German Group Files War Crimes Against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld And Other CIA Officials

After World War II the victorious allies sought to punish the leaders of Germany's Third Reich and Imperial Japan for war crimes.  The trials were justified to ensure that "never again" would torture and atrocities be directed by civil and military leaders.  It's a concept lost on George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.  Hence why there is more than a little that a German organization has filed documents seeking indictments of Bush and Cheney and some of their henchmen for war crimes.  Addicting Info has details.  Here are highlights:

If President Obama won’t do it, someone else will. Thankfully, a human rights group in Berlin, The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, has begun the process of indicting members of the Bush Administration by filing criminal complaints against the architects of the Admin’s torture program.

Calls for an immediate investigation by the German human rights group was started after outrage ensued on the case of a German citizen, Khalid El-Masri, who had been captured by CIA agents in 2004  because of a mistaken identity mix-up and was tortured at a secret prison in Afghanistan.

Wolfgang Kaleck, the general secretary of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, said:

“By investigating members of the Bush administration, Germany can help to ensure that those responsible for abduction, abuse and illegal detention do not go unpunished.”

In an interview with “Democracy Now,” Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights and chairman of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, said that he believes Cheney, among others, have no defense for torturous actions and should be indicted:

“I strongly disagree that Bush, Cheney, et al., would have a defense. This wasn’t like these memos just appeared independently from the Justice Department. These memos were facilitated by the very people — Cheney, etc. — who we believe should be indicted. This was part of a conspiracy so they could get away with torture. But that’s not the subject here now.”

“Secondly, whatever we think of those memos, they’re of uselessness in Europe. Europe doesn’t accept this, quote, ‘golden shield’ of a legal defense. Either it’s torture or it’s not. Either you did it or you didn’t. And that’s one of the reasons, among others, why we’re going to Europe and why we went to Europe to bring these cases through the European Center.”

Ratner then hit the nail on the head regarding America’s dangerous exceptionalism path down the road:

“But, of course, you know, Cheney just showed us exactly why you have to — have to prosecute torture. Because if you don’t prosecute it, the next guy down the line is going to torture again. And that’s what Cheney said: ‘I would do it again.'”

Khalid El-Masri was on vacation in Skopje, in Macedonia, when he was pulled off of a bus by government agents, sodomized with a drug, and taken to the secret base that was identified only as Cobalt in the CIA torture report. After four months, and after the United States learned of the mistaken identity, they left him there and continued to torture him. They held him further because the U.S. realized they had been torturing the wrong man. Afterwards, they released him, dropping him off somewhere to resume his life.

Bush, Cheney, et al, need to stand trial.  Plain and simple.

Cheney - Bush Knew About CIA Torture

Apparently wanting to make sure that, like himself, Chimperator George Bush can never again leave American territory, Emperor Palpatine Cheney is working hard to dispel the storyline of those who are trying to depict Bush as too clueless to have known about the CIA torture program and other war crime abuses being committed in the name of the American people.  MSN News reports on Cheney's effort to fully implicate George W. Bush.  Here are excerpts:

President George W Bush was fully aware and an "integral part" of the CIA's torture of terror suspects, his vice-president Dick Cheney said Wednesday. 

The long-awaited US Senate report released Tuesday on the program of harsh treatment and torture of detainees said Bush only learned details of it in 2006, four years after it started in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Speaking to Fox News, Cheney denied Bush was kept out of the loop. He said the then-president "was in fact an integral part of the program and he had to approve it."


Asked if Bush knew specific details of how specific interrogations were being conducted, Cheney was more vague, saying: "We did discuss the techniques. There was no effort on our part to keep him from that."

Bush has yet to speak out publicly on the Senate report, which has drawn scathing criticism worldwide of what the CIA has called "enhanced interrogation techniques", amid calls for those involved to face trial.


"Such a gross violation of our liberal, democratic values must not happen again," German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, reflecting the embarrassment of Washington's European allies.
America's great power rival China -- often on the end of US censure for its rights record -- was equally unimpressed.

"We believe the US side should reflect upon itself, correct its ways and earnestly respect and abide by the rules of international conventions," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

The United Nations said the program violated international law and basic human rights, and British-based advocacy group CAGE demanded criminal proceedings.

Around the world, human rights bodies demanded that current US President Barack Obama -- who halted the torture but has not gone after the perpetrators -- take legal action.

