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;

[CFC__VRWC]

Belgium is becoming the anus of Europe.

Belgium already IS the anus of Europe, and it's developing a severe case of diarrhea. If it keeps the dribbling up, Dubya's going to have to break out the extra-large corncob.

[meema]

bump

[airedale]

Maybe someone should bring charges against the Belgian troops for their dereliction of duty when they fled in Rwanda where they were peacekeepers and as a result of their fleeing the massacres continued.

[montag813]

The answer seems so simple...Congressional action to ban ALL Belgian and French imports. This would bring their respective economies to their knees...total social chaos would result. Here's to hoping Bush gets nasty when all is said and done.

[marty60]

Excuse me, but the almighty UN approved of the Gulf War in 91. This is just more Saddam BS.

[hobbes1]

Wouldn't that be rich. 50 or so HIGHLY motivated Mossad types, wreaking havoc in Belgium.

[sheik yerbouty]

The French and the Belgians can say "Lettuce marry".

[Area51]

Sounds like a dandy place to try out the M.O.A.B.!

[Sci Fi Guy]

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

Israel's Sharon was indicted for something that his allies did.

He has been accused of mass murder and indicted because his soldiers did not prevent a militi group from attacking a palestine camp in Lebanon. The Belgium expected the average Israeli soldier on a check point to have read the minds of the militi members as they passed by, and stopped them.

Bush could be indicted for something a free Iraqi allie does, or some war crime done by an enemy soldier if we could have read their minds too.

[george wythe]

It is of paramount importance that one day very soon President Dubya Bush both publicly and EMPHATICALLY discredit, disavow, and denounce ANY authority whatsoever that the farcical ICC

I’m seeing a silver lining here.

Before Belgium revealed this outrageous stunt, I had a hard time convincing people about the wisdom of avoiding the ICC.

Every time I brought up the issue of the possible misuse of the ICC against American servicemen, I was laughed out as a clown proposing an unlikely scenario.

Guess what? The Belgian played their hands too soon, before the US was tricked into joining this un-American court.

From now on, it will be very difficult to sell this ICC to the American people, and that my friend, “it’s a good thing.”

[Brian Allen]

<< U.S. pilots attacked the "Amiriyah air raid shelter" in a residential suburb of Baghdad on Feb. 12, 1991, in the [Certain knowledge] it was a military command center, not [Realizing it was being disguized underneath] "a refuge for civilians." [Some] ... people died, .... according to Iraqi [Peter Arnett and Cresent News Network promulgated] propaganda-ministry figures.

[F16Fighter]

"I’m seeing a silver lining here...From now on, it will be very difficult to sell this ICC to the American people, and that my friend, “it’s a good thing.”"

Hear, hear, but the ICC may wind up as a vampire who won't quite die.

Short attention spans mean Dubya still needs to drive the stake through the ICC's heart while Brussels' ulterior motives are still fresh in everyone's mind.