Rummy To Be Accused of War Crimes in Lawsuit

[Vita Curator]

 In my newspaper today was an article stating that Donald Rumsfeld is expected to be accused of war crimes in a lawsuit to be filed in Germany next week.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) will file the suit on behalf of a group of Iraqi detainees as well as the so-called 20th hijacker, who is currently being held at Guantanamo Bay.

Michael Ratner, President of CCR said, ""The former secretary actually authorized a series of interrogation techniques.  They included the use of dogs, stripping, hooding, stressed positions, chaining to the floor, sexual humiliation and those types of activities."

Ratner says that these "techniques" are torture and violate the Geneva Conventions.

Ratner will be traveling to Berlin next week and plans to file the suit on Tuesday. The suit is being brought in Germany because a "universal jurisdiction" law there allows German courts to claim jurisdiction over war crimes even if they were committed outside that country's borders.

He also wants to put the U.S. interrogation policy on trial.

I am a little confused though as to why Ratner thinks that there will be success this time.  CCR is the organization that filed a similar lawsuit in Germany two years ago charging Rumsfeld, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior officials for the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.  The suit was dismissed though because German prosecutors said the case had no connection to German citizens or to events that took place in Germany.

So, has this "universal jurisdiction" law just been recently passed?  Is this why Ratner is pursuing the culprits again in Germany? Why does he believe that he will be successful this time?  Anyone?

[Sibling Chatty]

The Neo-Cons lost their grip and can't continue to threaten other countries, and bully them.

Also, there's a HUGE sentiment in Germany (reported by military families) to boot the Americans off the bases and reclaim the land.

The rest of the world now knows that if Duh Preznit gets assy with them, the Congress WILL tell him to shut up. They didn't have any assurances before Tuesday that he wouldn't be allowed to do whatever he wanted in retaliation.

[DeadPoet]

I) The German "Völkerstrafgesetzbuch" gives German courts the (theoretical) possibility to to prosecute crimes against international law (as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes) The laws were passed in 2002; they only apply if the case isn't already handled by local courts or by international courts. The laws apply even to crimes committed in foreign countries by foreigners with no link to Germany. In this case, Rumsfeld is accused of having violated the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of of prisoners of war, which is defined as a war crime by international law.

This is a very complicated part of international jurisdiction, so I won't go into the details...

II) The anti-american sentiment in Germany isn't that strong and it's more linked to the foreign policies of the last years ("You're either with us or with the terrorists" etc) than to the bases, which don't play a role in public life. I live 20 km away from a base, and I never heard complaints about it...I'm not saying this is untrue, but it's not extreme.

[Vita Curator]

I) The German "Völkerstrafgesetzbuch" gives German courts the (theoretical) possibility to to prosecute crimes against international law (as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes) The laws were passed in 2002; they only apply if the case isn't already handled by local courts or by international courts. The laws apply even to crimes committed in foreign countries by foreigners with no link to Germany. In this case, Rumsfeld is accused of having violated the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of of prisoners of war, which is defined as a war crime by international law.

This is a very complicated part of international jurisdiction, so I won't go into the details...

Thank you for posting that explanation DP, I was having difficulty understanding why CCR thought that they would be successful this time around when it was thrown out by the German Court just two years ago.

[Vita Curator]

I received this forum from a friend from The University of Pittsburgh School of Law:

Donald Rumsfeld:  The War Crimes Case

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/11/donald-rumsfeld-war-crimes-case.php

<snip>

"Even though Rumsfeld didn't personally carry out the torture and mistreatment of prisoners, he authorized it. Under the doctrine of command responsibility, a commander can be liable for war crimes committed by his inferiors if he knew or should have known they would be committed and did nothing to stop of prevent them. The U.S. War Crimes Act provides for prosecution of a person who commits war crimes and prescribes life imprisonment, or even the death penalty if the victim dies.

