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Increasing Calls for Iraq War Probe of Bush Administration
In his just published memoirs, The Age of Deception, former chief United Nations nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei asks that George W. Bush and officials in his administration face international criminal investigation for the war in Iraq. One thing he learned from the Iraq war, he says, is that deliberate deception is not limited to small countries ruled by ruthless dictators.
ElBaradei is harshest in is comments when criticizing the 2002-2003 drive for war with Iraq, when he and Swedish inspector Hans Blix led UN missions looking for signs that Saddam Hussein’s government had revived nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programs. They found no evidence that Saddam Hussein actually did so.
The Egyptian nuclear expert tells about a meeting he and Blix held with leading Bush administration officials. In that meeting, held in October 2002, they met with, among others, Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. They tried to convert the UN mission into a cover for what Bush officials wanted to be a United States-directed inspection process.
Both he and Blix resisted, and their teams carried out some 700 inspections of potential weapons sites in Iraq, and found no evidence supporting the U.S. claims. Former president Bush and his team rejected ElBaradei and Blix’ findings, and continued to insist on Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction to justify the war against that country. The unfortunate result is that the US orchestrated a war in which hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed as well as several thousand U.S. soldiers.
ElBaradei’s demand for Bush’s prosecution is in line with several previous actions by individuals and legal and human rights organizations. In the book The Prosecution of George W. Bush, former U.S. prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi argues that former president Bush intentionally misled Congress and the American people about the evidence that he claimed justified going to war with Iraq.
The strongest evidence against Bush is a speech he gave on October 7 of 2002 in which he claimed that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the security of the U.S. and was capable of attacking America at anytime with his stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, according to Bugliosi. In addition, says Bugliosi, leading officials in former president Bush’s administration edited a declassified version of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released to Congress and the public in a way that made the Iraqi threat look more ominous than what it really was.
Bugliosi also asserts that far from making serious efforts to avoid going to war, former president Bush considered the possibility of starting a war by sending U2 reconnaissance aircraft falsely painted in UN colors on flights over Iraq along with fighter escorts. If Saddam ordered them shot down, that would constitute ground for war.
In their seventh annual convention in Austin, Texas, Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) stated that the growing body of evidence, including testimony from British officials in the Chilcot Inquiry, shows that Bush officials could be charged with criminal offenses against the U.S. and violations of international law for making false claims about national self-defense.
Although there are formidable legal barriers that may rule out such an investigation, ElBaradei cites the war-crimes prosecution of Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic as showing that, indeed, it should be possible to do it. As the IVAW stated, “It is time for America to hold the officials responsible for this war to account for their decisions.”
28 Comments so far
Show AllSorry, but while it will always be a good idea to conduct a criminal probe of the Bushite Crime Mafia, it is much more relevant to do the same with regard to the current Crime Mafia in Washington . . . which, not surprisingly, consists of many of the same people.
True. If there is investigative energy out there I personally would rather see it applied to building cases against the crooked bankers embedded in the White House, exposing the scams hidden in the tax code, investigating corruption in the military industrial complex, or many other of the active cases that need to be worked.
I believe the international community will mount a protracted effort to bring about war crime investigations at The Hague. I would prioritize that as long term objective #2, with short term objective #1 to revoke the right of personhood for corporations. Underneath that objective I would add: tax corporations at a fair rate. GE, Exxon, Chevron, Citicorp (on and on) paid ZERO taxes, yet they use transportation and highways, fire, police and their remaining American employees educated in tax payer funded schools for the most part. OBSCENE!
I seem to remember that the President and others kept repeating the lie that Saddam had "kicked the inspectors out." This, after the Administration itself forced them to leave. Old news, all of this. Obama wants us to "look forward."
Meet the new Boss...same as the old Boss. (Pete Townsend and the Who.)
Yes indeed, good point. I have never forgotten that either. The limp-dick government-owned MSM NEVER questioned this oft-repeated lie, no matter how many times Bush and his mafia cronies repeated it. "Saddam kicked the inspectors out, so we had to attack." Over and over and over. When, in fact, Bush himself kicked the inspectors out and began bombing.
In the U.S., however, when a lie is repeated enough times, it becomes the truth. This is sacrosanct.
0 repeated it recently, as he did the lie that the Taliban refused to hand over bin Ladin.
