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11.22.11 - 11:38 AM
Bush/Blair Convicted of War Crimes at Tribunal That's Symbolic But Still More Than We've Accomplished
George Bush and Tony Blair have been found guilty at the symbolic Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal of committing "crimes against peace" during the Iraq war. An initiative by Malaysia's former premier Mahathir Mohamad, the ruling came after a two-year investigation and four-day hearing. The tribunal is also expected to later hear torture and war crimes charges against seven others, including Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.
"Unlawful use of force threatens the world to return to a state of lawlessness. The acts of the accused were unlawful."
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21 Comments so far
Show AllUS Xtians will have a field day with this one. Congrats to KL.
O.K. great , now lets symbolically hang them
Anything new? Where is Cheney?
So why did Obama get a free pass?
not from me nor you. He's allowing police to beat US citizens while he defends Egyptians, Libyans, and Iranians but he....he...omg....their RIGHT OMG THEIR RIGHT. He's a secret muslim.....dammit. Seriously though he's worse than Bush because we believed in him. If they were to try any of them, Obama has to go too.
GWB should be in jail and tried internationally for war crimes.
But this is Malaysia, where women get sentenced to caning for drinking a beer in public. So there's that.
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Yeah, where's that devil Cheney? And don't forget our current Murderer & Chief Turkey – Obama the Liar. While you're at it, throw in that beyatch Hillary, too.
Send 'em all to the gallows, the chair, the gas chamber, or just waterboard their asses for a few days, strip 'em all nekked & turn 'em loose into the countryside ...of AFGHANISTAN.
Good. It's good to know that some honest jurisprudence still exists in the world.
Where's the Queen of Hearts? Off with his head! And his too!
If these criminals were tried for real in the World Court of the Hague, and if the court could be honest, then clearly a guilty verdict would be reached, because these are REAL criminals, and the casualties of their crimes include the deaths of 1.5 million Iraqis. Their crimes are orders of magnitude greater than the crimes of every criminal in US prisons today. My god, it would be good to see justice. It would certainly put an end to the current crimes about to be committed in Iran. Had Obama really been decent, we would have had some investigations in the USA. AND 911 would have been cracked open too.
Nice picture of these two - bomb buddies.
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Now, if someone could just figure a way to get these two war criminals extradited to Malaysia. Then make Cheney and Obama next!
It is nice to see a court with some legitimacy.
Of course Malaysia is not going to be able to hang the duo or sweep them into a cell. I doubt that people in Malaysia are less conscious of that, in general, than most of us are. But when it happens, this is how it happens: not with a bang, not with a whimper, but with repeated partial and partially satisfying actions, most of them symbolic.
A lot of this probably has to do with reminding Malaysians that their principle oppressors are not the cops taking bribes. If they don't remember themselves, how should they expect the Americans and English to do so?
Dr Mahathir is a hypocrite - like those his tribunal condemns.
When the Indonesian Armed Forces invaded East Timor in 1975 and unleashed its reign of terror, Malaysia kept quiet.
Similarly , Malaysia kept quiet about the brutality of the Burmese military regime.
Dr M (as he is popularly known in Malaysia) is also prone to making anti-semitic comments.
Kai (Malaysian academic)
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Sorry, to be fair, I should mention that Mahathir did not become Prime Mnister of Malaysia until 1981.
Kai
Welcome to the Right Wing Neo Fasisct Police State set up by Bush & Blair...
Dear sivasm
Dr Mahathir said that "Jews rule the world by proxy" at one meeting of the
Organisation of Islamic Countries.
This is not anti-semitic?
Yes, I am Chinese-Malaysian. So what?
No, I am not a Christian.
I am sympathetic to the suffering of the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories
and condemn Israeli policy in the West Bank and Gaza.
Don't jump to conclusions so quickly, my friend.
I wish to inform the progressive readers of Common Dreams that Dr Mahathir is a hypocrite, anti-semite and promoter of ethnic tensions in Malaysia.
At the present moment, Malaysia is a semi-apartheid state under a kleptocratic ruling regime.
Kai (Kai-Lit Phua, Malaysian academic)
Let's be real here. We don't have any access to what this prime minister said about Jews and the quotation used against the prime minister may be completely wrong. Regardless of what he said, actions speak louder than words. That's the real crux of this matter of having a war crime trial. Such trials aren't held to hold anyone to account over simple words but rather tangible acts. Now let's just deal with actions and let go of all the dealing with rhetoric. The old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words never hurt more" has never been more to the point.
I see the war crimes trial as a stip in the right direction even if it be only symbolic.