Bush and Cheney et al have done immense damage to America's ability to chide others on human rights abuses.  True, America has a very ugly history, if one knows accurate history, but the use of torture and war crimes makes it clear that nothing has really changed and America is plagued with hypocrisy.  People around the world are tired of being told by America to "do as we say and not as we do."

George W. Bush Cancels Europe Trip Over Fear of Legal Action over Torture

Until George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their minions who authorized torture and other violations of the Geneva Conventions, in my view, America has little moral standing to criticize foreign powers that utilize similar practices.  And sadly, there is no movement in this country to punishes those who committed war crimes.  Thankfully, in other countries such reticence to call out Bush and Cheney et. al.  In fact the cretinous Bush has cancelled a planned trip to Europe over fears that he might be subjected to legal action should he venture out of the USA.  Personally, I applaud those who would bring Bush to justice.  The total number of lives ruined because of this man will perhaps never be known, but just in American lives wasted we know that the number far exceeds 4,000.  Democracy Now looks at the Chimperator's cancelled trip.  Here are highlights:

Former president George W. Bush was scheduled to be heading to Switzerland this weekend for his first trip to Europe since leaving office. He was set to speak on Saturday at a dinner in Geneva in honor of United Israel Appeal. But Bush canceled the trip after human rights attorneys threatened to take legal action against him for sanctioning the use of torture. 

One of the key pieces of evidence against the former president has been his own words. In an interview last November with NBC’s Matt Lauer, Bush openly admitted authorizing the use of torture 

MATT LAUER: Why is waterboarding legal, in your opinion?

GEORGE W. BUSH: Because the lawyers said it was legal, said it did not fall within the Anti-Torture Act. I’m not a lawyer. And — but you got to trust the judgment of people around you. And I do.

MATT LAUER: You say it’s legal, and the lawyers told me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Yeah.

MATT LAUER: Critics say that you got the Justice Department to give you the legal guidance and the legal memos that you wanted.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Well —

MATT LAUER: If it’s legal, President Bush, then if an American is taken into custody in a foreign country, not necessarily a uniformed American —

GEORGE W. BUSH: Look, I’m not going to debate the issue, Matt. I really —

MATT LAUER: I’m just asking. Would it be OK for a foreign country to waterboard an American citizen?

[O]n Monday, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights issued a 42-page document they call a preliminary indictment against Bush. Human rights lawyers say Bush could now face a lawsuit wherever he travels outside the United States.

We’re joined by Bill Quigley, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Were you disappointed by the cancellation of Bush’s trip?

BILL QUIGLEY: Well, yes and no. I mean, we really hoped that we could persuade Swiss prosecutors to actually charge him with criminal acts and to issue an arrest warrant. At the same time, everybody knew all along that one of the ways that people who are facing criminal charges in a certain jurisdiction, one of the ways they react is by not going to that place. And so, it was disappointing that we’re not able to actually prosecute him, but I think it has shown worldwide, really, that even though he was the president of the United States, if you engage in torture, which is universally felt to be illegal and unjust and immoral, that there are consequences for that.

So, we filed, along with 60 human rights organizations from around the world, this complaint and backed it up with 2,500 pages of documentation that shows his participation in torture, not to mention his own admission of it in his own book about that. And so, I think it is a big step forward in terms of human rights accountability for torture.

NBC News has coverage on the documentation of torture under Bush/Cheney here.  One of the reasons, in my view, why Bradley Manning is being so aggressively prosecuted is because some of the materials he is alleged to have released confirmed the use of torture and extraordinary efforts to cover it up.  Bush and Cheney rather than Manning is the one who should be prosecuted.

Manning’s Sexual Orientation Is Raised In Hearing

I guess we all knew this would happen sooner or later as the U. S. military proceeds in its efforts to prosecute Bradley Manning for allegedly leaking classified documents that among other things confirmed that members of the military were guilty of murdering civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan not to mention many other inconvenient facts that cast an extremely bad light on government activities. What am I talking about? The effort by defense counsel to blame Manning's sexual orientation for his alleged decision to leak documents and engaging in what the military is trying to label as aiding the enemy. Manning's possible motives aside, throughout this matter what has been most disturbing is the fact that the military - and the Obama administration - have been more concerned with trying to crucify Manning than dealing with some of the atrocities disclosed and punishing the guilty. An article in Salon looks at the effort to bring the fact that Manning is gay into the effort to lynch him. Here are highlights:

The young Army intelligence specialist accused of passing government secrets spent his 24th birthday in court Saturday as his lawyers argued his status as a gay soldier before the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” played an important role in his actions.

