War Crime Trials for Neocons?
by Jeff Davis
Can it be that we will actually see it on our television screens one day? The beautiful, wonderful sight that every decent human being on earth dreams of? Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and above all, George W. Bush, along with dozens of others from AIPAC and the neocon think tanks, all standing in a row in a courtroom, wearing orange jumpsuits and belly chains and placards with numbers around their necks?
Time Magazine thinks it might be possible: “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. The plaintiffs in the case include 11 Iraqis who were prisoners at Abu Ghraib, as well as Mohammad al-Qahtani, a Saudi held at Guantanamo, whom the U.S. has identified as the so-called “20th hijacker” and a would-be participant in the 9/11 hijackings.”
While a war crimes charge from a European court may seem like a trivial thing, which would only affect the travel plans of the neocons, it is much more important than that. We need something to jump start Congressional hearings on the cause of the Iraq War and on the torture scandal. If a European court actually convicts Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney and Bush of crimes against humanity and launching a war of aggression, then the meek individuals in the Democrat party will be pelted with millions of e-mails asking them why they don’t start a similar investigation right here in America.
Remember that stocky woman general that the neocons tried to make take the fall for Abu Ghraib way back in 2004? Well, she’s back, she’s a woman scorned, and she’s got a lawyer. Time informs us that “Lawyers for the plaintiffs say that one of the witnesses who will testify on their behalf is former Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the one-time commander of all U.S. military prisons in Iraq. Karpinski — who the lawyers say will be in Germany next week to publicly address her accusations in the case — has issued a written statement to accompany the legal filing, which says, in part: ‘It was clear the knowledge and responsibility [for what happened at Abu Ghraib] goes all the way to the top of the chain of command to the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld .’ ” (Of course it did. Has anyone ever seriously doubted that? Let’s get one thing straight: these neocons are far more guilty of crimes against humanity than any German or Japanese officer ever was, because the neocons not only committed their acts in time of war, but they fabricated the case for war from the beginning.)
The German court is spreading a wide net, according to Time: “Along with Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Tenet, the other defendants in the case are Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone; former assistant attorney general Jay Bybee; former deputy assistant attorney general John Yoo; General Counsel for the Department of Defense William James Haynes II; and David S. Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff. Senior military officers named in the filing are General Ricardo Sanchez, the former top Army official in Iraq; Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of Guantanamo; senior Iraq commander, Major General Walter Wojdakowski; and Col. Thomas Pappas, the one-time head of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib.” Looks like the Germans didn’t quite have the chops to name Bush and Cheney directly, but this list is a start, a definite start.
Ironically, the neocons are being hoist on a petard that was designed for “right-wing extremists,” neo-Nazis and Revisionist historians like Ernst Zundel, David Irving and Germar Rudolph. Time tells us that “Germany was chosen for the court filing because German law provides “universal jurisdiction” allowing for the prosecution of war crimes and related offenses that take place anywhere in the world. Indeed, a similar, but narrower, legal action was brought in Germany in 2004, which also sought the prosecution of Rumsfeld. The case provoked an angry response from Pentagon, and Rumsfeld himself was reportedly upset. Rumsfeld’s spokesman at the time, Lawrence DiRita, called the case a ‘a big, big problem.’ U.S. officials made clear the case could adversely impact U.S.-Germany relations, and Rumsfeld indicated he would not attend a major security conference in Munich, where he was scheduled to be the keynote speaker, unless Germany disposed of the case. The day before the conference, a German prosecutor announced he would not pursue the matter, saying there was no indication that U.S. authorities and courts would not deal with allegations in the complaint.”
In other words, the Germans caved. But that was back in 2004 when the neocons were riding high, wide, and handsome. Now it’s almost 2007, Iraq is an endless bloody quagmire, the lunatic neocons and their drunken puppet in the White House are about to attack Iran and choke off 20% of the world’s oil supply, and the American people have just bitch-slapped the Republicans right out of both houses of Congress. This time, maybe the German court system can find something a little more worthwhile to do with their time than persecuting and crucifying Ernst Zundel for questioning historical events. Maybe a German court can actually make history happen.