Rumsfeld "War Crimes" Lawsuit Embarrasses German Authorities

[Purveyor]

Former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld could face charges of war crimes after a lawsuit was filed against him in Germany. Now Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office has to decide whether it will investigate.

A 384-page document is currently sitting in the offices of Germany's federal prosecutor in Karlsruhe -- and causing headaches for the authorities there. They never asked for it, but now they have to deal with it. The only question is how.

The reason the authorities would be quite happy if the lengthy document would simply go away is because it is a lawsuit against 14 powerful men and one woman. Donald Rumsfeld, the former United States Secretary of Defense, is one of them. Others include Alberto Gonzales, the current Attorney General of the United States, CIA director George Tenet, and Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, the US general who served as the commander of coalition forces in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004. According to the document, these members of the US elite violated both international law and the United Nations Convention Against Torture in Abu Ghraib prison and the Guantánamo Bay detention camp.

The lawsuit was filed by Berlin-based lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck. Politically, it's a time-bomb which could cause serious problems for US-German relations. Angela Merkel has made a persistent effort during recent months to cultivate a good relationship with Germany's overseas ally. An arrest warrant for top US military authorities and government members would likely reverse a lot of this work and lead to a new low point in trans-Atlantic relations. Representatives have been negotiating behind closed doors for months about whether Germany should investigate Rumsfeld's alleged crimes or not. Germany's federal prosecutor Monika Harms will reach a decision on the issue during the coming weeks.

---EOE---

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,473987,00.html

[Robbien]

1. An arrest warrant issued for Rummy and Gonzales

:rofl:

Hey, most of the American public would be happy to be there when they serve it.

[BushOut06]

2. Why not George W Bush, Dick Cheney?

Is there some German law that prohibits lawsuits against heads of state? These two are the ones who orchestrated the entire thing. If they didn't want this stuff going on, it wouldn't have been.

[donsu]

3. the decision Monika makes will tell us weather Germany is with

the neo cons or not.

just how brave are the Germans?