I'm sorry, but this is a pipe dream. There will be no real investigation of the former pResident, after all the one who's now in office is a good friend of his and doesn't think bush the lesser did anything wrong. ElB is, in a way, asking that the murderers investigate older murders and come up with an honest and accurate description of their crimes. Does he really think that Serbia and the Serbians would have prosecuted Milo? Don't make me laugh.
sad but true - in the case of milosevic the trial was a kangaroo court - bald enough to match guantanamo
milosevic kicked the shit out of the prosecution and when there case fell apart - presto - overnight he allegedly contracted and died of cancer - for which he was provided no medical aid by the way
sort of like the cia's single car accident or small plane crash - the subject is gone
if we wanted to try amerika for its crimes we'd have to indict the entire government, the mic and the fawning corporate media
though i'd love to see that trial it aint never gonna happen
the pablum we get is the royal (my ass) wedding between what's his head and stumble shit
let's try them as well as the old bag herself - the shape shifting queen
btw: i hope everyone is enjoying obummer's photoshopped birth certificate
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/07/atlas-exclusive.html
that guy is a piece of work
The evidence being presented by the US Government and their British puppet was very obviously "cooked up" and this was apparent at the time.
Members of the Canadian government received briefings from the US Military, its State department and its CIA and all but laughed off the evidence as little more then a power point presentation cooked up in some back office with little in the way of evidence or facts. They advised then Prime Minister Chretien that it was in fact a crock and if Canada joined the farce it would be illegal under international law.
If the Canadian Government was aware of this then so too was every Government in the World.
Yet when one watched the media the exact opposite was being stated as they claimed the evidence bulletproof.
This clearly shows the Media was fully on board with this illegal war and were given their orders to sell it to the Public by their handlers. The media is merely a propaganda tool for the Fascist Government of the United States of America and its empire. Its many mea culpas after the fact does not change this.
Thank you, GW, for another important post.
Let's also recall the "Downing Street Memos" and their exposing the fact that the case had been FIXED for war. When all of these witnesses corrorborate, a viable International Court could proceed with prosecutions. Obama is just a front man, and as our Empire implodes increasingly from within, the US figurehead will not necessarily wield the clout to block such a legal process.
The world would cheer it on, and I'd happily write a check to help fund such an enterprise. No doubt so would others of conscience. Such an effort is LONG over-due.
Indeed, Siouxrose, I remember when the Downing Street Memos first came out I was absolutely SURE that the Bush gang were screwed, blued, and tattooed. I said "Oops - that's the smoking gun. You're cooked."
And....nothing. Faded away like leaves in a strong wind. All that glaring, blatant evidence right there in the world's face that our President and his sychophants across the pond deliberately planned to illegally invade Iraq under lies and false pretexts - clear violations of Nuremburg and UN Chaters, not to mention the US Constitution - and....
Nada. Absolutely amazing. And the final proof that the U.S. is nothing more than a rogue terrorist nation that is bound by no laws, no principals, no morals, and bereft of any grace or hope of salvation whatsoever. The evening is long past, the night just begun for the U.S. of A.
Good luck with this given the obama crime family has taken over for the bush crime family in worse ways than we ever imagined. I support it, bush, cheney, rumsfeld, petraeus, obama and many others should be tried for war crimes. Where do I sign up to be on the jury?
Nothing disappoints me more about the Obama Administration than its failure to investigate the neo-cons (I prefer, neo-fascist thugs) who took US into an illegal war. It appeared during the 2008 campaign that someone with reputation in constitutional law would bring this country to the civilized world which after many attempts has recognized the inhumanity of the powerful to wage war against the weak (and often synonymous with the poor) and had established a structure to deal with nations & leaders who perpetrate such atrocities. America, while supporting war crimes/crimes against humanity prosecutions in many cases, have refused to submit its own widely suspected, if not clearly identifiable, criminals. Rest of the world still shivers reading the PNAC document: the clearly stated objective of intervening militarily anywhere and anytime US chooses to do so. That ‘policy’ has never been denounced publicly by Obama or for that matter by anyone else in the foreign affairs establishment. There is absolute guarantee that when the Republicans come to power next, and they will, this will be revived and implemented. While for political exigencies Obama Administration refuses to conduct even an investigation of Bush, Chaney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, et al, - these criminals actually should be sent to International War Crimes Tribunal – they are ensuring repetition of what we saw under Bush the Lesser. It is a disgrace, and the impotence of the progressives in pushing for prosecution of these criminals responsible for needless death of some 7,000 US soldiers and several 100s of thousands of innocent Iraqis is a reason for Americans to be ashamed.
What everybody else said.
By all means "keep a good thought", but at this late date the idea of a legitimate inquiry into the multifarious high crimes, criminal schemes and policies, and misdemeanors of the Bush maladministration is at best a nostalgic fantasy.