Although intending to signal a new direction in Iraq with his nomination of Gates to replace Rumsfeld, Bush has no intention of leaving Iraq. He is building huge permanent U.S. military bases there. Gates at the helm of the Defense Department, Bush said, "can help make the necessary adjustments in our approach." Bush hopes he can bring congressional Democrats on board by convincing them he will simply fight a smarter war.

But this war can never get smarter. Nearly 3,000 American soldiers and more than 650,000 Iraqi civilians have died and tens of thousands have been wounded. Our national debt has skyrocketed with the billions Bush has pumped into the war. Now that there is a new day in Congress, there must be a new push to end the war. That means a demand that Congress cut off its funds.

And the war criminals must be brought to justice - beginning with Donald Rumsfeld. On November 14, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild, and other organizations will ask the German federal prosecutor to initiate a criminal investigation into the war crimes of Rumsfeld and other Bush administration officials. Although Bush has immunized his team from prosecution in the International Criminal Court, they could be tried in any country under the well-established principle of universal jurisdiction.

Donald Rumsfeld may be out of sight, but he will not be out of mind. The chickens have come home to roost."


*If you have the time read the entire article, it is very good.

[Sibling Chatty]

II) The anti-american sentiment in Germany isn't that strong and it's more linked to the foreign policies of the last years ("You're either with us or with the terrorists" etc) than to the bases, which don't play a role in public life. I live 20 km away from a base, and I never heard complaints about it...I'm not saying this is untrue, but it's not extreme.

The people that have reported it are families of the enlisted stationed there. It's a combination of "your stupid government" and "Do we NEED to give up this much of our country to YOUR military?" The fine line between being a boost to the area economy and a hinderance to finding living space, parking, material goods, etc...and resentment that not only is there the BX to compete for the GI dollar, there's also the pretty much universally hated WalMart.

The Ugly American syndrome is alive and well, and the WalMart 'philosophy' isn't helping a bit. That WalMart has realized their errors and sold to Metro hasn't actually helped clear some of the resentments that had built up, especially over labor practices that were just too Americanized (and management/buyers that were the same.)

[Sibling Spoffish]

Excellent article. I agree that Bushya's idea of making the war 'smarter' is to my mind like saying that global warming isn't a problem because we have air conditioning.

In his book, Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, Seymour Hersh described the "unacknowledged" special-access program (SAP) established by a top-secret order Bush signed in late 2001 or early 2002. It authorized the Defense Department to set up a clandestine team of Special Forces operatives to defy international law and snatch, or assassinate, anyone considered a "high-value" Al Qaeda operative, anywhere in the world."

I would like to see Bush in a similar case to Rummy, myself.

[DeadPoet]

The people that have reported it are families of the enlisted stationed there. It's a combination of "your stupid government" and "Do we NEED to give up this much of our country to YOUR military?" The fine line between being a boost to the area economy and a hinderance to finding living space, parking, material goods, etc...and resentment that not only is there the BX to compete for the GI dollar, there's also the pretty much universally hated WalMart.

The Ugly American syndrome is alive and well, and the WalMart 'philosophy' isn't helping a bit. That WalMart has realized their errors and sold to Metro hasn't actually helped clear some of the resentments that had built up, especially over labor practices that were just too Americanized (and management/buyers that were the same.)

[arrogance]
It may not be scientifically proven, but I think that a large part of the local anti-americanism is about inversely proportional to the level of education of the person in question. Every country has the equivalent of "rednecks"   .
[/arrogance]

Generally, you don't see the American soldiers at all (they seem to sit in their bases and watch their kids play baseball). I really don't understand why people seem to have a problem with the bases; they wouldn't notice the difference if the Americans would go home (Personally, I haven't heard any complaints about them).

[Sibling Chatty]

It's the 'wifey-shopping expeditions' and, I would imagine, some Wal-Mart backlash, from what I can understand. The redneck attitude doesn't hurt, true.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

It's the 'wifey-shopping expeditions' and, I would imagine, some Wal-Mart backlash, from what I can understand. The redneck attitude doesn't hurt, true.

For a second I considered pulling a Kerry, but I'll refrain.