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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Electro lite
And isn't it also true that German civil law has some sort of universal jurisdiction? Could this be a potetial beginning for a case involving International Law?
Yes, it's true. Sort of.
In its Nov. 10, 2006 issue, Time Magazine's Adam Zagorin (link at sig) reported:
“Just days after his resignation, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany's top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.”
However, on 27 April 2007, the German federal prosecutor announced the government would not pursue charges against Cambone, Rumsfeld and 10 other U.S. officials, stating the accusations did not apply to German law, in part because there was insufficient evidence that the alleged acts occurred on German soil, nor did the accused live in Germany. This excuse runs contra to the very purpose of "universal jurisdiction" and really does not make a lot of sense.
(See - http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/universal/univindex.htm )
It is thought that the German about-face was due to threats made by the US that we would stop sharing intelligence information with Germany if Germany persisted in this line of prosecution. Clearly, there was substantial pressure applied by the Bush administration for Germany to forego prosecutions.
Hey, thanks for the info.
I'll check out the link as soon as I get home today.
20 dead total? Damn.
Wog updated
link at sig
His record on civil liberties, including his zealous support of the insane "War on Drugs" while he was with Clinton, should be carefully examined before he is confirmed. Holder advocated federal incarceration for marijuana USERS. That mentality must change. The Republicans probably won't ask the right questions: Will the Democrats?
Hey, this might be a fertile area for some intrepid investigative reporter. Hmmmm.
The US already had its out in the 90s on this, regarding international law. Long before Bush/Cheney raped the Constitution, Clinton and Bill Richardson carved out American exemption from international law. Just follow the whole International Criminal Court stuff from that time, the establishment of "precedent" for American lawlessness -- the US opted out of the Court for fear of "politically-motivated charges" being levied against American operatives.
That was the boilerplate phrase trotted out over and over again (by American officials and in the American media), setting the foundation that any charges against American officials (or soldiers) must be without merit, must invariably be "politically-motivated" and thus dismissed out of hand.
This was the excuse we used to try to earn exemptions from and ultimately sabotage the War Crimes Court. That groundwork thus laid, it makes the stuff we're seeing now make more sense. We're a far, far cry from the Nuremberg Laws. If the choice is curtailing our power by adhering to principles and international law, or jettisoning international law in favor of pure power, well, it's pretty clear what the US has decided.
Sadly, that is going to bite us squarely on the ass as a nation once we're no longer the sole superpower. Then maybe we'll rediscover the utility of international law. But until then....
Apologies if this is redundant, but in todays NYT there was an op-ed article that was quite critical of the Gaza situation
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08khalidi.html?ref=opinion
Please don't take the bait.
There's a guy in my neighborhood who rides his bike sans muffler down my street. I want to kill him.
So, now you're telling me I have to (1) get a high-level federal job (2) verify that this jerk is an Arab or Palestinian, before I can go to his house and slaughter him with his family?
Very unfair. This is not the America I grew up in.
"Sadly, that is going to bite us squarely on the ass as a nation once we're no longer the sole superpower." --Slackie Onassis
How the mighty have fallen (who were once so mighty).
What makes America mighty--economy, military and liberty, are now so much socialism, bloody parade pomp and big brother, I can't tell her from China, Russia or the rest of once-mighty empires of we-do-good-because-we-can empires.
All this moral posturing by the left is just too much to keep track of. Gee, I sure am glad you all are here to tell me this killing is more egregious than that killing. Tsk.
I guess I should also add that once deemed evil by the good, the good has the right to accuse evil of doing any act that evil doers do.
LUA's comment deserves lifetime ban, IMO.
Don't take the snack..it's probably just some crack.
...to bring the full sordid ugliness of this let-bygones-be-bygones attitude full circle: the survivors of those who were punished by the Nuremberg Trials should sue the United States for falsely accusing and punishing their (fathers or mothers or grandparents or whomever). I'd love to hear what our Beltway pundits have to say about that.
I'm very frustratedThere's a guy in my neighborhood who rides his bike sans muffler down my street. I want to kill him.
So, now you're telling me I have to (1) get a high-level federal job (2) verify that this jerk is an Arab or Palestinian, before I can go to his house and slaughter him with his family?
Very unfair. This is not the America I grew up in.
-- Baldie McEagle
We had a similar situation in my semi-rural neighborhood. The problem was solved when a group of about 10 of us got together one Saturday and confronted the kid (he was actually about 20 years old) and asked him politely to either get a muffler for the dirt bike or ride it elsewhere. We then went to his home and asked the same of his father. While initially they were both angry, the Loud Rider stopped his violations of our tranquility, and the father actually put letters of apology in all of our mail boxes.
There's an analogy there but my eyes are starting to cross (meds again) and I don't think I have to detail it. It has to do with numbers.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
