Should W. Be Arrested in Canada for War Crimes on St. Patrick's Day?

[reprehensor]

http://www.911blogger.com/node/19540

BUSH LEAGUE JUSTICE:
Should George W. Bush Be Arrested in Calgary Alberta
To Be Tried For International Crimes?

by Anthony J. Hall

Professor of Globalization Studies - University of Lethbridge

George W. Bush and Omar al-Bashir

Serious allegations of criminality are swirling around ex-US President George W. Bush and current Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. In late February of 2009 it was reported that the Hague-based International Criminal Court was preparing to issue a warrant for al-Bashir alleging his culpability for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. As the documents were being prepared against Sudan’s head of state, ex-President Bush was preparing to initiate a series of high-paying speaking engagements beginning in Calgary Alberta on March 17. Bush’s visit to Alberta’s oil capital tests the consistency and authenticity of the Canadian government’s “unequivocal” position that “Canada is not and will not become a safe haven for persons involved in war crimes, crimes against humanity or other reprehensible acts.”

The contrast between the treatment afforded Bush and al-Bashir was inadvertently highlighted by Geoffrey York, a colleague with whom I conferred frequently when we were both reporting regularly in The Globe and Mail about two decades ago on the surprising twists that repeatedly made Aboriginal Affairs in Manitoba a major source of national news. York introduced his story on the charges against al-Bashir by writing, “For the first time in history, an international criminal court is set to issue an arrest warrant for the leader of a country, accusing him of orchestrating a campaign of murder, torture and rape.” The reporter anticipated that the ICC’s initiative “will be hailed by many as a sign that nobody is above the law.”

The striking contrast between the treatment of al-Bashir and Bush serves to clarify the division of the world’s criminals and suspected criminals into two major categories, one inhabited by a small elite that is essentially above the law and the other populated by figures not rich or influential enough to gain exemptions from the law’s coercive force. It is not without a sense of irony that I arrive at this conclusion. On the one hand the ICC’s decision to press charges against al-Bashir, as well as to initiate in January of 2009 a full-fledged trial against Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, signals a major transformation in the career of the ICC. It indicates that the court is no longer a mere vehicle for the empty expression of lofty idealism but rather a site of real engagement aimed at subjugating the rule of murder, mayhem and intimidation to the higher authority of law.

On the other hand by pointing its initial surge of juridical activism at the local criminality of individuals in those afflicted regions of Africa where resource cartels and their client regimes often dominate, the ICC has called attention to the West’s hypocrisy in shielding its own war lords and war profiteers in the military-industrial complex from any legal accountability for the violent acts its operatives, many of them in the so-called private sector, regularly plan, instigate, finance, arm, facilitate, commit and exploit. Indeed, the double standard promoted by the ICC in the choice of its targets for prosecution replicates in the international arena much of the duplicity of the criminal justice system in the United States...

Continued...
http://www.911blogger.com/node/19540

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http://digg.com/politics/Should_Bush_Be_Arrested_in_Canada_on_March_17_2009

[lame54]

1. after they get him for being drunk in public

[Ohio Joe]

2. No

He should be arrested today, where ever he may be. I consider every day he is free to be an insult to the entire world.

[BuyingThyme]

3. Yeah, why let him get out of the country.

[WillieW]

5. and don't let him back in!

[madokie]

18. I like what Joe said

Arrest that sorry man and prove to the world that no one is above the law. Then head on over to the cheney residence and arrest his sorry ass too. then on to condi's, well you get the picture...

[Jack Rabbit]

4. I really don't give a two bit damn who has the honor of arresting Bush for war crimes

As long as the bastard stands trial for his foul misdeeds somewhere, someday and spends the rest of his life in the slammer.

On a more serious note, no one has issued an arrest warrant yet. What's the hold up?

[Ohio Joe]

8. Agreed, what is the hold up?

It is not like there is a question "Did he commit crimes?", only the entirety and exact wording of the charges. I expect a number of the crimes should go to Cheney as well.

[JohnyCanuck]

15. It seems to be one of those

"who is going to bell the cat" kind of issues.

[Jack Rabbit]

16. He's our cat

I think we should bell him.

But, short of that, as long as he gets the kind of fair trial in which he really doesn't believe, I don't care.

[punkin87]

6. Anywhere, anytime would be great.

[LakeSamish706]

7. The Harper Government would never allow this..... Remember, Harper is a Bush wannabe.. n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

11. Why is Harper still PM?

Haven't they no confidenced that bastard yet?

[LakeSamish706]

12. They could have taken him out, but the new Liberal leader chose not to.....

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hNXqiswwVeRGv9iuGO2iTqt4AF5w

[Jack Rabbit]

13. Who does Goodale think he is?

Nancy Pelosi?

No confidence is off the table, I suppose.

[DeepBlueC]

9. Alberta is Texas of the North

Don't get your hopes up.

[Canuckistanian]

20. Yep, that's oil country

They're just welcoming one of their own.

I suspect this trip is more about the Bush Crime Family's investment in Oil Sands than it is about W being the former president.

[dustbunnie]

26. It is. His talk is being given at a private luncheon -

funded by the Chamber of Commerce, a group of lawyers and oil people.

[OwnedByFerrets]

10. As much as I regret saying this, IMHO, no country will

DARE arrest a former president. I cannot even imagine the fallout. It would also put our current president in a huge quandry. We should be willing do do it ourselves, dammit.

