A local, state, or federal D.A. need only show "probable cause" that a crime has been committed to a grand jury to open an investigation. This is a low bar. Then it is up to the state to prove its case. Jurisdiction can be established through various avenues, such the doctrine of Universal Jurisdiction, or ordinary common law. The relevant violations in the US Code regarding torture are:
a. Conspiracy to torture in violation of the U.S. Code, in both Title 18, Section 2340
b. Conspiracy to commit war crimes including torture, cruel or inhuman treatment,
murder, mutilation or maiming and intentionally causing serious bodily injury in violation of U.S. Code Title 18, Section 2441
Following up on "Welcome to Boston, Mr. Rumsfeld. You Are Under Arrest," -- here is a handy-dandy indictment a lazy prosecutor can crib from or just copy and paste into the company letterhead, hire a constable, and have him run out to the airport anywhere Rummy lands to give him a little present. Look up the District Attorney you vote for every 2 years or whatever, and if Rummy is coming to a theater near you, make an appointment with the DA and tell him: "Do your duty to uphold the law, OR ELSE!" Read him/her the riot act about clear crimes and his duty if you need to.
Previous post (and thank you for your many thoughtful comments):
"Welcome to Boston, Mr. Rumsfeld. You Are Under Arrest."
Further legal background, letter from Prof. Francis Boyle, University of Illinois College of Law, to Canadian government detailing why George Bush must be arrested upon entry to country.
INDICTMENT OF FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD
Whereas conspiracy to torture has long been a felony in the U.S. Code,
in both Title 18, Section 2340, and Title 18, Section 2441,
Whereas the Convention Against Torture requires the criminal prosecution of complicity in torture,
Whereas the Senate Armed Services Committee report "Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody" concluded:
"The abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 was not simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own. Interrogation techniques such as stripping detainees of their clothes, placing them in stress positions, and using military working dogs to intimidate them appeared in Iraq only after they had been approved for use in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's December 2, 2002 authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques and subsequent interrogation policies and plans approved by senior military and civilian officials conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees in U.S. military custody,"
Whereas former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld participated in
meetings of the National Security Council's Principals Committee at which specific decisions were made to torture particular detainees using particular tactics and repetitions,
Whereas in a signed declaration in support of torture plaintiffs in a civil
suit naming Rumsfeld in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Chief-of-Staff for former Secretary of State Colin Powell stated: "I am willing to testify in person regarding the content of this declaration," and that this declaration affirmed that the documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side" on the murder of a 22-year-old Afghan farmer and taxi driver in Afghanistan was "accurate," said earlier this year that "authorization for the abuse went to the very top of the United States government.”
Whereas the Secretary of Defense is in command of the United States Armed Forces, second only to the Commander-in-Chief, and would represent in Col. Wilkerson's words "the very top of the United States government.”
Whereas the American general who commanded the military police battalion at
Abu Ghraib General Janis Karpinski, when asked in an interview with Salon.com : "Do you feel like Rumsfeld is at the heart of all of this and should be held completely accountable for what happened [at Abu Ghraib]?" -- Answered: "Yes, absolutely."
Whereas Major General Antonio Taguba, who led the official Army investigation into Abu Ghraib, said in his report: "there is no longer any doubt as to whether the [Bush] administration has committed war crimes. The only question is whether
those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."
Whereas Susan Crawford, senior Pentagon official overseeing the Military Commissions at Guantánamo, who is a retired judge who served as general counsel for the Army
during the Reagan administration and as Pentagon inspector general for President George HW Bush, Sr, — said on the record to the Washington Post that the Bush administration had "met the legal definition of torture.”
Whereas memos annotated in Secretary Rumsfeld's own hand encouraged practices which are clear violations of the Geneva Conventions, and may have contributed to the
death of at least one prisoner in Afghanistan, Mr. Dilawar, whose official cause of death was ruled by coroner Maj. Elizabeth Rouse as a "homicide,"
Whereas the 2008 Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody found high-level Bush administration officials, including Mr. Rumsfeld, as bearing major responsibility for the torture at Abu Gharib, Guantanamo, and Bagram, and the Committee said: "instructors [at Guantanamo] explained "Biderman's Principles" – which were based on coercive methods used by the Chinese
Communist dictatorship to elicit false confessions from U.S. POWs during the
Korean War – and left with GTMO personnel a chart of those coercive techniques."
Whereas the Biderman Principles are torture methods violating the Geneva Conventions which are designed for the express purpose of eliciting false confession, not obtaining
intelligence,
We find probable cause for the issue an arrest warrant for the arrest of Donald Rumsfeld for violations of U.S. Code Title 18, Section 2340, and Title 18, Section 2441, to be proven by in a court of law by the People of Massachusetts.
SIGNED