Should George W Bush be tried for war crimes?

Question

Forget his job title for the moment... that's not going to last much longer... Isn't there a law that states there is no limitation on certain crimes or criminal acts to bring the perpetrator to "justice"?

Answer 1

Of course. He has repeatedly violated the Geneva Convention. And he knows he will be tried. Everyone in his cabinet knows they will eventually go to jail. That's why they're cutting and running.

Articles of Impeachment

of

President George W. Bush

and

Vice President Richard B. Cheney,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. - - ARTICLE II, SECTION 4 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have committed violations and subversions of the Constitution of the United States of America in an attempt to carry out with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes and deprivations of the civil rights of the people of the United States and other nations, by assuming powers of an imperial executive unaccountable to law and usurping powers of the Congress, the Judiciary and those reserved to the people of the United States, by the following acts:

1) Seizing power to wage wars of aggression in defiance of the U.S. Constitution, the U.N. Charter and the rule of law; carrying out a massive assault on and occupation of Iraq, a country that was not threatening the United States, resulting in the death and maiming of over one hundred thousand Iraqis, and thousands of U.S. G.I.s.

2) Lying to the people of the U.S., to Congress, and to the U.N., providing false and deceptive rationales for war.

3) Authorizing, ordering and condoning direct attacks on civilians, civilian facilities and locations where civilian casualties were unavoidable.

4) Instituting a secret and illegal wiretapping and spying operation against the people of the United States through the National Security Agency.

5) Threatening the independence and sovereignty of Iraq by belligerently changing its government by force and assaulting Iraq in a war of aggression.

6) Authorizing, ordering and condoning assassinations, summary executions, kidnappings, secret and other illegal detentions of individuals, torture and physical and psychological coercion of prisoners to obtain false statements concerning acts and intentions of governments and individuals and violating within the United States, and by authorizing U.S. forces and agents elsewhere, the rights of individuals under the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

7) Making, ordering and condoning false statements and propaganda about the conduct of foreign governments and individuals and acts by U.S. government personnel; manipulating the media and foreign governments with false information; concealing information vital to public discussion and informed judgment concerning acts, intentions and possession, or efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction in order to falsely create a climate of fear and destroy opposition to U.S. wars of aggression and first strike attacks.

8) Violations and subversions of the Charter of the United Nations and international law, both a part of the "Supreme Law of the land" under Article VI, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, in an attempt to commit with impunity crimes against peace and humanity and war crimes in wars and threats of aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq and others and usurping powers of the United Nations and the peoples of its nations by bribery, coercion and other corrupt acts and by rejecting treaties, committing treaty violations, and frustrating compliance with treaties in order to destroy any means by which international law and institutions can prevent, affect, or adjudicate the exercise of U.S. military and economic power against the international community.

9) Acting to strip United States citizens of their constitutional and human rights, ordering indefinite detention of citizens, without access to counsel, without charge, and without opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, based solely on the discretionary designation by the Executive of a citizen as an "enemy combatant."

10) Ordering indefinite detention of non-citizens in the United States and elsewhere, and without charge, at the discretionary designation of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Defense.

11) Ordering and authorizing the Attorney General to override judicial orders of release of detainees under INS jurisdiction, even where the judicial officer after full hearing determines a detainee is wrongfully held by the government.

12) Authorizing secret military tribunals and summary execution of persons who are not citizens who are designated solely at the discretion of the Executive who acts as indicting official, prosecutor and as the only avenue of appellate relief.

13) Refusing to provide public disclosure of the identities and locations of persons who have been arrested, detained and imprisoned by the U.S. government in the United States, including in response to Congressional inquiry.

14) Use of secret arrests of persons within the United States and elsewhere and denial of the right to public trials.

15) Authorizing the monitoring of confidential attorney-client privileged communications by the government, even in the absence of a court order and even where an incarcerated person has not been charged with a crime.

16) Ordering and authorizing the seizure of assets of persons in the United States, prior to hearing or trial, for lawful or innocent association with any entity that at the discretionary designation of the Executive has been deemed "terrorist."

