You think that just because President Obama is afraid of the consequences of investigating the criminal Bush administrations State Sponsored Torture program that the former President and his henchmen are off the hook? Well think again. And this is not just on theoretically either. I'll have a lot more detail on this on Monday, but here is what I got from a friend of mine at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
President Bush was supposed to be in Geneva on Monday. He was going to address a group at the Hotel President Wilson. It was to be one of those big dollar events where the Ex-President speaks to a rah-rah crowd for a big passel of cash. That is now canceled, and just canceled this evening. Why is that?
Well you see the CCR and its allies in Europe had been preparing a bit of a surprise for the 43 President of the United States and unindicted torturer. They had been working for months to bring two complaints against George W. Bush under the International Conventions Against Torture. One in the name of Al Jazeera reporter Sami el-Hajj and a current CIA detainee Majid Khan, who is to this day held at Guantanamo Bay without charge.
CCR and the European Center of Constitutional and Human Rights have put together a 2.500 page case against the criminal President Bush and had intended to file it Monday when Bush was in Geneva. They had been keeping the a pretty tight lid on this, talking to reporters under a news embargo and preparing a press conference. Some how it seems that it has leaked and lo and behold, W suddenly can't attend and the event is being canceled.
Of course this swill be spun by the organizers and the handlers for the former President, but I agree with Jen Nessel of the CCR when she says:
Whatever Bush or his hosts say, we have no doubt he cancelled his trip to avoid our case.
You may be able to play the law in one country. Your allies might be able to make the cost of following the rule of law so high that the administration following you finds their hands tied, but that does not make you safe from international law. It really doesn't make you safe from domestic law, it just might buy you enough time to age and die without being indicted for your war crimes.
It has been said before and it bears saying again, if you are a torturer you had better not make any plans to travel outside the United States. You might think you can brag about ordering torture and swagger around. Keep thinking that, because the wheels of justice grind slow but they grind exceedingly fine!
I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be able to talk about the real possibility of the members of Bush Administration facing a court for their war crimes. The only thing that would have made it better is if it was a U.S. Court. But justice is justice and I'll take any step towards it that I can get.
What's on your minds tonight Firedogs? The floor is yours. |