The Amerikan Imperium is a capitalist rogue-state, an international crime syndicate beneath polished, glittering rhetorical cosmetics and costumes showcasing Enlightenment values: liberty, freedom and justice for all, civil rights, the rule of law.
The surface ceaselessly flashes and gleams, like a gilded sarcophagus or bejeweled shroud covering a putrefying corpse. The silver forked-tongues of Amerika's political leaders tirelessly pontificate and pay homage to these high-minded moral and legal principles.
But handsome is as handsome does. Under the rhetorical cloak, Team Obama has perpetuated and intensified ruthless imperialist and authoritarian policies and practices with a vengeance, and any attempt to "look backwards" will officially expose this ugly truth-- or at least raise the risk of exposing it, which is unacceptable to those in power.
Yes, in a sense it might be asked, "How much more 'exposed' can Team Bush, or Team Obama and its allies and enablers BE?" But that's what I mean by "officially" exposed; as the mysterious events of 9/11 demonstrate so clearly, all a government needs is an enduring cover, an "Official Story" or narrative-- regardless of how suspect or preposterous it may be-- to maintain general respectability and keep up the bad work.
So there's no Amerikan "honest cop" or "honest judge" with the will, capability, and authority to rigorously investigate serious and wide-ranging government malfeasance.
International justice organizations and law enforcement? Any not already dominated by the Amerikan hegemony will be challenged and attacked with extreme prejudice.
Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón has made noble attempts to bring Bush administration officials to justice, or at least to face judicial scrutiny. He's been neatly suspended and sidelined, even indicted for allegedly exceeding his authority when investigating crimes committed by the Franco regime.
That's not a coincidence. And there doesn't appear to be a mad scramble by potential successors to pick up the torch, and that's not likely to be a coincidence, either.
It's not as if there's "no evidence" of criminal wrongdoing. Hell, as previous commenters point out, Bush maladministration officials openly and cheerfully admit that the US government's stated reasons for launching the illegal, pre-emptive war of aggression against Iraq were fabricated, inflated, and mendaciously swapped around to meet the exigencies of the moment.
Skeleton and rotting body parts have practically leaped out of closets, rolled up the cellar stairs, and dropped down from attics and skylights.
As the odious Deadeye Dick Cheney remarked, "So what?"
And then there's the statement, "Although there are formidable legal barriers that may rule out such an investigation, ElBaradei cites the war-crimes prosecution of Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic as showing that, indeed, it should be possible to do it."
Sorry, I draw exactly the opposite lesson. Even international courts are not free from fear or favor, as they proclaim and aspire to be.
They work best when they're prosecuting individuals who have already been tarred and branded by member nations, especially the U.S. dominated Western hegemon, as scurrilous criminals and rogues.
Like that one Goldman-Sachs bankster who's being prosecuted, or middle-level players like Manuel Noriega, Milosevic is exactly the kind of discredited political leader who gets hung out to dry because he lost whatever protection and connections he had for any number of reasons.
This isn't to say he's an innocent patsy, just that he wound up being prosecuted for war crimes because he was a suitable "candidate" for such prosecution in the first place-- not because the court is bound and determined to prosecute all war criminals on principle.
Likewise, it's possible that if Muammar Qaddafi isn't liquidated in Libya's present civil war-cum-humanitarian intervention-- it will prove to be "possible" to haul him into the dock.
But that's exactly the difference between a Milosevic and Qaddafi and a Cheney, Bush, or Obama. The latter group have the heavy-duty, industrial-strength, five-star, platinum, VIP privileges, protections, and connections.
They may be occasionally inconvenienced, hassled, or embarrassed (although they're well beyond personal embarrassment or shame) by judicial threats and obstacles that limit or restrict their free movement.
But they're not going to be busted. Where there's a will, there's a way? Maybe so, but there's no will-- so there's no way.
O.S. Your post is brilliant, your allusions expertly designed... but... everything looks the same until the moment arrives when it suddenly changes. I read sometimes lucid commentary in this forum, and yet I have to laugh to myself that regardless of the evidence--the degree to which weather, climate, world finance, (the end of oil) and morality are all coming apart, people still base their analyses on the evidence of the past, and the apparent "normal" flow of things. As if the CENTER is still holding...
So many sources speak of a HUGE and massive paradigm shift, and each day more evidence piles up. Right now intense storms are banging on my neighborhood, part of the system that took over 200 lives in tornadoes yesterday. This outbreak has broken the record books. A week ago it was fires in Texas, a few weeks before, the awful Japanese debacle at the nuclear reactors.
