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Germany to prosecute Rumsfield for war crimes?

Upchurch

Papa Funkosophy
Upchurch
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acuity said:
Rumsfeld already did wonders. . . ("Old Europe" anyone?)
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His remarks were correct in assessment, a stating of the obvious, albeit tactless. Europe is unable to play A side security ball, and Rumsfeld both knew it and declared it. (Also elucidated in Kagan's Power and Paradise PNAC spinoff treatise.)

The state of play was the same in the mid 1990's, about 10 years before Rummy's blunt assessments, but Secretary of Defense Perry was to discrete to mention the enormous gulf in capability between the US and its allies.

DR
 
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Germany is not prosecuting Rumsfield, this is a private prosecution brought by (IIRC) a US based group. This says nothing about Germany's attitude to the US other than it allows private prosecutions to be taken. This will go nowhere, ands is pretty much a non story, but it may take a while for the case to be thrown out.
 
Darth Rotor said:
His remarks were correct in assessment, a stating of the obvious, albeit tactless. Europe is unable to play A side security ball, and Rumsfeld both knew it and declared it. (Also elucidated in Kagan's Power and Paradise PNAC spinoff treatise.)

The state of play was the same in the mid 1990's, about 10 years before Rummy's blunt assessments, but Secretary of Defense Perry was to discrete to mention the enormous gulf in capability between the US and its allies.
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That argument doesn't even address the point, let alone being very wrong. Runsfeld's remarks had zero to do with "capability", and everything to do with perceived lack of boot-licking, IOW France and Germany were not doing what he or PNAC wanted them to do. In the same breath as Rumsfeld made those remarks, he was praising Poland while denigrating France and Germany.

If you want to try claiming Poland has somehow greater "capability" than France or Germany, which would be a necessary corollary if you want to stick to that line of argument, by all means, be my guest.
 
Gurdur said:
That argument doesn't even address the point, let alone being very wrong. Runsfeld's remarks had zero to do with "capability", and everything to do with perceived lack of boot-licking, IOW France and Germany were not doing what he or PNAC wanted them to do. In the same breath as Rumsfeld made those remarks, he was praising Poland while denigrating France and Germany.

If you want to try claiming Poland has somehow greater "capability" than France or Germany, which would be a necessary corollary if you want to stick to that line of argument, by all means, be my guest.
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gurdyr correctly assed Rumsfeld's remarks
 
Upchurch said:
Friend IM'd me the news, but I haven't found any major news source to back it up yet.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/12/wrums12.xml

Anyone else heard this?
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Democracy Now interviewed Michael Ratner, the President of the Center for Constitutional Rights about the lawsuit.

I got the impression that it is more symbolic than anything else and that it couldn't really go anywhere.

The lawsuit coinsides with the day of Rumsfeld's resignation.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/09/1444246

War Crimes Suit Prepared against Rumsfeld
Democracy Now
Thursday, November 9th, 2006

Would Rumsfeld stepping down leave him open to prosecution? In 2004, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a criminal complaint in Germany on behalf of several Iraqi citizens who alleged that a group of U.S. officials committed war crimes in Iraq. Rumsfeld was among the officials named in the complaint. The Iraqis claimed they were victims of electric shock, severe beatings, sleep and food deprivation and sexual abuse.

Germany's laws on torture and war crimes permits the prosecution of suspected war criminals wherever they may be found. Now, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Michael Ratner, is returning to Germany to file a new complaint. Michael Ratner joins us in our firehouse studio.
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http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,447894,00.html

The US based Center for Constitutional Rights and other institutions try to make use of a law passed in Germany in 2002, which allows prosecution of foreigners engaged in war crimes or crimes against humanity in (other) foreign countries. The law reminds a little bit of a UN charta thing.

The CCR had tried this years ago, too, but failed. Now that Rumsfeld's diplomatic immunity is lifted, they want to try it again.
 
wahrheit said:
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,447894,00.html

The US based Center for Constitutional Rights and other institutions try to make use of a law passed in Germany in 2002, which allows prosecution of foreigners engaged in war crimes or crimes against humanity in (other) foreign countries. The law reminds a little bit of a UN charta thing.

The CCR had tried this years ago, too, but failed. Now that Rumsfeld's diplomatic immunity is lifted, they want to try it again.
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Well, Germany courts gave the excuse that the US was in the process of trying cases up the chain of command at that time, so the courts dropped cases against Rumsfeld. I wonder how they will rule on these new cases--what kind of excuse they will come up with. Since then, the US government has made it clear that it will not pursue those cases. But still, these cases are very hot potato politically.
 
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