"JimmyD" <JimmyD@CutAndRun.co> wrote in message
news:fe6dnS4-e7P_ZNbYnZ2dnUVZ_uKdnZ2d@comcast.com...

Harry Hope wrote:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061120/brechersmith

November 2, 2006 (November 20, 2006 issue) War Criminals, Beware Jeremy
Brecher & Brendan Smith
On November 14 a group of lawyers and other experts will come before
the German federal prosecutor and ask him to open a criminal
investigation targeting Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales and other
key Bush Administration figures for war crimes. Harry

Germany can't do *****! ***** Germany.

I think as long as Rumsfield stays out of Germany he will be safe.
What about those countries that have an extradition treaty with Germany
though?
I think that includes most of the countries in Europe just for starters.
It would make life difficult to say the least if he was restricted to only
those countries that wouldn't hand him over for trial.
But what would be *really* cool is if he said '***** you' and voluntarily
stood for trial and was proved not guilty once and for all.
If he's done nothing wrong and has got nothing to hide then he's got nothing
to fear.
It would show the whiners that he has the balls to stand up to them and
would put the record straight in front of the whole world.

A W-S

"JimmyD" <JimmyD@CutAndRun.co> wrote in message
news:fe6dnS4-e7P_ZNbYnZ2dnUVZ_uKdnZ2d@comcast.com...

Harry Hope wrote:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061120/brechersmith

November 2, 2006 (November 20, 2006 issue) War Criminals, Beware
Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith
On November 14 a group of lawyers and other experts will come
before
the German federal prosecutor and ask him to open a criminal
investigation targeting Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales and
other
key Bush Administration figures for war crimes. The recent passage
of the Military Commissions Act provides a central
argument for the legal action, under the doctrine of universal
jurisdiction: It demonstrates the intent of the Bush
Administration to immunize
itself legally from prosecution in the United States, even for the
most serious crimes. The Rumsfeld action was announced at a
conference in New York City in
late October titled "Is Universal Jurisdiction an Effective Tool?"
The doctrine allows domestic courts to prosecute international
crimes
regardless of where the crime was committed, the nationality of
the
perpetrator or the nationality of the victim. It is reserved for
only the most heinous offenses: genocide, war
crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture. A number of
countries around the world have enacted universal
jurisdiction statutes; even the United States allows it for
certain
terrorist offenses and torture. Many of the participants in the
New York conference were human rights
lawyers who have been expanding the use of universal jurisdiction
since it was employed against former Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet. In a recent case brought in Spain, for example,
Argentine Adolfo
Scilingo was tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity he
committed in Argentina and sentenced to serve a 640-year prison
term. The decision was made to try to prosecute Rumsfeld in
Germany because
its laws facilitate the use of universal jurisdiction. The
conference was sponsored by the Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR), which is bringing the case against Rumsfeld, and by the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a network of 141
national human rights organizations founded in 1922. An earlier
case against Rumsfeld was brought two years ago in Germany
by CCR on behalf of four Iraqi victims of Abu Ghraib, drawing
largely
on documents and photos that revealed abuse at the prison. As the
case was being considered, a security conference loomed in
Munich. Rumsfeld, who could have been served papers or even
arrested, refused
to attend unless the case was dismissed. It was dismissed February
10; Rumsfeld flew to Germany the next day. The reason the
prosecutor gave for the dismissal was that there was
"no reason to believe that the accused would not be prosecuted in
the
United States"--notwithstanding powerful evidence that the
officials
who controlled prosecution were themselves part of the conspiracy
to
commit war crimes. The new complaint will be based on the failure
of US authorities to
investigate and prosecute high-level officials. The case will draw
on a powerful new argument. The Military Commissions Act of 2006,
which the President promoted and
recently signed into law, provides retroactive immunity for
civilians
who violated the War Crimes Act, including officials of the Bush
Administration. Such an attempt to provide immunity for their
crimes, it will be
argued, is in itself evidence of an effort to block prosecution of
those crimes. Indeed, according to Scott Horton, chair of the
International Law
Committee of the New York City Bar Association, when Yugoslavia
sought
to immunize senior government officials, the United States
declared
the act itself to be evidence of such a conspiracy. The new case
will introduce other important elements as well. Lawyers who
served as advocates, architects and enablers of prisoner
abuse policies, like Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo, will be added
as
defendants. Abuse in Guantánamo will be added to that in Abu
Ghraib. The complaint will present new evidence showing
responsibility for
torture and prisoner abuse at the highest levels of the chain of
command. Wolfgang Kaleck, a German human rights lawyer who is
bringing the case
in cooperation with CCR, FIDH and other groups, told the
conference in
New York that he is often asked, Do you really expect Rumsfeld to
be
arrested for war crimes? His answer is that he doesn't expect it
immediately. "But we make it possible that someday Rumsfeld will
be arrested," he
says. According to Kaleck, the German government regularly
receives calls
from potential high-level visitors asking, "Are there any
complaints
against me?" Antoine Bernard, FIDH executive director, says that
although there
have been few convictions so far based on universal jurisdiction,
"now
fear is not just on the side of the victims but also of the
torturers." And that, supporters argue, will have a deterrent
effect on government
officials who contemplate using torture. Peter Weiss, vice
president of both CCR and FIDH and an elder
statesman of international human rights law, notes that it took
fifty
years to get the Supreme Court's Brown decision outlawing school
segregation, but during all that time people kept bringing cases
that
eventually changed the legal system's fundamental position. "New
norms are being constituted to deal with the reality on the
ground," he said. "Later those norms become real, practical,
enforceable law."
___________________________________________________________

"There in no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice."