Lawyers for Pfc. Bradley Manning began laying out a defense to show that his struggles as a gay soldier in an environment hostile to homosexuality contributed to mental and emotional problems that should have barred him from having access to sensitive material.

Manning is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive items to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, including Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, State Department cables and a military video of a 2007 American helicopter attack in Iraq that killed 11 men, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.

The Obama administration says the released information has threatened valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America’s relations with other governments. Manning’s lawyers counter that much of the information that was classified by the Pentagon posed no risk.

But among the first issues to arise Saturday was whether Manning’s sexual orientation is relevant to the case against him. The basis for the charges Manning faces are transcripts of online chats with a confidant-turned-government-informant in which Manning allegedly confesses his ties to WikiLeaks and also reveals he is gay.

Prosecutors objected several times to the questions. Kemkes responded that if the government can argue that Manning intended to leak secrets, “what is going on in my client’s mind is very important.”

During its cross examination of Graham, Manning’s defense team also sought to convince the court that not all of the material he is accused of leaking is classified.

Graham, who collected evidence from Manning’s living quarters and workplace, testified that among the items seized was a DVD marked “secret” that contained a military video showing the 2007 incident in which Apache attack helicopters gunned down unarmed men in Iraq. The video was taken from the cockpit of one the helicopters. WikiLeaks posted the video in April 2010, sparking questions about the military’s rules of engagement and whether more needed to be done to prevent civilian casualties. The gunners can be heard laughing and referring to the men as “dead bastards.”

Kemkes, one of Manning’s lawyers, asked Graham whether she knew the video was unclassified. She said she didn’t. “In fact, it was an unclassified video,” Kemkes said.

The case has spawned an international support network of people who believe the U.S. government has gone too far in seeking to punish Manning. More than 100 people gathered outside Fort Meade for a march in support of Manning, some holding signs declaring “Americans have the right to know. Free Bradley Manning” and “Blowing the whistle on war crimes is not a crime.”

I find it very disturbing that the Obama administration is trying to prosecute Manning in considerable part for disclosing the war crimes that I fear were probably all too prevalent under the Bush/Cheney regime - a regime that authorized torture and violated the Geneva Conventions at will.

Bush and Cheney, et al, Are Still War Criminals

Former Chimperator Bush is apparently feeling peevish that his administration "hasn't been given enough credit" for his contributions to the war on terror. Hence, his childish refusal to join President Obama in New York City yesterday. Bush and his sycophants continue to try to re-write the history of misrule and high crimes during the eight years of the Bush/Cheney nightmare. It is so very important that we not forget what was done to ruin the honor of this nation - and that doesn't even touch upon the economic catastrophe that flowed from Republican deregulation efforts during that same time period. Andrew Sullivan has a dead on assessment of just what the Chimperator and Emperor Palpatine Cheney brought to the USA - with the help, of their Republican enablers in Congress. Here's Andrew's summation of the Bush/Cheney years:
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Not only do these war criminals and shoddy lawyers [John Yoo] refuse to take accountability for their crimes, they tell clear untruths about how the capture of bin Laden was achieved and distort history.
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So let us be very clear. The war criminal Dick Cheney presided over the worst lapse in national security since Pearl Harbor, resulting in the deaths of more than 3,000 people. This rank incompetent failed to get bin Laden at Tora Bora, and then dragged the US on false pretenses into a war in Iraq, empowering Iran's dictatorship, and killing another 5,000 more Americans on a wild goose chase. He presided over the deaths of more than 8,000 Americans, and tens of thousands of Iraqis during his criminally incompetent years in office.
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What on earth are we debating? How have these delusional maniacs managed to even get us onto this turf? Because they have to. Because when the full truth of these past years are fully in focus, they will be revealed as some of the greatest criminals ever to have wielded power in America.

