Lawsuit against Rummy discussed in Stars and Stripes letters section

[lebkuchen]

Lawsuit addresses higher-ups

In “Where were prison supervisors?” (Jan. 23), the letter writer questioned how it was possible for a junior enlisted reservist to be solely responsible for crimes committed at Abu Ghraib prison.

He wondered if there would be “any senior-level personnel in positions of responsibility courts-martialed and serving sentences,” or whether the U.S. government would accept the explanation of “I wasn’t aware of these actions under my command.”

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights had the same concern. Last month the center and Berlin’s Republican Lawyers’ Association filed a complaint with the federal German prosecutor’s office against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former CIA Director George Tenet, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Steven Cambone, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, Brig. Gen. Janis L. Karpinski and other military officers who served in positions of responsibility in Iraq. The lawsuit accuses them of war crimes and torture in connection with detainee abuses at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison.

In a public statement, the center explained that because the U.S. Congress had “failed” to seriously investigate the Abu Ghraib abuses, it had chosen Germany to file its complaint because of that country’s Code of Crimes Against International Law. This code grants German courts universal jurisdiction in cases involving war crimes or crimes against humanity. Military or civilian commanders failing to prevent their subordinates from committing such acts can be held liable under this law. The prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe reportedly is examining the 170-page complaint to see if an investigation is warranted.

As a result, Rumsfeld will not be attending the 40th Munich Security Conference next month, and he has informed the German government of his cancellation.

I fully agree when the letter writer said, “You can delegate authority, but you can’t delegate responsibility.”

Those responsible at the highest levels must be punished, also.

Edwin Thornburg
Würzburg, Germany


http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=26783

[MyDogSpot]

1. If this letter makes just one Navy Seal think twice about torturing Iraqis

it will have been worth the effort to get it published.