George W. Bush May Stand Trial For War Crimes In Iraq
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Judges in California will hear oral arguments in the case tomorrow morning.
Credit – AFP
For centuries, the US has committed war crimes around
the world and rarely suffered negative consequences as a result. Some of
the US most notable war criminals, such as Henry Kissinger and Barack
Obama, have received numerous accolades, including the Nobel Peace
Prize, despite their dark legacies. However, things may soon change as
former President George W. Bush may be forced to stand trial over the
war crimes his administration committed in Iraq. The US Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit in California recently confirmed
that Judges Susan Graber and Andrew Hurwitz will hear oral arguments in
the case of Saleh v. Bush, beginning tomorrow December 12th.
Other members of Bush’s administration, such as Dick Cheney, Colin
Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz, are also
named as defendants in the case.
The case was brought against Bush by Sundus Shaker
Saleh, an Iraqi woman who charges Bush and high-ranking officials in his
administration with breaking international and US law by planning and
executing the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. Saleh
maintains that Bush and his colleagues are guilty of the “crime of
aggression,” which was defined as the “supreme international crime” at
the 1946 Nuremberg Trials.
In the case, Saleh is appealing the immunity provided
to Bush and the other defendants by California’s Ninth Circuit court in
2014, after they were urged to do so by President Obama and the
Department of Justice. Saleh previously tried to take Bush to court in
2013 until the Department of Justice intervened. The California Court
dismissed her case in December 2014, citing the Westfall Act of 1988,
which immunizes former federal officials in civil lawsuits if a court
determines that the official was acting within the legitimate scope of
his or her position. However, this time around, Saleh argues that the
invasion of Iraq fell outside the legitimate scope of employment of
former President Bush and his administration. Plenty of evidence since
the invasion took place has shown that the administration knowingly lied to justify
and execute the war by falsely claiming Iraq under Saddam Hussein
possessed “weapons of mass destruction.” The real reason, however, was
that Hussein had stopped selling Iraqi oil in dollars by switching to euros, threatening US hegemony in the region.
“We are pleased that the Ninth Circuit will hear
argument. To my knowledge, this is the first time a court will entertain
arguments that the Iraq War was illegal under domestic and
international law,” Saleh’s attorney D. Inder Comar said.
“This is also the first time since World War II that a court is being
asked to scrutinize whether the war itself was an illegal act of
aggression — a special war crime that was defined at the Nuremberg
Trials in 1946.”
The oral arguments, set to begin tomorrow, will be live streamed and recorded on the Ninth Circuit’s YouTube channel
– that is, unless last minute intervention prevents the oral arguments
from taking place. The Court will begin hearing arguments at 9 AM PST,
though the Saleh v. Bush case is last on the docket and will likely take
place later in the morning. If the case advances, it could create a
legal precedent that would allow other US and foreign presidents and
officials to be charged for their crimes, such as former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair
who also had a hand in the war crimes committed in Iraq. Though justice
demands that George W. Bush be brought to trial for war crimes, one
cannot help, but hold lingering doubts that he will ever see the inside
of a court room as, time and again, the “Deep State” almost always intervenes to protect its own.
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1 comment:
Wishing you good luck. This weekend Henry Kissinger escaped arrest in Norway. He was invited for celebration and given a platform to speak by the Norwegian politicians who are the trusted custodians of the Nobel Peace Prize. The man who is very careful about where he travels had no fear; he expected safe passage going to Norway. Our Request for summons for criminal investigation has received support from over 7 000 at RootsAction. The brief is posted at the Nobel Peace Prize watch website: ncobelwill.org - Welcome to read it! Fredrik S. Heffermehl, Oslo, Norway
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