Spain to Move Forward on War Crimes

As many in the USA - particularly former Bush/Cheney hacks and pundits of the far right - make up lame excuses for violations of international law Spain is about to move forward with investigations against the Chimperator, Emperor Palpatine Cheney and their willing minions who made a mockery of the Geneva Conventions and advanced a regime of torture against detainees. Yes, such an investigation will be very messy and if Bush and Cheney become full blown targets even unprecedented, but this MUST be done in order to (i) restore the soul of the USA and (ii) fully expose the full depravity of Cheney and the far right/Christianists that held sway over the nation for 8 years. If the USA will not prosecute its leaders for criminal acts, then other will have to do it. Here are some highlights from the Daily Beast:

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In a ruling in Madrid today, Judge Baltasar Garzón has announced that an inquiry into the Bush administration’s torture policymakers now will proceed to a formal criminal investigation. The ruling came as a jolt following the recommendation of Spanish Attorney General Cándido Conde-Pumpido against proceeding with a criminal inquiry, which was reported in The Daily Beast on April 16. Judge Garzón previously initiated and handled investigations involving Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Argentine “Dirty War” strategist Adolfo Scilingo and Guatemalan strongman José Efraín Ríos Montt, often over the objections of the Spanish attorney general.

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Now, Garzón has announced a preliminary criminal inquiry into the Bush administration torture policy, specifying the evidence that a crime had been perpetrated against Spanish subjects, but not yet specifying the specific targets of the investigation. Judge Garzón’s decision revealed a deep engagement with documents which had been released in Washington in the last two weeks, particularly a group of memoranda prepared by lawyers in the Bush Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, a report of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a memo released by the Senate Intelligence Committee, making it likely that he would focus on the authors of the torture memoranda and other lawyers who worked with them.

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Garzón is also seeking to have the criminal complaint of a Spanish human-rights organization against the Bush Six—six top Bush administration officials—recently reassigned by the chief judge of the Audiencia Nacional to Judge Eloy Velasco, referred back to him for purposes of consolidation with his new preliminary investigation.

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Spanish lawyers close to the case tell me that under applicable Spanish law, the Obama administration has the power to bring the proceedings in Spain against former Bush administration officials to a standstill. “All it has to do is launch its own criminal investigation through the Justice Department,” said one lawyer working on the case, “that would immediately stop the case in Spain.”

Bush/Cheney and "Verschaerfte Vernehmung"

I continue to be appalled at the number of pundits and GOP operatives who act as if all of the horrors of torture under the Bush/Cheney should just be swept under the rug and ignored as we "move along." It is precisely this attitude that allows illegal conduct and war crimes to happen in the first place. Stated differently, bad things happen when good people do nothing. True, doing nothing may seem easier and be more politically expedient in the short term, but long term the cost is far greater than anticipated. One need only look at Nazi Germany which came into being because too many were content just move along and close their eyes. Hopefully, Barack Obama will come to realize that in order to redeem the soul of America, those who authorized illegal torture and war crimes must be prosecuted. That includes George Bush and Dick Cheney/

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Andrew Sullivan has an excellent post that looks at the parallels between what Bush and Cheney authorized and the torture techniques used by Hitler's torture teams. The similarities are chilling as is the "following orders" excuse being offered up to protect CIA personnel who inflicted the torture. Here are some highlights:

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The Case Of Richard Wilhelm Hermann Bruns, Et Al.Longtime Dish readers will know what I'm referring to. It is a famous war crime prosecution against Nazi officers in occupied Norway, and the trial took place in 1946. The men were accused of using "enhanced interrogation" techniques - or in the original German "verschaerfte Vernehmung" - against captives.

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the Nazis ensured that doctors were present at all times so that they could monitor the captives' response to torture and make sure they didn't die or suffer visible permanent injuries that could embarrass the regime in public (see the Bradbury and Bybee memos for the Bush equivalent). Notice the careful measurement of how many times someone can be beaten (another Cheney innovation). And notice that we are not talking about waterboarding - something even the Nazis excluded from their "enhanced interrogation" methods. In the case of Bruns, et al., this translated to these charges:

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On 19th December, 1942, Bruns was present at the interrogation of a sick Norwegian. Leg screws were fastened to his legs and he was beaten with various implements. Later he was thrown unconscious into a cellar, where he remained for four days before receiving medical attention.

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Between 1942 and 1945, Bruns used the method of "verschärfte Vernehmung" on 11 Norwegian citizens. This method involved the use of various implements of torture, cold baths and blows and kicks in the face and all over the body. Most of the prisoners suffered for a considerable time from the injuries received during those interrogations. *

Between 1942 and 1945, Schubert gave 14 Norwegian prisoners "verschärfte Vernehmung," using various instruments of torture and hitting them in the face and over the body. Many of the prisoners suffered for a considerable time from the effects of injuries they received.

