The torture report is out. Not surprisingly, Republicans, led by former VP Dick Cheney have done everything they can to disparage its veracity. The international community seems to have a different opinion.
Calls for W and members of his administration to be prosecuted for "torture and other war crimes" came this week from a top official at the United Nations. Ben Emmerson, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism said that international law prohibits the Obama administration from granting immunity to those who have engaged in acts of torture. Mr. Emmerson explained that torture is an international crime, adding that international law states that if the U.S. fails to prosecute, then perpetrators can be prosecuted by any other country to which he travels.
This followed a report out of Germany earlier in the week that The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights has filed criminal complaints in Berlin against members of Bush's administration, signaling their intention to indict. The complaints were filed with the International Criminal Court, a permanent, treaty-based international criminal court established in 1998 and located at The Hague in the Netherlands. The court's stated purpose is to adjudicate cases against those who it is believed have carried out serious crimes against the international community.
what eye thynk: I say, "It's about damn time."
I know that President Obama believes it is best to "look forward, not backward," but in this instance, he is wrong. We as a nation cannot afford to ignore crimes against humanity perpetrated within our own borders and expect to have any credibility when we condemn similar crimes elsewhere. Hypocrisy should not be an American hallmark.
Personally, I think it would be interesting to see the contortions the Republican party would go through if a U.S. court indicted W and his puppetmasters former VP Dick "I''d do it again in a minute" Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld along with CIA director John Brennan and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. If they're indicted, Republicans can a) scream that these "patriots" did nothing wrong, thus proclaiming to the world that the GOP thinks torture is a swell idea, or b) embrace the indictments and admit to the world that their heroes are criminals and they were all idiots to believe in them.
And just imagine the Gordian knot they would have to unravel if President Obama would pardon W and his buddies. Republicans could revert to argument "a)" above or be forced to (oh, the horror!) thank President Obama for sparing W-and-Friends the humiliation of a public trial.
I hope the case goes forward at The Hague. Seeing these people shamed before the international community is a price I'm happy to pay to restore my country's reputation as an honorable nation that abides by its treaties. Contrary to what the megalomaniacs who ran W's administration seem to believe, we are not above the law.
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