ByMyReckoning

The lastest installment in the election fallout has landed on our doorsteps with a bump. No sooner had George Bush replaced Donald Rumsfeld with Robert Gates. A Berlin lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck from the Republican Attorneys Association (RAV) representing a group of international and US human rights groups including the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the National Lawyers Guild, and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH). Filed a lawsuit in Germany against US Secretary Of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and several other administration officials. The suit is being filed in Germany because, thanks to George Bush, Rumsfeld and other Bush cronies enjoy immunity from prosecution in the US whilst in office. However they can be tried in any other country under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction.

Although we'll have to wait to see whether Rumsfeld or the other plaintiffs will ever be brought to book. This is a welcome development which sends the message that war criminals must be held accountable for breaches of international law. There appears to be concrete evidence that Rumsfeld sanctioned the use of techniques such as waterboarding, intimidation with dogs, removal of clothing, stress positions, hooding, isolation for upto 30 days, sensory deprivation, sexual humiliation and physical coercion. Rumsfeld has also participated in high level decisions that sanctioned the extrajudicial execution of several people.

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Rumsfeld warcrime, Rumsfeld, Wolfgang Kaleck, Rumsfeld Germany, waterboarding, torture