17) Engaging in criminal neglect in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, depriving thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and other Gulf States of urgently needed support, causing mass suffering and unnecessary loss of life.

18) Institutionalization of racial and religious profiling and authorization of domestic spying by federal law enforcement on persons based on their engagement in noncriminal religious and political activity.

19) Refusal to provide information and records necessary and appropriate for the constitutional right of legislative oversight of executive functions.

20) Rejecting treaties protective of peace and human rights and abrogation of the obligations of the United States under, and withdrawal from, international treaties and obligations without consent of the legislative branch, and including termination of the ABM treaty between the United States and Russia, and rescission of the authorizing signature from the Treaty of Rome which served as the basis for the International Criminal Court.

Answer 2

Yes.

No brainer. I just looked at all the previous answers and cannot believe the... naiveté.

The list is endless folks. Bush has a horrible international reputation and he has taken America along for the ride.

He has flouted every itnernational law and organization on this planet.

However, he is more or less just a front for a nasty cabal. His father is the true Beelzebub, and he is Beelzeshrub. The same men who served with his father have been serving with him and pulling the strings. And if anyone thinks it will be different wit any of the democrats, think again. They are all on the same team now.

With Bush you take Cheney, KISSINGER, Rumsfield, Rove, Gonzales, the two Bushes, but this is just a dream that will not come about. OH and remember, at some point people might remember Bush with fondness once Arnold steps up with the fourth reich in all seriousness. Yeah, you think it won't happen? Think again. It is that overpowering Nazi connection in America. 50 000 prominent Nazis shipped to North America in Operation Paperclip ~ because the government was afraid to let their expertise in military and psychological matters fall into soviet hands. Or so the story went.

The Shrub is doing what he was groomed to do. Sadly, the mind controled public does not see the truth and proof of the effectiveness of their work. People, mind control is here. We are all in it. Bush will hold on for as long as he can.. or very possibly there will be another manufactured tragedy.. like war in Iran... to mean martial law or suspension of elections will occur.

I mean, between him and Clinton, who was a Bush puppet also, America is now in terrible shape on every level and things are just warming up! They have done their jobs well acting as henchmen for the "Elite" who are pushing so hard for their New World Older.

All is going to plan. And.. if he does have to leave office, he will continue to snub his nose at the world ~ while MAYBE one or two of his compatriots take a "well paid for" vacation to placate the gullible public. ~ the proverbial fall guy.

Answer 3

My personal opinions of Bush aside....

There are no specific crimes that he has committed. Theoretically, we elect a person as president because we trust them to use their judgement to handle situations as they best see fit. Our term limits ensure that we can get someone else in that position if we don't like or agree with the current one. If you want war crimes charges against Bush, then there are at least 10 other presidents that also should have been charged. Should we have charged Clinton with neglect because he told the CIA not to act on Bin Laden when they had a chance?

Answer 4

Have all of you previous answerers forgotten how hard Bush fought to try to make torture legal? Even when the anti-torture bill passed by such a wide margin he couldn't veto it, he issued one of his usual signing statements, saying, "I'll enforce it as I see fit." In Bush-speak that means he won't enforce it at all and he wants the torture to continue. Have you ever heard of a little thing called the Geneva Convention? We're not just talking about U.S. laws here; we're talking about international law.

Answer 5

the place do you get this rubbish? Are you fairly attempting to declare that the yank President is in command of all this? What with regard to the persons we are combating? How nicely do you think of they are abiding by utilising the Geneva convention? Your question is an absurd humorous tale and your loss of sophistication is disgraceful. SO - I think of which you anti- conflict supporters think of we are capturing at sturdy style-hearted harmless human beings over in Iraq now - suitable?

Answer 6

Yes. Along with Donald Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs.

Answer 7

Wow, it's so hard for me to take this seriously. Hmm, let me see, do you know the definition of war crimes? Besides, how can he commit war crimes when he's been given the approval of Congress to wage this war? And you can't say it's because the UN didn't approve, because international law states that the US doesn't need the approval of the UN, only the approval of congress. You and a lot of other people say he's committed all of these atrocities without any evidence to back it up. Maybe we should do what you want, and pack our bags and leave 25 million innocent Iraqi civilians to defend themselves against militias, terrorists, and death squads. To me, that would be an atrocity.

