Bush's Paraguay Option Goes South

[Joanne98]

Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 08:57:16 PM PDT
George Bush may not be able to escape to Paraguay to avoid prosecution for war crimes. The right wing party controlling Paraguay, which has provided a sanctuary to Nazis, smugglers and drug lords, is on the verge of losing power after 61 years of iron-grip control. A former Roman Catholic bishop has successfully taken on the corrupt patronage-driven power structure in Paraguay. The ruling Colorado Party is way behind in the polls.

The latest poll by the newspaper Ultima Hora found Lugo winning 34.5 percent of the vote, with the Colorado candidate, former Education Minister Blanca Ovelar, in third place with 28.5 percent. Paraguay has neither a run-off nor a re-election system, so whoever wins the most votes Sunday will serve one five-year term as president.

FishOutofWater's diary :: ::
George W. Bush will have to start looking for a new place to escape punishment. The new leftist government in Paraguay is unlikely to provide have to a right wing war criminal.

Lugo has captured disillusioned voters by playing up his story as a former bishop who worked for years in the country's poorest state and entered politics only after he was invited to speak at a massive anti-government rally in March 2006.

The 58-year-old declared his candidacy last year after he left the priesthood, and he's led in the polls ever since. He leads a coalition of parties, the Patriotic Alliance for Change that spans the ideological spectrum.

In a Friday press conference, he said that he'd try to renegotiate unpopular energy treaties with neighboring Brazil and Argentina and redistribute land more equitably to peasant farmers. He said that Paraguay, under his leadership, wouldn't "fall into submission to any other bigger country."

But it's clear that Bush and top administration attorneys approved of torture, violating international law.

· The Guantánamo lawyers charged with devising interrogation techniques were inspired by the exploits of Jack Bauer in the American TV series 24.

· Myers wrongly believed interrogation techniques had been taken from the army's field manual.

The lawyers, all political appointees, who pushed through the interrogation techniques were Alberto Gonzales, David Addington and William Haynes. Also involved were Doug Feith, Rumsfeld's under-secretary for policy, and Jay Bybee and John Yoo, two assistant attorney generals.

The revelations have sparked a fierce response in the US from those familiar with the contents of the book, and who are determined to establish accountability for the way the Bush administration violated international and domestic law by sanctioning prisoner abuse and torture.

The Bush administration has tried to explain away the ill-treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by blaming junior officials. Sands' book establishes that pressure for aggressive and cruel treatment of detainees came from the top and was sanctioned by the most senior lawyers.

The Hague awaits George W. Bush.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/18/233446/585

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Excellent...

If I could see these guys tried and convicted, I could die a happy woman.

[Turbineguy]

2. In that case George W had better

get his friends at Al Qaeda to attack the US so he can declare himself president a while longer.

[grasswire]

3. what??

"The Guantánamo lawyers charged with devising interrogation techniques were inspired by the exploits of Jack Bauer in the American TV series 24."

Where is this documented?

[tom_paine]

4. Let us hope this comes to pass

[truedelphi]

5. Actually I think Bush family members travelling to Paraguay has a lot to do with

His the BFEE planning on privatizing the water supply there.

It might be about that far more than his thinking that he needs a place where he'd be safe from extradition.

[burythehatchet]

6. This is GREAT news.

[lurky]

7. OK, look for a military coup in Paraguay if the RW loses.

If the whole "escape from prosecution" thing is true, then the powers-that-be will not let a little thing like democracy thwart their plans.

[kimmerspixelated]

8. He can run but he cannot hide!

When it's all over, and I think unfortunately for many, W still has some dirty tricks that may cost 1,000's more their lives, so he will be even more guilty and I hope the wrath of 10 million Cindy Sheehan types, and mor.. perhaps not so peaceful demonstrators hunt him down and chain him to a post, set his ass on fire, blow it out oaccasionally, just to light it up again, so that he can die (and Cheney too) a slow miserable death!!!

[Demeter]

9. And There's Always Plan B

[bluesmail]

10. and there's always Dubai, Plan B

suits their lifesyle better than Paraguay.

[lib2DaBone]

11. K&R Thank you... There is a god....