Joseph Addison

Harry

Germany can't do *****! ***** Germany.

Liberals insist Bush is overstepping the limits of our Constitution,
yet they demand the United States become subjective to the laws of
other nations. Amazing...

"JimmyD" <JimmyD@CutAndRun.co> wrote in message
news:fe6dnS4-e7P_ZNbYnZ2dnUVZ_uKdnZ2d@comcast.com...

Harry Hope wrote:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061120/brechersmith

November 2, 2006 (November 20, 2006 issue) War Criminals, Beware Jeremy
Brecher & Brendan Smith
On November 14 a group of lawyers and other experts will come before
the German federal prosecutor and ask him to open a criminal
investigation targeting Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales and other
key Bush Administration figures for war crimes. The recent passage of the
Military Commissions Act provides a central
argument for the legal action, under the doctrine of universal
jurisdiction: It demonstrates the intent of the Bush Administration to
immunize
itself legally from prosecution in the United States, even for the
most serious crimes. The Rumsfeld action was announced at a conference in
New York City in
late October titled "Is Universal Jurisdiction an Effective Tool?" The
doctrine allows domestic courts to prosecute international crimes
regardless of where the crime was committed, the nationality of the
perpetrator or the nationality of the victim. It is reserved for only the
most heinous offenses: genocide, war
crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture. A number of
countries around the world have enacted universal
jurisdiction statutes; even the United States allows it for certain
terrorist offenses and torture. Many of the participants in the New York
conference were human rights
lawyers who have been expanding the use of universal jurisdiction
since it was employed against former Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet. In a recent case brought in Spain, for example, Argentine
Adolfo
Scilingo was tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity he
committed in Argentina and sentenced to serve a 640-year prison term. The
decision was made to try to prosecute Rumsfeld in Germany because
its laws facilitate the use of universal jurisdiction. The conference was
sponsored by the Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR), which is bringing the case against Rumsfeld, and by the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a network of 141
national human rights organizations founded in 1922. An earlier case
against Rumsfeld was brought two years ago in Germany
by CCR on behalf of four Iraqi victims of Abu Ghraib, drawing largely
on documents and photos that revealed abuse at the prison. As the case
was being considered, a security conference loomed in
Munich. Rumsfeld, who could have been served papers or even arrested,
refused
to attend unless the case was dismissed. It was dismissed February 10;
Rumsfeld flew to Germany the next day. The reason the prosecutor gave for
the dismissal was that there was
"no reason to believe that the accused would not be prosecuted in the
United States"--notwithstanding powerful evidence that the officials
who controlled prosecution were themselves part of the conspiracy to
commit war crimes. The new complaint will be based on the failure of US
authorities to
investigate and prosecute high-level officials. The case will draw on a
powerful new argument. The Military Commissions Act of 2006, which the
President promoted and
recently signed into law, provides retroactive immunity for civilians
who violated the War Crimes Act, including officials of the Bush
Administration. Such an attempt to provide immunity for their crimes, it
will be
argued, is in itself evidence of an effort to block prosecution of
those crimes. Indeed, according to Scott Horton, chair of the
International Law
Committee of the New York City Bar Association, when Yugoslavia sought
to immunize senior government officials, the United States declared
the act itself to be evidence of such a conspiracy. The new case will
introduce other important elements as well. Lawyers who served as
advocates, architects and enablers of prisoner
abuse policies, like Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo, will be added as
defendants. Abuse in Guantánamo will be added to that in Abu Ghraib. The
complaint will present new evidence showing responsibility for
torture and prisoner abuse at the highest levels of the chain of
command. Wolfgang Kaleck, a German human rights lawyer who is bringing
the case
in cooperation with CCR, FIDH and other groups, told the conference in
New York that he is often asked, Do you really expect Rumsfeld to be
arrested for war crimes? His answer is that he doesn't expect it
immediately. "But we make it possible that someday Rumsfeld will be
arrested," he
says. According to Kaleck, the German government regularly receives calls
from potential high-level visitors asking, "Are there any complaints
against me?" Antoine Bernard, FIDH executive director, says that although
there
have been few convictions so far based on universal jurisdiction, "now
fear is not just on the side of the victims but also of the
torturers." And that, supporters argue, will have a deterrent effect on
government
officials who contemplate using torture. Peter Weiss, vice president of
both CCR and FIDH and an elder
statesman of international human rights law, notes that it took fifty
years to get the Supreme Court's Brown decision outlawing school
segregation, but during all that time people kept bringing cases that
eventually changed the legal system's fundamental position. "New norms
are being constituted to deal with the reality on the
ground," he said. "Later those norms become real, practical, enforceable
law." ___________________________________________________________

"There in no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice."