Even though these political horrors-incarnate have apparently skated by and their authors not (yet) been held to account, that hardly means that the verdict is out, the jury dismissed.
The law of karma will not be mocked... and this time, I do not think the time line exposing that Truth will take lifetimes to unfold.
Criminals in high places who have taken probably a million or more lives, ruined people's livelihoods, left a sludge of toxic DU behind, and now set their sights on granting misery to citizens of The Homeland Security State insult the heavens. There is a time of reckoning... part of that promise as per "A time for every purpose under heaven."
The advantage of the astrologer is... we study the mechanisms of time itself. The US is an entity, and its energetic template is centered on its birth-date, July 4. An upcoming square from Uranus (a once in 42 year event) coupled with a square from Saturn (a once in 14-15 year event), coupled with the big enchilada, an opposition of Pluto (the key aspect that BIRTHED our nation) are all coming due over the course of the next 3 years. Karma works through these celestial agencies (a/k/a cosmic clockworks)... much will be unfolding at breakneck speed.
The Universe DOES arc towards justice...
The only investigation we need, and one that would provide answers to questions I have, is an investigation into just who is pulling the strings of the last puppet administration, and the current one
"Although there are formidable legal barriers* that may rule out such an investigation..."
*more like the threats from the Whitehouse.
The saddest thing is that after Americans realized that Bush and Cheney fabricated the reasons for the conquest of Iraq, the public re-elected them. The possibility of the Washington Mafia being prosecuted, is about as likely as the U.S. leaving Iraq on moral grounds. It ain't going to happen!
SPACE: Are you sure you want to stand by that comment given the shenanigans around the vote count, especially in Ohio? Remember, it's not who votes, but who COUNTS the vote, and those sinister touch-screens that some computer experts exposed for serious flaws acted as the dealmakers in this "election."
If the press were not in the hands of those who intended a certain outcome, more citizens would know about the research, Beverly Harris, Robert F Kennedy, Jr. and others... it was as much of a con as was the Supreme Court arrogating to itself the right to determine a "winner" in 2000.
The PNAC needed Bush in the White House, to implement 911, to get war rolling, to get MIC $ floating, to repress civil liberties at home, etc. It was the neocon wish list... and they were too close to the prize(s) to let it slip away.
And now... about all those freedoms that were fought for over there, so they wouldn't be lost over here. I wonder where they all disappeared?
All very true, Siouxrose, but the fact that ANY appreciable number of Americans would vote for such criminals in 2004 says pretty devastating things about our society.
CORVO: Actually, given the 24/7 power of media hypnosis under the tutelage of Bernays, Barnum, and everything Orwell warned against... it's a wonder MORE didn't fall under the dominant illusions that pass for "reality" or "news" in our OCCUPIED land. Some still manage to see through the din, delusion, and high spectacle "lights! Camera! Action," as increasingly subtle tactics are used to firmly establish the storylines and acceptable narratives for our nation. Who are you or I to argue with them... the experts! (Said facetiously.)
Other than that, sure...
Their propaganda isn't as effective as you think -- or they wouldn't have found it necessary to own the corporations that count the votes.
I believe President Obama refused to investigate the Bush/Cheney criminals because it would reduce the chance for "harmony" and "cooperation" between the two parties. It should be apparent by now that the lack of harmony comes totally from the other side.
Spain silenced its brave Judge Garcon, but would not be able to stop Mr. El-Baradei (or his country, Egypt) or any other individual, organization or country that wishes to call for an investigation by the International Criminal Court. (See the ICC website for the rules.)
Bernice: Whose interests does all that "harmony" serve? (Asked in the voice, "Who does the Grail Serve?" As taken from the wonderful film, "Excalibur.")
The roots of the corruption tree run way too deep. Put away the pruning tools. It's a waste of effort.
Nothing will improve unless America as a whole undergoes a serious change of values and instills them in the children.
The ONLY non-violent solution to reform is in our nations youth. In them is the future of all mankind. Face it, our generation not only has failed, it is the wellspring of the current disease.
No investigation of Bush will happen without public support created by new revelations about Bush Administration lies and corruption. Otherwise there is no will.
Just like it took 9-11 to create support for wars Bush wanted to have anyway.
Come on Wikileaks, start a fire!
There should be calls for an investigation into the first gulf war, the economic sanctions and the second gulf war against Iraq. . A probe of all in power at that time including Bush sr. Clinton, Bush jr., the U.N. national security council and the coalition of countries who helped America perpetrate the crimes of American history against innocent Iraqi people. The question is who is left to do the probe?