[JohnyCanuck]

14. You got it, Pontiac!

Given the depth and extent of the documentation already assembled to indict Bush and many of his top lieutenants for domestic and international crimes, the ex-president’s ability to cross international borders and address audiences in places like Calgary stands as an indicator of the juridical malaise of our law-enforcement agencies. Is the role of these agencies primarily to protect the property and prestige of the rich from the incursions of the marginalized and dispossessed?

The evidence seems to be piling up that it is.

[JohnyCanuck]

17. kick n/t

[JohnyCanuck]

19. War Crimes and Double Standards

By Robert Parry

New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof – like many of his American colleagues – is applauding the International Criminal Court’s arrest order against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for his role in the Darfur conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

In his Thursday column, Kristof describes the plight of an eight-year-old boy named Bakit who blew off his hands picking up a grenade that Kristof suspects was left behind by Bashir’s forces operating on the Chad side of the border with Sudan.

“Bakit became, inadvertently, one more casualty of the havoc and brutality that President Bashir has unleashed in Sudan and surrounding countries,” Kristof wrote. “So let’s applaud the I.C.C.’s arrest warrant, on behalf of children like Bakit who can’t.”

By all accounts, Kristof is a well-meaning journalist who travels to dangerous parts of the world, like Darfur, to report on human rights crimes. However, he also could be a case study of what’s wrong with American journalism.

While Kristof writes movingly about atrocities that can be blamed on Third World despots like Bashir, he won’t hold U.S. officials to the same standards.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/030509.html

[ThomWV]

21. Hell no - arrest him for War Crimes a week earlier in Texas

[wildbilln864]

22. k&r! nt

[mzmolly]

23. To the greatest.

If international law is to be taken seriously by any nation, justice must be applied equitably. :kick:

[Greyhound]

24. Yes, K&R. n/t

[galloglas]

25. Any time, any place. But especially on St. Patrick's Day!

Too bad the Irish can't do it. But it would probably have to be the Provo's doing the job. The Island is still rife with (as Joyce called them) "West Irish"... the Sasanach spawn!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

27. Bush, and his cronies, SHOULD be arrested in the USA.

But, we haven't the political courage to face our own monsters.

[dickthegrouch]

28. Does an ex-president carry a diplomatic passport?

If not, I don't care where he finally gets to defend himself either.

He certainly wouldn't be able to hide behind all the secrecy babble he's wrapped around his staff here, if the hearings were held in Canada.

[grace0418]

29. The sooner the better. Right this instant would be fine.

I just want to see it happen. And not just Dubya.

[Buns_of_Fire]

30. You can arrest him on a Monday, a Monday, a Monday is very very good...

You can arrest him on a Tuesday, a Tuesday, a Tuesday, in fact I wish you would

You can arrest him on a Wednesday, a Thursday, a Friday, or Saturday is best --

But never, never on a Sunday, a Sunday, a Sunday 'cause it's a bitch trying to find a judge willing to sign the necessary detention paperwork and set bail and all the rest...

[nichomachus]

31. Is he still around? I thought men like him shot themselves. n/t

[bvar22]

32. Should......

....but won't.

I support a private effort by Citizens of the World.
It is clear that the Democratic Party and the US Justice Department will do NOTHING to hold the criminals accountable.
A private organization representing Citizens of the World would have better results.

I will donate $500 to ANY organization that will place a Bounty on Bush/Cheney to be paid to anyone who provides evidence or sworn testimony that leads to the issuing of an International Arrest Warrant..

A small, transparent trust could be set up by a handful of lawyers, and located in a neutral country like Switzerland. If the BOUNTY is promoted internationally, it would quickly grow to Mega-Millions.

The fund would also be tasked with running full page "Wanted For War Crimes" ads in major Global newspapers every 3 months until the Bounty is awarded or depleted.

Wanted
for
WAR CRIMES

A $500 Million Dollar Reward will be paid to any individual, organization, or country that provides evidence or sworn testimony that leads to the arrest, or the issuance of an Internal Arrest Warrant for War Crimes committed by George Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, or Donald Rumsfeld.

I have neither the resources or skills to institute such a fund, but I am willing to donate $500. I also believe that there are at least a million more worldwide (extreme minimum) who would also be willing to donate....that adds up to some serious money.

Even if Bush/Cheney are never arrested, a Mega-Million Dollar International Bounty would certainly keep them looking over their shoulders and curtail retirement travel plans.

It would also put a nice ribbon around the Bush Legacy, AND serve as a warning to future "Unitary Executives".

[hootinholler]

33. I've often wondered if the SS would yield to an arrest warrant on foreign soil.

:shrug:

I suspect it would definitely kick up some dust.

-Hoot

[autorank]

34. Bush unglued - k*r

This is an excellent article, all of it. Very worth the read.

But, Reprenehsor, haven't you heard, when a president of the United States Elite (The Money Party)
does any of the following, it's exempt under the carefully constructed concept of "American
Exceptionalism:"

Invade Vietnam and leave countless U.S. troops shattered and 2.0 million SE Asians in caskets;

Establish a drugs for guns policy with the Contras in order for them to fight "Communism;"

Trade with the enemy, i.e., Iran, in the above mentioned matter;

Invade Iraq to restore a "dynasty" to power;

Blockade, thoroughly, and bomb Iraq for 10 years causing the deaths of 225,000 children due to lack
of proper medical treatment and medications an disease;

Invade Iraq yet again.

(Partial list)

If the selected pResident does it, it's A-OK and the rest of the world loves the pResidents for it.

Why, because they're so exceptional.

[leftofthedial]

35. yes,

since the Obama administrations seems not to have the balls for it.

[southerncrone]

36. Any day & any place works for me. Just as long as it's done.