Former International Criminal Court judge: Dick Cheney should face prosecution

[cosmicone]

Source: Newsweek

As a young boy, Thomas Buergenthal recalls, his mother taught him to kneel every night and thank God for his love and his protection. It's a habit, I suggest, that must have been difficult to maintain after August 1944 when, at the age of 10, he was transported to Auschwitz.

"It was," says Buergenthal. "Very difficult. I've always known that I was a Jew. But after the war I found I had no religious faith. I began to wonder how God could permit some of the things that happened to us. I admire people who emerged with their belief intact."

<SNIP>
Some still believe that Western politicians including Tony Blair and Dick Cheney could end up in the dock at the International Criminal Court. Is this wishful thinking? Where Blair is concerned, Buergenthal says, he has no special expertise.

"But some of us have long thought that Cheney, and a number of CIA agents who did what they did in those so-called black holes [overseas torture centres] should appear before the ICC. We [in the USA] could have tried them ourselves. I voted for Obama but I think he made a great mistake when he decided not to instigate legal proceedings against some of these people. I think – yes – that it will happen."

</SNIP>

Read more: http://europe.newsweek.com/former-international-criminal-court-lawyer-dick-cheney-should-face-prosecution-329569?ref=yfp

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I hope he is tried and convicted.

[George II]

1. Too bad he's not a CURRENT International Criminal Court judge

[Stevepol]

9. Hope springs eternal

in the human breast. I think it's Bugliosi who says a very strong case can be presented for trying "W" for murder.

It was one of the darkest times in American history I think and heartbreaking to have to experience the total take-over of the country by an administration of criminals. To watch the media being taken over by the warmongers, the loss of balance and perspective, the complete destruction of a whole country that had nothing to do with 9-11, according to the latest estimates resulting in the direct and indirect death of about a million people, mostly Iraqis of course, a couple million refugees, the complete de-stabilization of the region, the creation of a hundred much more serious threats than Al Qaida where before there were only a manageable few threats.

[George II]

15. Unfortunately the bushes created TWO anti-American terrorist groups...

Daddy was advised to NOT bivouac American troops in Saudi Arabia in areas considered "sacred soil". He did it anyway and he allowed women to reside there two (an insult to Islam from what I hear)

bin Laden was an ally of the US up until that time, that turned him 180 degrees. The result was that the US became an arch-enemy of al Qaeda.

Then baby bush invaded Iraq and destroyed their government, which was despotic but had the country under control, for no sensible reason. Then a few weeks after the invasion he dismissed the entire Iraqi army. They had no place to turn, no job, no income. They too, like al Qaeda, came to despise the US. Many of the founders and current fighters in ISIS are those dismissed Iraqi military men.

[Telcontar]

19. Sorry, but nope

Bin Ladin was never an ally of the US. His whole organizational purpose was to fill the logistics role that the US was abandoning after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. CIA looked at his organization and determined he was a buffoon with Arabs coming along to play at soldier. The one time they attempted to conduct an active operation in Afghanistan, it was a complete failure, never to be repeated.

[Nihil]

21. "A complete failure". Did it involve helicopters?

> CIA looked at his organization and determined he was a buffoon with
> Arabs coming along to play at soldier. The one time they attempted to
> conduct an active operation in Afghanistan, it was a complete failure,
> never to be repeated.

Or was that a different bunch of buffoons attempting to conduct active
operations in a foreign sandy place ...?

The fact remains that Bin Laden & his organisation received funding from
the US (via CIA and other channels) so even if you wish to pretend that
he wasn't an "ally" because he hadn't signed any treaties (those "quaint"
documents), the basic truth of the relationship cannot be whitewashed
away.

[George II]

22. The organization that eventually evolved into al Qaeda was formed in the 1980s...

...as a resistance movement to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. One of their leaders was Osama bin Laden.

"A similar movement occurred in other Muslim countries, bringing contingents of so-called Afghan Arabs, foreign fighters who wished to wage jihad against the atheist communists. Notable among them was a young Saudi named Osama bin Laden, whose Arab group eventually evolved into al-Qaeda."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War

The US (Reagan administration) funded bin Laden's movement.

This is an over-simplification, but at one time, up until the time that Daddy Bush sent troops to Saudi Arabia, bin Laden was a quasi-"ally" of the US and had no problems with us.

[Telcontar]

23. Again, NOPE. Your own citation (really, Wikipedia is your source?) dooesnt support your assertion

You said it yourself: A similar movement in other Muslim countries.

Bin Ladin received no money from the US, no support. Bin Ladin's reason for existence was to provide logistical support and financing AFTER the US cut ties with the Maktab al-Khidamat and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.


So please, for the sake of all that's true, do some basic research before spouting propaganda. We made a lot of mistakes in Afghanistan. Creating Al Qaeda is not one of them.

[cstanleytech]

14. And to bad that the US didnt sign onto the ICC but we now know why the Bush administration

didnt want to sign onto it because Bush and probably Cheney were probably already making plans that they knew would have surely have landed them on trial and most likely in prison.

[Iliyah]

2. This

[Duval]

3. Cheney and the rest of his crew (Bush). nt

[kenichol]

4. Amen nt

[Solly Mack]

5. Don't leave out Bush. Or the rest.

[irisblue]

6. Damn Right

[BillZBubb]

7. We can only hope.

[Calista241]

8. I think it would be hard to prosecute Cheney without also prosecuting Bush

Cheney had no real statutory authority that warrants prosecution. In other words, he had no power to make or implement his decisions. Only Bush could have done that.

He could advocate his position, but if Cheney said "jump" nobody would have done shit unless Bush also said "jump."

[calimary]

11. I'd LOVE to see that. They both need to be behind bars.

[reorg]

10. Only nationals of states parties to the Rome Statute

can become judges at the ICC. Clinton signed the treaty, but the US Congress never ratified it. You have three guesses why.

Mr Buergenthal was with the International Court of Justice/Cour internationale de justice:



Not to be confused with the International Criminal Court (ICC):



even though both are located in The Hague.

[The Blue Flower]

12. If he ever is tried, he will be convicted

He has bragged about all of his crimes.

[Overseas]

13. K&R. Yes please!

[6000eliot]

16. How delicious would it be to see that vile shit stain perp walked to The Hague?

[Gregorian]

17. Better late than never, for some.

What comforts me with both this election, and this, is that the way we felt during those years of rapid dismantling of America, and then throttling up of the war machines, is shared by much of the world's intelligent people. What a crock our media has become. Without that feedback mechanism some don't know the truth about important matters. I feel that this is an optimistic time.

[Gumboot]

18. Cheney lives in fear nowadays...

... afraid that justice might finally catch up with him. Never leaves his taxpayer-funded hiding place, except to appear on Fox, making belligerent excuses for his crimes.

Nasty little man is digging his own grave, and many of us look forward to p*ssing on it one day.

[Telcontar]

20. Current US law would see the US Military invade the Hague

If somehow one of the previous administration's executives ended up on the docket. I doubt anyone wants to see that happen.

[Jefferson23]

24. An excellent OP, an extraordinary man. I am also pleased with Newsweek, surprised in a good way.

What we did around the globe as a result of Bush/Cheney should be confronted legally,
there is the question of justice, the question of when there exists no accountability
to the law, what is it exactly that will make them think twice before going outside the
law again? Future leaders may hesitate to bring their heinous ideas to fruition if Bush
and Cheney were charged and tried.

Perhaps if the American people demanded overwhelmingly that Obama pursue that end,
maybe he would have..I don't know.