Posted on 11/30/2004 8:46:12 PM PST by Sixgun Symphony
Berlin - An international legal team filed a criminal complaint in Germany on Tuesday against US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top US officials over the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Berlin's Republican Lawyers' Association said they and five Iraqi citizens mistreated by US soldiers were seeking a probe by German federal prosecutors of leading US policymakers.
They said they had chosen Germany because of its Code of Crimes Against International Law, introduced in 2002, which grants German courts universal jurisdiction in cases involving war crimes or crimes against humanity.
If Germany prosecutes, then we ought to declare war on Germany.
We should also round up these New York lawyers for being agents of a hostile foriegn power.
"New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)"
It's time to kick them out of the country.
good idea...how are those old Nazis doing living in comfort and retirement?
"grants German courts universal jurisdiction in cases involving war crimes or crimes against humanity."
You've gotta be kidding!
Ditto that. As a proud American of German descent let me ask: Will German arrogance never cease?
German crying about war crimes and crimes against humanity. What an irony.
Good thing we united that country.
What were the liberal talking points about US joining international courts? Don't worry?
Nuke them from space. It's the only way to be sure...
CCR= Center for Communism Restoration
A watery tart lobbed a sword at them.
So now the Germs, another EU country, wants to act as a world court. I say let them try the fools.
Didn't there used to be a country in Europe somewhere called Germany?
By-the-way, isn't Germany one of the countries implicated in the rapidly building investigation about the Oil-for-food collaboration? Perhaps they should be trying to get on our good side rather than to taunt the hornet's nest with a stick.
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=5850
Human rights group sues Rumsfeld for war crimes
11/30/2004 10:00:00 PM GMT
A U.S. human rights group has filed a criminal complaint in Germany against U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, accusing him and other senior U.S. officials of war crimes and torture at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.
On Tuesday, the New York-based U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Berlin's Republican Lawyers' Association, and four Iraqi civilians, who have been subjected to various forms of torture and abuse by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison, filed a criminal complaint with Germany's Federal Prosecutors.
CCR said it has chosen Germany because of its Code of Crimes Against International Law, introduced in 2002, which grants German courts universal jurisdiction in cases involving war crimes or crimes against humanity.
The CCR accused Rumsfeld, former CIA Director George Tenet, a senior defense official and seven U.S. military officers, including the former top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, of being responsible for all forms of torture and abuses that the Iraqi civilians were subjected to at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.
"We filed these cases here because there is simply no other place to go," CCR vice president Peter Weiss said in a statement.
"It is clear that the U.S. government is not willing to open an investigation into these allegations against these officials," he added.
The human rights group, moreover, said that this move was the last resort after the U.S. Congress failed to conduct a proper investigation into Abu Ghraib scandal.
"In a way I am here with a very heavy heart... I would have preferred that our own courts would have taken what happened seriously... but that is not the case in the United States at the moment," CCR President Michael Ratner said on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the U.S. embassy in Berlin refused to comment on the move. Mr. Rumsfeld, Sanchez and the other senior officers mentioned in the complaint also did not comment on the case.
The Abu Ghraib scandal broke out when photographs showing U.S. soldiers torturing, abusing, and sexually humiliating Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison first surfaced last April, sparking outrage all over the world.
Also, a top-level U.S. inquiry accused the military chain of command of being responsible for creating the environment that allowed the abuses to take place, however, only seven lower ranking military police and an intelligence soldier faced trial so far.
The group said that while U.S. soldiers were facing court martial for abusing and torturing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail, their superiors looked set to escape discipline.
"From Donald Rumsfeld on down, the political and military leaders in charge of Iraq policy must be investigated and held accountable," the CCR president said.
CCR urged German prosecutors to launch an immediate investigation, but has no firm expectation as to the outcome.
"I would also want to see this case possibly prompting the United States government to say we have to seriously investigate these crimes ourselves," Ratner told reporters.
"I don't know where this will lead but certainly if war crimes have been committed it should lead to significant jail sentences for people," he added.
CCR vice president Peter Weiss said that U.S. government’s failure to pursue those responsible and its justification of various forms of violations due to "extraordinary circumstances" had set a dangerous example.
"This authorization that has come from the highest levels... gives a green light for those kinds of violations throughout the world," he said.
CCR:
The State of Civil Liberities: One Year Later
Erosion of Civil Liberties in the Post 9/11 Era
"Synopsis
Since September 11th, CCR has worked to ensure that the fear of terrorism does not erode the rights and liberties that define American society. We have filed seven lawsuits to challenge particularly egregious violations of Constitutional rights and international law related to the government response to the attacks of one year ago, both within the United States and in the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These suits seek to uphold the principle that government action is only legitimate when it accords with fundamental rights of the people as well as the rule of law. "
-snip-
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/whatsnew/report.asp?ObjID=nQdbIRkDgG&Content=153
Just a thought...(the lunacy of the left and the hate America crowd simply astounds me at times!!!)
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