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Will Bush and Rumsfeld be tried for war crimes?
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Rumsfled and Bush
If United Nations (UN) Special Rapporeur on Torture Manfred Nowak is right, both former President George W. Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could be brought to trial. Nowak told the German broadcaster ZDF, "the United States U.S.) has a clear obligation" to prosecute Rumsfeld and Bush for ordering interrogation methods at Guantanamo that contravened a UN convention on torture. Nowak said there were publicly available documents "that prove that these methods of interrogation were intentionally ordered by Rumsfeld.
On December 11, 2008, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee issued a report that said former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and other senior officials share much of the blame for detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The report was made public by Democratic Chairman Carl Levin and its top Republican John McCain (R-AZ). It said that Rumsfeld contributed to the abuse by authorizing aggressive interrogation techniques at Guananamo Bay on December 2, 2002, although he rescinded the authorization six weeks later. The full report, a thorough examination of U.S. military detainee policy by Congress remains classified.
Bush was warned on January 28, 2003, by Lawyers Against the War that he and senior government officials could be prosecuted for war crimes if military tactics violated international humanitarian law. Their letter to Bush said that although Washington was not a party to the International Criminal Court, U.S.officials could still be prosecuted under the Geneva Convention.
The Bush administration recanted the policies under pressure from Congress, while President Barack Obama vowed to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. Obama, in one of his first acts as President of the U.S. started the process of closing Guantanamo Bay.
Whether the World Court would take action against Bush and Rumsfeld is yet to be seen. But the statement from Nowak should put them on notice that it may be already under consideration.
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