Rumsfeld cancels trip to Germany after war crimes accusations
Foreign Press Foundation | 22.01.2005 08:36 | Anti-militarism | Repression
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cancelled a planned visit to Germany after a US human rights organisation asked German authorities to prosecute him for war crimes, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) has learned.
L.S. !
May we first point out that the same accusations are valid for all people in all governments* which take part in this also by the UN declared illegal war? In an interview with the BBC secretary general Kofi Annan repeated it - http://tinyurl.com/5pl2v -
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The US defence secretary was accused of war crimes
Rumsfeld has informed the German government via the US embassy that he will not take part in the Munich Security Conference in February, conference head Horst Teltschik told dpa on Thursday.
The New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights filed acomplaint in December with the Federal German Prosecutor's Office against Rumsfeld accusing him of war crimes and torture in connection with detainee abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
[Pictures - http://tinyurl.com/2stce]
Rumsfeld made it known immediately after the complaint was filed that he would not attend the Munich conference unless Germany quashed the legal action.
German legislation violations
The organisation alleges violations of German legislation, which outlaws war crimes*, crimes against humanity* and genocide* independent of the place of crime or origin of the accused.
The prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe reportedly is examining the roughly 170-page complaint to see whether an investigation is warranted.
The Centre for Constitutional Rights said it and four Iraqis allegedly tortured in US custody filed a complaint with German authorities against Rumsfeld, former CIA director George Tenet and eight other senior military and civilian officials over abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in Iraq.
The organisation said it had turned to German prosecutors "as a court of last resort" because the US government "is unwilling to open an independent investigation" and had "refused to join the International Criminal Court".
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* Story: Deutsche Presse Agentur - dpa - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/3vj4w
* Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark Calls For Bush Impeachment - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/6rcwc
* ''The Lancet'' and the ''Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health'': Over 100.000 killed in the illegal Iraq war - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5gys7
* Bush interv. ABC: No WMD's - many killed: "It was worth it". - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/6bal9
* Former Secr. of State Madeleine Albright in her comment on half a million dead children in Iraq: "We think it's worth it" On CBS 60' Minutes - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/2vmc8
* Iraq Body Count - Url.: http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
* A crime against humanity is an act of persecution against a group, so heinous as to warrant punishment under international law: Please scroll - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/6rphj
* This should be normal in the nearby future: Dutch war criminals in Court - http://tinyurl.com/662pp
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The Dutch author has this far worked abroad for 4 decades for international media, as a foreign correspondent, of which 10 years - also during Gulf War I - in the Arab World and the Middle East.
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