Bush’s Third Close Call:Desmond Tutu calls for Bush, Blair to face war crimes charges at the Hague.
Number of state parties to the International Criminal Court from its creation to 2006-11-19 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC/CPI), Netherlands. Nederlands: Het Internationaal Strafhof (ICC/CPI), Den Haag. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Bush should answer. US forces committed grievous war crime violations of the Hague and Geneva Conventions, UN Charter, Nuremberg Principles, and US Army Field Manual 27-10.
English: International Criminal Court (ICC) logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Desmond Tutu calls for war crimes charges for Blair, Bush – World – CBC News.
Sep 2, 2012 Associated Press
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, on Sunday Sep 2 called for George Bush and Tony Blair to face prosecution at the International Criminal Court for their role in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Tutu, the retired Anglican Church’s archbishop of South Africa, wrote in an op-ed piece for The Observer newspaper that the ex-leaders of Britain and the United States should be made to “answer for their actions.”
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This blogger writes: Good ol’ boy, former U.S. president George Bush (aka “Shrub”) must be sweating it by now. Yet another of his international nemeses has publicly called for his arrest and indictment at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, (ICC) where he would face charges of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity (torture, mainly).
Archbishop Tutu also tapped Bush’s primary ally in the Iraq misadventure, former British prime minister Tony Blair, as equally complicit in war crimes perpetrated by their countries’ troops in Iraq.
This incident is the third serious threat against Bush’s liberty by the authorities that we know of. Swizterland in February 2011 nearly collared Bush for arrest; Bush was again nearly nabbed by an international coalition of lawyers out to arrest him when he visited Surrey, British Columbia, Canada in October 2011. Veiled political interference in the B.C. Courts got Bush off in this instance. It’s good to have friends in high places.
Archbishop and Nobel Peace Laureate wants Bush behind bars
This time retired South African Anglican Church archbishop Desmtond Tutu slammed home an op-ed piece for The Observer newspaper that was guaranteed to terrorize Bush. The former U.S. president should be “made to answer” for offences against international laws that protect civilians and prisoners in times of war.
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Various international bodies since the end of World War II have enacted wide-ranging laws checking particularly odious behaviours of combatants in war.
The Nuremberg Charter was the decree issued on August 8, 1945 to include not only traditional War Crimes but also Crimes against Peace in its deliberations against Nazi offenders. The United Nations takes general responsibility for the prosecution of Crimes Against Humanity. The International Criminal Court (ICC) situated at the Hague in the Netherlands prosecutes Crimes Against Humanity sent its way from the UN, and this court follows definitions set out by the ‘Rome Statute.‘ The Rome Statute says Crimes Against Humanity are defined as systematic, serious attacks on human dignity, including acts of grave humiliation or degradation of persons, and practised as government policy.
Persons in Canada suspected of violating Human Rights must face arrest. Why not Bush?
Numerous national governments around the world have also passed their own laws falling under the aegis of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Both Canada and the U. S. in modern times have passed laws against torture and war crimes. Canada’s Immigration Act demands that any person suspected of crimes of violation against human rights be arrested and either expelled from Canada, or tried criminally in Canada. Why not George W. Bush?
This is the tangled web that a man in Bush’s situation must face as he moves about the world. He could fall into jeopardy anywhere along the complex strands of human rights laws extant around the globe. If not snared by an international law, he could as easily find himself indicted under a domestic law.
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Reality Check: Accepted wisdom in most parts of the world agrees that nobody would dare to actually arrest and indict a former president of the United States. It just couldn’t happen!
This blogger asks: Why not? What exact exemption from the law is it that protects certain – always First World – offenders from facing their crimes? Offending individuals from Developing World countries have been, and presently are being tried at the ICC for War Crimes. The first person ever to be brought before the ICC since it’s inception in 2006 was Congolese Thomas Lubanga, leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots, for child recruitment into the army. The list goes on ( But How Peculiar! Please note that all of the faces attached to the following names are brown-skinned!): Liberian Charles Taylor, Congolese Germain Katanga, Congolese Mathieu Ngudiolo Chui; Rwandan Jean-Pierre Bemba, Rwandan Callixte Mbarushimana and last-but-not-least, Cote D’Ivorian Laurent Gbagbo, the darling man who took to bombing citizens who failed to vote for the right party in elections .
Think about Mr. Gbagbo. Hmmm……Electoral fixing you say?…
“Our boy, George”!
….Remember the American presidential election of 2000? Didn’t Our Boy George appear to have his hand in a few Floridian ballot boxes? With a big assist from his powerful ex-president daddy, that is. And further assist from daddy’s good friend whom he had happily placed on the Supreme Court of Florida himself!?
Something smells bad.
The bizarre thing is, it’s no secret now. The invading armies of the U.S and its allies in the Iraq war rained down terror and death upon hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians – de-humanizing the unfortunate meat targets as mere “collateral damage.” Further, the whole world now knows beyond any doubt that U.S. troops routinely tortured their prisoners in hell-holes like Abu Ghraib prison. Bush himself confesses proudly in his memoirs published in 2011 to sponsoring torture. “Hell yes!” he responds to a questioner about the alleged use of torture.
By this blogger’s clock, Time is a’Wastin.’ There’s a Hard Rain Gonna Fall’ over Georgey Porridgey’s house one day. The disgraced ex-pres ( and his double-down disgraced ex-vice pres, FAT MAN Cheney) are afraid. They may just be the most fraidy persons on the planet!
And THAT would be a peck o’ Justice!
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Related articles
- Bush’s Third Close Call:Desmond Tutu calls for Bush, Blair to face war crimes charges at the Hague. (americanotstandingstill.com)
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I Dig These Blogs
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Hello Yoko:
The theme used is “iNove”, a free one supplied by WordPress.com, but I have added my own custom background – the silver crinkled paper.
Thanks for your interest!
WT
Hi Bessere:
My my, I”m getting lucky – two “I likes” in a row! Well, thanks for your support, and I promise I will keep after my topic of stealth and corruption in the falling U.S. empire.
WT
5. International Criminal Court (ICC) Treaty, to be set up in The Hague to try political leaders and military personnel charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Signed in Rome in July 1998, the Treaty was approved by 120 countries, with 7 opposed (including the US). In October 2001 Great Britain became the 42nd nation to sign. In December 2001 the US Senate again added an amendment to a military appropriations bill that would keep US military personnel from obeying the jurisdiction of the proposed ICC.
Great post, really enjoyed it!
— Kendall