Why Hasn't Bush Been Charged As A War Criminal?
By James Donahue

When President George W. Bush stepped down from office in January, 2009, we truly expected to read of warrants issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, charging Mr. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, CIA director George Tenent, national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice and former attorney generals John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales with war crimes.

These people fabricated stories linking Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to the 911 attacks against the United States, having an association with the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda, and conspiring to build a nuclear arsenal. The stories were used to justify an invasion of Iraq that led to the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, the arrest and hanging of Hussein, and the open practice of torture of captured prisoners being held in secret detention camps, many without formal charges.

Another war launched against the nation of Afghanistan, because that country was harboring Al-Qaeda terrorists at the time of the 911 attacks, also was questionable. Afghanistan did not attack the United States. Yet the Afghanistan people have died by the thousands from American and allied bombing and ground assaults. Our invasion of Afghanistan has provoked a war against another Islamic group, the Taliban, which had nothing to do with 911. The Taliban only wants the United States to leave Afghanistan and go home.

To date over 6,100 American soldiers have died in these two invasions. Thousands more have returned home maimed and mentally impaired from war injuries. The cost of the wars to date has been over $1.2 trillion and the debt is still rising at an alarming rate.

So why hasn't Mr. Bush and the Washington gang that started this mess been held accountable? There are several reasons that we can see. The Obama Administration has chosen to ignore the criminal acts committed by the previous administration. Mr. Obama announced after taking office that he believed it was "time for reflection, not retribution." He said he would not seek to prosecute any Bush Administration officials for their actions.

Both Obama, who is a lawyer, and Attorney General Eric Holder, appear to be ignoring the War Crimes Act of 1996, which passed both houses by unanimous vote, that make it a federal crime to commit a "grave breach" of the Geneva Convention. This includes the deliberate killing, torture or inhuman treatment of detainees during a time of war. Is this because the acts of torture are still being committed? Several nations of the world, most recently Switzerland and Spain, have formally filed criminal charges against Bush, Cheney and members of the Bush staff for acts committed in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The United Nations, however, has not picked up on the movement. Consequently the accusations by foreign nations carry no weight in national or American courts.

So why hasn't the International Criminal Court gotten involved? This court, established in July 1998 and opened July 1, 2002, has been ratified by 60 nations. A total of 120 states were involved in its creation. The Bush Administration chose not to participate so the United States is not among them. Consequently the court has no jurisdiction over United States leaders who commit international criminal acts.

The final reason Mr. Bush appears to be running free is that the United States seems to be playing the role of a world bully. Our leadership appears to have a double standard for morality. We demand that the leaders of the other nations of the world behave under standards established by international rules of conduct. But we act as if the rules, including those established by our own government, do not apply to ourselves.

Efforts to correct this injustice have been going on behind the scenes, however. Earlier in July, Human Rights Watch released a report calling for a criminal investigation into the actions of Mr. Bush and members of his staff. The report admonishes the Bush Administration for permitting the use of torture, sending suspects to secret CIA prisons, and transferring them to countries where they were tortured by foreign governments, beginning after 911.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of the group, noted that "the U. S. government's pattern of abuse across several countries . . . resulted from decisions made by senior U. S. officials to bend, ignore, or cast the rules aside."

Sadly, little appears to have changed since Mr. Obama moved into the White House. If Obama and Holder choose to ignore the Bush era crimes, it suggests that the door remains open for a continuation of even more criminal behavior under the current administration.

"President Obama has treated torture as an unfortunate policy choice rather than a crime," said Roth. "His decision to end abusive interrogation practices will remain easily reversible unless the legal prohibition against torture is clearly reestablished." Kenneth Roth, is the executive director of Human Rights Watch.

http://www.issuesandalibis.org/#eight

WOW!!! You are what is wrong with this Country and this world. Have you served a day in you life for something beside yourself. Do you understand the thaught that goes through a man/womans head as the put there life on the libe for people lke you.

The one thing I can say to is YOUR WELCOME!!! because me and my brothers and sisters in arms do what we do you get to sit safe in you home typing BS like this.

As my main job is interrogation. You don't have a clue what an interrogation is nor how hard it can be. Never has the U.S. believed in hurting one to get information. Have you even looked into what Advanced interrogation techniques are. Did you also know that they were only used on 3 people with the approval of the CIA and the president. After the interrogations all three said we should do this to all of them. As this technique allows them to submit and have a free mind a spirt in doing so.

Get you facts straight before you go out and trash what I and many do for freedoms.

this is just crazy - leave it at that

Do liberals sit around and masturbate over stuff like this?

Pretty sad way to make a liveing. hate it my tax dollars support it. I suppose anyone would admit to anything under torture that is why most civil societies dont torture.

I am curiouse what sort of freedoms of mine are you defending by doing what it is you do?

Keep spewing your hate, it will never happen.

Oh, BTW if you label President Bush as a war criminal you would have to labem your messiah Obama since he has continued almost ALL President Bush's policies.

I think they do more then that.

Bush/Cheney haven't been charged for the same reason Obama hasn't-they are simply doing their masters' bidding. Everything they allow you to see is just theatre, as it always has been.

how do you charge people whose comrades you must rely on to carry out the process?

I just dont think it happens all that often. Last I heard of anyone of note being charged was Rumsfield, and thats kind of faded away since 2010.

It's simple Oliver North wouldn't agree to take the rap this time.

Nobody's EVER going to be charged. People need to get over it. President Bush and his staff responded to and protected our country from a purley evil enemy like we have never faced before.

purely evil,,,interesting

Article pretty much says this. That is why I found it to be a fairly non biased read.

Look the entire government and any agency affiliated with world issues screwed up going to war with Iraq,period.So they couldn't find a real fall guy to rely on so noone is going to be punished except for the US soilders dying over there and the Iraqi people.

I don't understand peoples thinking when they defend anyone involved in the Iraqi war.There wasn't all these labs making WMDs and theres no evidence that Sadam or the country itself had anything to do with the 911 attacks.This war is fubar and the propaganda s h i t that the media and with some string pulling by our great government is trying to feed us is just that,s h i t.

This. People need to wake up, all is far from what it seems.

No there is NO getting over a man who is responsible for thousands upon thousands of deaths. NONE. You can hate us all you want, but we aren't gonna go away, not unless justice is served. Till then, we're gonna keep talking.

Our country lies in economic ruin because of the unfunded wars and the anti americans who started the war still have a small base of supporters. A person would have to live in bizzaro world not to get it at this point.