The recent rash of stories about Blackwater should bring renewed focus on whether George Bush is guilty of war crimes as well as some of his cronies. The Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court deals with the actions that should be considered war crimes. Under the statues of the International Criminal Court, George Bush is guilty of at least 24 different war crimes through the conduct of his actions. And that is without considering the crimes of wars of aggression, which have never been ratified and the ICC does not have jurisdiction over.
Earlier, I wrote about the possibility of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. However, it seemed like there was not enough emphasis on bringing the Bush administration to justice for the crimes that they have committed while they were in office. And should the Congress continue to refuse to pursue impeachment, then we would still have a vehicle by which we can bring them to justice even after they leave office.
The following is a list of crimes that George Bush and his administration should be charged with. The US should bring themselves under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court so that they can be held accountable under international law. By our own standards, if there are no checks and balances to our actions, one day in the future, other people will rise and commit other crimes that make George Bush's look reasonable by comparison. Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater look sane compared to this current administration.
And in addition, there is another problem that needs to be solved for future generations. At the moment, wars of aggression do not fall under the auspices of the court because there has never been any international agreement on those scores. The next president of the United States should push for an agreement that would create universally agreed-upon definitions of what a war of aggression would consist of so that wars similar to the invasion and occupation of Iraq would be considered war crimes and violations of international law.
Here are the list of crimes that George W. Bush and some of his enablers are guilty of. This is by no means a complete list; more may be added later in future diaries. This is above and beyond the list of impeachable offenses that I have written about earlier.
Crimes against Humanity
- For the purpose of this Statute, "crime against humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
Murder:
Erik Prince of Blackwater
Prince should be charged with the crime of murdering 56 civilians in Baghdad while on guard duty as documented by the State Department.
Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
Bush and Cheney should be charged with three counts each of false imprisonment for illegally kidnapping and rendering people to Guantanamo and secret dungeons around the world as well as the false imprisonment of tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians in Iraqi prisons.
Torture;
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
Bush and Cheney should be charged with five counts each of torture through the torture of inmates at Guantanamo and prisoners rendered around the world, the torture of Curveball during the leadup to war with Iraq, the torture of inmates at Abu Girhab, and the torture of inmates at Afghanistan.
In addition, Alberto Gonzales, in his capacity as White House counsel, should be charged with developing the plan that involved the President and Vice President ignoring international law ratified by the United States, namely, the Geneva Accords.
Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
Bush and Cheney should be charged with authorizing or allowing torture of a sexual nature at Abu Girhab.
Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Paul Bremer
Bush, Cheney, and Paul Bremer should be charged with persecution of a political nature by dismantling the Iraqi government and army because of their Baathist affiliations and creating severe financal hardships for hundreds of thousands of people.
Enforced disappearance of persons;
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
Bush and Cheney should be charged with the enforced disappearences of persons through their policies of extraordinary renditions.
7-2 (a) "Attack directed against any civilian population" means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack;
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld
Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be charged with the planning and execution of bombing attacks which had no military value and/or which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians.
Section 8 -- War Crimes -- Violations of the Geneva Convention:
- The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes.
Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld
Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be charged with the extensive destruction of property in Iraq not justified by military necessity.
Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Alberto Gonzales
Bush, Cheney, and Gonzales should be charged with the crimes of developing, implementing, and executing a policy depriving prisoners of the right to trial through the extraordinary rendition program, in Iraq, and at Guantanamo.
Section 8-2 (b)(i) Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld
Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be charged with intentionally launching attacks on civilians during the initial stages of the invasion and occupation of Iraq under the pretext that Saddam was using them as human shields.
Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated;
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld
Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be charged with creating widespread, long-term damage to the natural environment through their bombing attacks against Iraq.
The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory;
Paul Bremer, Dick Cheney, and Erik Prince
Paul Bremer, Dick Cheney, and Erik Prince should be charged with the direct or indirect transfer of civilians to occupied Iraq; namely, the transfer of 160,000 private contractors/mercenaries into Iraq to conduct operations normally reserved for the US Military. Bremer should be charged with the development of the policy allowing contractors into Iraq and being exempt from Iraqi law; Cheney and Prince for the implementation of that policy.
Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons;
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
Bush and Cheney should be charged with bringing in psychologists to Guantanamo for the purposes of conducting torture experiments on the prisoners of Guantanamo.
Declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party;
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Bremer, Condolezza Rice, Alberto Gonzales, and John Ashcroft
Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, and Ashcroft should be charged with the abolition of rights for detainees after 9/11 in a court of law as well as the use of the Unitary Executive theory and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus to deprive detainees access to the courts.
Bremer should be charged with abolishing the right of the Iraqi government to make laws concerning foreign contractors or allow victims of their shootings redress in the courts; Rice should be charged with aiding and abetting in that crime.
Employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices;
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld
Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be charged with the employment of White Phosphorus during the Fallujah Offensive of 2004.
The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as indispensable.
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Alberto Gonzales
The creation of extrajudicial courts for the purpose of sentencing Guantanamo prisoners without affording them rights granted by regular courts.
UPDATE: Yes means yes, I support charging Bush and Cheney and the rest with war crimes.