Joseph Addison

Harry

Germany can't do *****! ***** Germany.

Liberals insist Bush is overstepping the limits of our Constitution, yet
they demand the United States become subjective to the laws of other
nations. Amazing...

JimmyD wrote:

Harry Hope wrote:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061120/brechersmith

November 2, 2006 (November 20, 2006 issue)
War Criminals, Beware
Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith


On November 14 a group of lawyers and other experts will come before
the German federal prosecutor and ask him to open a criminal
investigation targeting Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales and other
key Bush Administration figures for war crimes.
The recent passage of the Military Commissions Act provides a central
argument for the legal action, under the doctrine of universal
jurisdiction:
It demonstrates the intent of the Bush Administration to immunize
itself legally from prosecution in the United States, even for the
most serious crimes.
The Rumsfeld action was announced at a conference in New York City in
late October titled "Is Universal Jurisdiction an Effective Tool?"
The doctrine allows domestic courts to prosecute international crimes
regardless of where the crime was committed, the nationality of the
perpetrator or the nationality of the victim.
It is reserved for only the most heinous offenses: genocide, war
crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture.
A number of countries around the world have enacted universal
jurisdiction statutes; even the United States allows it for certain
terrorist offenses and torture.
Many of the participants in the New York conference were human rights
lawyers who have been expanding the use of universal jurisdiction
since it was employed against former Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet.
In a recent case brought in Spain, for example, Argentine Adolfo
Scilingo was tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity he
committed in Argentina and sentenced to serve a 640-year prison term.
The decision was made to try to prosecute Rumsfeld in Germany because
its laws facilitate the use of universal jurisdiction.
The conference was sponsored by the Center for Constitutional Rights
(CCR), which is bringing the case against Rumsfeld, and by the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a network of 141
national human rights organizations founded in 1922.
An earlier case against Rumsfeld was brought two years ago in Germany
by CCR on behalf of four Iraqi victims of Abu Ghraib, drawing largely
on documents and photos that revealed abuse at the prison.
As the case was being considered, a security conference loomed in
Munich.
Rumsfeld, who could have been served papers or even arrested, refused
to attend unless the case was dismissed.
It was dismissed February 10; Rumsfeld flew to Germany the next day.
The reason the prosecutor gave for the dismissal was that there was
"no reason to believe that the accused would not be prosecuted in the
United States"--notwithstanding powerful evidence that the officials
who controlled prosecution were themselves part of the conspiracy to
commit war crimes.
The new complaint will be based on the failure of US authorities to
investigate and prosecute high-level officials.
The case will draw on a powerful new argument.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, which the President promoted and
recently signed into law, provides retroactive immunity for civilians
who violated the War Crimes Act, including officials of the Bush
Administration.
Such an attempt to provide immunity for their crimes, it will be
argued, is in itself evidence of an effort to block prosecution of
those crimes.
Indeed, according to Scott Horton, chair of the International Law
Committee of the New York City Bar Association, when Yugoslavia sought
to immunize senior government officials, the United States declared
the act itself to be evidence of such a conspiracy.
The new case will introduce other important elements as well.
Lawyers who served as advocates, architects and enablers of prisoner
abuse policies, like Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo, will be added as
defendants.
Abuse in Guant?namo will be added to that in Abu Ghraib.
The complaint will present new evidence showing responsibility for
torture and prisoner abuse at the highest levels of the chain of
command.
Wolfgang Kaleck, a German human rights lawyer who is bringing the case
in cooperation with CCR, FIDH and other groups, told the conference in
New York that he is often asked, Do you really expect Rumsfeld to be
arrested for war crimes? His answer is that he doesn't expect it
immediately.
"But we make it possible that someday Rumsfeld will be arrested," he
says.
According to Kaleck, the German government regularly receives calls
from potential high-level visitors asking, "Are there any complaints
against me?"
Antoine Bernard, FIDH executive director, says that although there
have been few convictions so far based on universal jurisdiction, "now
fear is not just on the side of the victims but also of the
torturers."
And that, supporters argue, will have a deterrent effect on government
officials who contemplate using torture.
Peter Weiss, vice president of both CCR and FIDH and an elder
statesman of international human rights law, notes that it took fifty
years to get the Supreme Court's Brown decision outlawing school
segregation, but during all that time people kept bringing cases that
eventually changed the legal system's fundamental position.
"New norms are being constituted to deal with the reality on the
ground," he said.
"Later those norms become real, practical, enforceable law."
___________________________________________________________

"There in no virtue so truly great and godlike as justice."

Joseph Addison

Harry

Germany can't do *****! ***** Germany.

***** you