If Rumsfeld is convicted by the French authorities for torture will he take Bush and Cheney down with him?

Question

Where do you think this will go if anywhere?

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Rumsfeld_hit_with_torture_complaint_while_1026.html

Rumsfeld’s presence on French territory gives French courts jurisdiction to prosecute him for having ordered and authorized torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.

In addition, having resigned from his position of U.S. Secretary of Defense a year ago, Rumsfeld can no longer try to claim immunity as a head of state or government official. Nor can he claim immunity as former state official, as international law does not recognize such immunity in the case of international crimes including the crime of torture.

http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/donald-rumsfeld-charged-torture-during-trip-france

http://ccrjustice.org/get-involved/action/demand-rumsfeld-be-charged-torture

Answer 1

Actually I think it is really going to go somewhere... the downside is that it won't get anywhere until after Bush is out of office.

This Rumsfeld ordeal has been going on for a few years now. The Bush administration has made repeated attempts to keep it buried or to kill it completely... with no success. Btw, I am referring to the German case also. This is why I believe it will eventually get somewhere and also I believe was the real reason for Rumsfeld leaving the Bush admin. If he had stayed, this situation would have been a constant topic of rebuttal.

As far as your actual question, I honestly believe Cheney is going to be the only one that will walk away with no scars when all has been said and done. Bush is going to get hammered when the next ICC review passes judgment on the required internal changes he was suppose to make... that is how it works. The ICC doesn't just charge a leader with war crimes; they are required to first give the leader's country a chance to make adequate changes. This is why Bush had Gonzales redefine torture.... and that is going to be his own undoing.

Answer 2

Who are the French to judge Rumsfeld? I just watched a historical movie "The Algerian War" (1965) last night. It is a european film with subtitles. The French as depicted in this movie were brutal in controlling the Algerian populace. A favorite phrase used by the French military was "Dirty Arabs". There were resistance groups among the Algerians. To get information as to the whereabouts and plans of the resistance groups the French used all means of torture that made waterboarding seem like a frat prank. Attaching electrodes to each ear of a prisoner and frying his brain. Shoving a garden hose down a prisoners throat. Hanging a prisoner from the ceiling in a horizontal position using fishhooks pushed through parts of the body. These were some of the tactics shown in this movie. They even had a scene where one prisoner was marched to a guillotine set up in the prison courtyard and decapitated to further intimidate and cow the prisoners.

Answer 3

This is the first I have heard of a trial of Donald Rumsfeld. If this is true and the French as trying him as a war criminal then nothing can come of it. We do not recognize the international court. It is in The Hauge, Netherlands and not in France. This means that no country can try any American government official.

Answer 4

Nah, nothing will come of it past the headlines. The Left will try to use to as a political tool, but beyond political grandstanding it won't have any real effect here. We don't recognize that joke that they call the "international court", so it's rulings will be summarily ignored. Cheney won't be able to travel to any place that does recognize the courts rulings.

Now, the interesting part of this is that Bush did listen to the international court when it ruled that the US needed to examine it's use of lethal injection in capital punishments. Not exactly the way they ordered it (they wanted us to overturn every capital punishment sentence in the country), but he did order the states to look into it. Hmmmm....

Answer 5

Apparently, that news article left out the part where he read his subpoena with amusement, then proceeded to pull down his pants in front of everybody, took a huge crap, wiped his a s s with that subpoena, made a paper airplane out of it and threw it back at those that served him. Afterwards, he sampled some pinot grigio with some brie.

Honestly, what are the French going to do? Arrest him? That was just a waste of time.

Answer 6

The French authorities attempts at such foolishness reminds me of The Black Knight threatening to bite King Arthur's legs off after having been completely dismembered. They are charges levelled by idiots...full of sound and fury...signifying nothing.

Answer 7

What a non story.

They haven't even found a court to accept charges.

The French courts, will do the same as every other court those nuts approached and turn them away.

Even if a French court took the case, what would Rumsfield care ?

It's not like France could put him in jail.

Answer 8

I doubt it. The French have no juridiction to charge Rumsfeld with anything. Once he resigned he became a private citizen.

Answer 9

OMG- Sleep deprivation!! Hooding!! Dogs!! These types of outrageous human rights violation have got to stop. I think if we capture any known terrorist types we should just saw their freakin' heads off with a dull machete.
Do you really put a lot of credibility in the source of this information you refer us to? Do they appear even slightly one sided to you?
Rumsfeld will not be tried in France and he will not be taking Bush and Cheney down with him.

Answer 10

I doubt it is going to take down Bush and Cheney because the democrats have not were given the heart to take on the consevatives! as for him being proof against prosecution.....if his hands are so sparkling why are the cons so frightened about him being prosecuted?