for it's britches. It is the center of Eurabia.

[willy WOXOF]

how come the TOON got a pass?

never mind