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;

[tessalu]

President Bush needs to get us out of this mess fast.
Pronto! If he does not get us out, he will get tripped up too. We want out of this World Court and the UN. We need out now.

[george wythe]

The Belgians will never go after real butchers, like Castro and his minions or Saddam and his lackies.

[demlosers]

Go ahead You fools in Brussels go ahead and do it.
You'll find out your a little pissant country.

[piasa]

Bomb Belgium so they will then have something real to complain about... have drugs have seeped into their water supply from the Netherlands?

[Billthedrill]

They do this sort of stuff and still don't see why we're opting out of the ICC?

[Mr.Clark]

The Belgians have been going after Sharon constantly. Of course, the case has gone kind of cold lately. One of the witnesses car blew up, the other one had a "heart-attack" and drove off the road. Tough luck.

[Paleo Conservative]

The Belgians will never go after real butchers, like Castro and his minions or Saddam and his lackies.

Or investigate its own wretched history of African colonialism.

[No One of Consequence]

Time to pull out and move east to the New Europe

[demlosers]

We're not part of their so called world BS court.

[Paleo Conservative]

We should bomb the Belgian parliment.

[prophetic]

how very typical of these evil liberals

The Murderer/Butcher of Bagdad is left undisturbed these many years to continue on his tyranny while a good God-Fearing American President who wants to protect his people and disarm a therat to world peace & stability is being attacked for trying to do good.

As someone said: The criminals have more rights than the defendants these days....

[bobi]

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.

The people in the bomb shelter were casualties of war a war that was legal as legal it can be. The Gulf War of 1991 was launched as result of Iraq ignoring the UN Security Council Resolution to withdraw from occupied Kuwait.

But then again if the war is not legal .....

[AzSteven]

Note the clever bias...

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.

The facility was a command center - the civilians were intentionally placed ont he upper three levels of the six-level facility. The bombing attack destroyed all levels, and radio intercepts showed a sudden dropoff in Iraqi military communications coinciding with the strike. But none of that matters, of course...

[ThinkDifferent]

Time to pull out and move east to the New Europe

Yeah, looks like it's about time to re-open the Warsaw Pact under new management.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

If Belgium presses ahead with this then we will have no alternative but to break diplomatic relations and all treaties with Belgium. We should also notify the Belgian government that the apprehension and detention of a serving or former member of the US govt or armed forces will be considered an act of war, and we will respond accordingly. They might also be reminded that the last two times they have been in a war, it has been conclusively proven that Belgium is a road and not a country.

[cmsgop]

Ya know with enough Beer, I think you and I could take over Belgiam......

Something to think about!

[Rocky]

Belgian socialist hypocrites. The mouth that roared.

[tomahawk]

Belgium is becoming the anus of Europe.