A lawsuit filed by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights with German prosecutors accuses Rumsfeld and other senior U.S. officials with war crimes for their part in the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal.

Until Rumsfeld was asked about the possibility at a news briefing, the Pentagon had maintained it was merely a scheduling conflict which could prevent him from attending the Munich Conference on Security Policy, an annual event which draws top defense officials from all over the world.

German law allows charges to be laid in war crimes and human rights cases regardless of the nationality of the accused, but because the United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court, charges cannot be laid in this country.

"It's something that we have to take into consideration,'' Rumsfeld said.

"Whether I end up there we'll soon know. It'll be a week and we'll find out.''

The Center for Constitutional Rights filed a complaint last Nov. 30 naming 10 U.S. officials, including Rumsfeld.

This week, they added the name of newly minted Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales to the complaint.

The Center has won important legal challenges on the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and has also filed suit against former attorney-general John Ashcroft for his role in the arrest and detention in Syria of Canadian Maher Arar.

Center president Michael Ratner said Rumsfeld's threats not to attend the conference are merely a bid to bully the Germans into dropping the case.

"We believe that Donald Rumsfeld cannot escape accountability for his alleged crimes," he said.

Last night, on CNN's Larry King Live, Rumsfeld revealed that he twice offered his resignation to U.S. President George W. Bush when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke last spring.

"I told him he ought to make the decision as to whether or not I should stay on," Bush said. "He did make that decision and he did want me to stay on.'

© 2005 Toronto Star

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