If U.S. doesn't prosecute Bush & Cheney, other nations may

January 16, 12:47 AMProgressive Politics ExaminerKaren Harper

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AP photo of Bush & Cheney

The abundance of evidence that President George Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney committed war crimes is substantial.  

There are no signs that President-elect Barack Obama will seek to investigate Bush and his administration with the possibility of prosecution for war crimes. 

If the U.S. chooses not to prosecute Bush, Cheney and others for their failure to uphold the U.S. Constitution and abide by the rules of the Geneva convention, there is some evidence to support the idea that another country will.  

In 2007, Vice-President Cheney fled from France fearing he would be arrested for authorizing torture at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Cheney was taken by U.S. embassy officials over the border into Germany to avoid being arrested.   

It was reported that "Under international law, authorities in France are obliged to open an investigation when a complaint is made while the alleged torturer is on French soil."

Author of the book, "Torture Team", Philippe Sands believes that should the United States choose not to prosecute Bush, Cheney and others, foreign prosecutors might.  Sands, a British law professor told the New York Times back in May,

If the U.S. doesn't address this, other countries will.
 

Some of us have been asking the question, "Who will prosecute Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld?"  It seems we have an answer.  Other nations will.

Another country could choose to investigate the war crimes committed on behalf of and authorized by the Bush administration and prosecute top officials of the U.S. government.  Should this scenario unfold in the coming year, what effect will it have on the credibility of our country's Justice Department?  How will the United States ever regain its moral standing in the world when other nations must prosecute our citizens for committing war crimes?

Few people are happy at the thought of prosecuting an American President, Vice-President and or other top U.S. government officials.  It will be a dark day in our history if and when such a thing comes to pass.  It was a dark day when those who swore to uphold and protect the U.S. Constitution failed to do so.  Yet it would be a darker day in U.S. history if we leave it to other countries to do our dirty work for us.  We must prosecute our own criminals even when they have held the highest office in the U.S. government.

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