Answer 8

I see from the most of the answers that people love to remain deceived about the real cause of war. So they don't see any harm in sending our troops to kill people that have done nothing to America.

Where is the evidence that Iraq or Afghanistan had anything to do with "terrorist" attacks?

Answer 9

He's a criminal and he is the worst kind!

There are a lot of things he committed that were illegal, like secret torture camps outside the US run by the CIA. That violates the Geneva Conventions and the US Constitution! That violates intrnational law. His attack on Iraq violated international law!

Hare are a feaw:

A PETITION
for
The Impeachment of George W. Bush
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
WHEREAS George W. Bush essentially murdered 6000* of his own countrymen, by allowing terrorists, in the face of specific intelligence and warnings by domestic and foreign agents, to highjack jumbo jets and use them as bombs against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and,
WHEREAS George Bush thereby caused damage in the millions of dollars, first from the initial incident and subsequent cascade of consequences which fell primarily on the shoulders of working class people, while he bailed out his rich cronies, and,
WHEREAS George W. Bush then perpetrated an illegal war against the country of Afghanistan, killing thousands of innocent civilians, women and children, mostly from starvation and exposure, in a pretext of “making war against terrorism”, which was, in reality, a clandestine plot to install a puppet government and begin to extract the oil and heroin resources of the region, and,
WHEREAS George W. Bush has surreptitiously used the “terrorist” issue to suspend the Constitution of the United States, mainly through the USA PATRIOT Act, suspending the rights of habeas corpus, legal representation and lawyer-client privilege while increasing the use of eavesdropping, snooping and electronic surveillance furthering the draconian restrictions to personal freedoms characteristic of this illegal regime, and,
WHEREAS George W. Bush has telegraphed his intention to withdraw from the family of man and the civilized global society by withdrawing from the ABM Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol and the World Court, preferring to pursue a course of world and space domination,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we, the People, Undersigned, being citizens of the United States and registered voters in the Counties and States so indicated, HEREBY Demand that the Congress of the United States begin immediate impeachment proceedings against said George W. Bush, pretender to the office of the President of the United States, and further demand they vigorously pursue all civil and criminal penalties to each and every member of this administration, agency employees, and members of the congress or intelligence apparatus who willingly and with malice aforethought participated in these heinous crimes.
*Footnote 1. These are official U.S. numbers. The death-toll at the World Trade Center was placed at 6,700 in September, 2001. The figures were used liberally by pundits and politicians alike to fuel the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the U.S. war on Afghanistan. The initial civilian death- toll from U.S. bombing in Afghanistan was 20 to 37. The U.S. death-toll was continually revised downward while world health officials elevated the Afghani casualties. The numbers became equal around June 2002. The present numbers are: U.S. deaths 2,919; Afghani deaths 3,215. So, George Bush’s body count remains nearly constant...the victims’ identities have changed. (for an excellent discussion, see Marc Herold at www.cursor.org/stories/heroldon911.htm)
*Footnote 2. Figures for Afghani deaths are from U.S. bombing alone. They do not include the thousand who died from starvation and exposure as a result of U.S. closure of relief supply routes from Azerbijan and Pakistan.

Answer 10

That's not for us to decide, it will be for the international community. To my knowledge and I may be misreading the law, by law any pre-emptive war is illegal and the offenders must be tried under international law.
I hope it doesn't come to that, because having a US President tried under international law would be bad for the American public. But then again, having a lawless president has raised our public lawlessness now to the point where I have to lock my car door and house door to feel safe.

Answer 11

Absolutely not! George Bush has fought for freedom for all! Unlike other presidents, Bush acted. Saddam and his boys, and God knows who else, would take young girls and rape them for days. They would kill members of families just because one member disagreed with their desires. Saddam used chemicals to wipe out his own people. Someone needed to come to these people's aid. Why is it that whenever an injustice is done in some country, that people in the US insist that the United States come to their aid, and if we don't, we're bad! Now a President 'acts'.... and frees the people, and you want to make him a war criminal. History will prove that President Bush was and is a great President!