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Now check out the defense against the charge of war crimes: All three defendants appealed to the Supreme Court. Their appeal was based on the following arguments :

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(a) That the acts of torture which the defendants had committed were permitted under International Law as reprisals against the illegal Military Organisation whose activities were at variance with International Law.
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(b) That the acts were carried out on superior orders and that the defendants acted under duress.
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(c) That the acts of torture in no case resulted in death. Most of the injuries inflicted were slight and did not result in permanent disablement.
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Do these defenses sound familiar? They failed in court. And while modern Americans debate whether we can even use the word 'torture' with respect to these techniques, previous generations, closer to the reality of war and torture than we are, had no qualms. The punishment for these crimes was the death penalty.

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As hard as it may be for some to accept, Bush and Cheney and their minions who concocted the "torture memos" need to be tried and, if guilty as It appears, convicted and punished. Nothing less will clear the reputation and name of the USA. Naturally, the GOP and Christianists will scream in outrage, but it must be done.

The Torturers’ Manifesto

I posted yesterday on the issue of the "torture memos" issued by the Office of Legal Counsel that were used by Bush/Cheney to authorize torture. I also stated that I was disappointed that Barack Obama was issuing a pass the CIA operatives who may have engaged in torture of captives. One reader disagreed and stated as follows:

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An American soldier gets training in lawful conduct in war (or does he?) and is empowered to disobey an unlawful order. But if the chief lawyer of the USA looks at the question, and advises the forces (however wrongly) that their acts are legal, should the Nürnberg defense apply? Many would argue that it should.

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I concede that in some cases judgment calls must be made. Nonetheless, I suspect that there were cases where the individual inflicting the torture knew in his/her gut that what they were doing was horribly wrong. I still feel that a blanket pass is a mistake. As for those who authored the memos in order that illegal and immoral acts could be done under the cover of being "lawful," the authors need to be prosecuted and if attorneys disbarred from ever practicing law again in any capacity. In the case of Jay Bybee, he clearly needs to be removed from the federal bench and disbarred as well. Perhaps I am an idealist, but I believe that the USA should hold itself to a higher standard even if we have not always done so in the past. Here are some highlights from the New York Times editorial on the memos and their authors:

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To read the four newly released memos on prisoner interrogation written by George W. Bush’s Justice Department is to take a journey into depravity. Their language is the precise bureaucratese favored by dungeon masters throughout history. They detail how to fashion a collar for slamming a prisoner against a wall, exactly how many days he can be kept without sleep (11), and what, specifically, he should be told before being locked in a box with an insect — all to stop just short of having a jury decide that these acts violate the laws against torture and abusive treatment of prisoners.

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These memos are not an honest attempt to set the legal limits on interrogations, which was the authors’ statutory obligation. They were written to provide legal immunity for acts that are clearly illegal, immoral and a violation of this country’s most basic values.

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It sounds like the plot of a mob film, except the lawyers asking how much their clients can get away with are from the C.I.A. and the lawyers coaching them on how to commit the abuses are from the Justice Department. And it all played out with the blessing of the defense secretary, the attorney general, the intelligence director and, most likely, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

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[T]his cannot be the end of the scrutiny for these and other decisions by the Bush administration. Until Americans and their leaders fully understand the rules the Bush administration concocted to justify such abuses — and who set the rules and who approved them — there is no hope of fixing a profoundly broken system of justice and ensuring that that these acts are never repeated.

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[A]s far as Mr. Bush’s lawyers were concerned, it was not really torture unless it involved breaking bones, burning flesh or pulling teeth. That, Mr. Bybee kept noting, was what the Libyan secret police did to one prisoner. The standard for American behavior should be a lot higher than that of the Libyan secret police.

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[President Obama] has an obligation to pursue what is clear evidence of a government policy sanctioning the torture and abuse of prisoners — in violation of international law and the Constitution. That investigation should start with the lawyers who wrote these sickening memos, including John Yoo, who now teaches law in California; Steven Bradbury, who was job-hunting when we last heard; and Mr. Bybee, who holds the lifetime seat on the federal appeals court that Mr. Bush rewarded him with. These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him.

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Again what is striking is that those who have most supported Bush/Cheney and their lawlessness have been self-professed Christians who more than anyone should abhor such conduct. I'd also note that far too many Republican appointees to the bench - both at the state and federal level - have a mindset not all that different from Bybee's when it comes to not rendering justice to those against whom they are prejudiced.