International Military Tribunal Trial of War Criminals at Nuremberg
It cost the Dixie Chicks a lot of money to proclaim that they were ashamed to have come from the same state as George W. Bush. Fans called radio stations demanding a boycot of the Dixie Chick’s records. But that was 2003. And there was a lot the rest of us did not yet know. Those of us that were paying attention already knew Bush and his cowardly cohorts Cheney and Rumsfeld (all three of whom had found their own ways to evade service in a previous unnecessary and unconscionable war), were directly responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands of human beings for their own economic and political reasons. We knew they were liars. And we knew they were sending brave soldiers to be killed and mutilated without the necessary equipment to protect their selves because as Rumsfeld glibly stated “you go to war with the army you have.” Apparently that includes an unnecessary war against a country that never attacked us in the first place.
Of course, these three musketeers were not exactly suffering. In 2008, Bush proudly exclaimed that “Laura and I are having the time of our lives.” Yes. While our government was sponsoring war crimes in various secret concentration camps around the world, life was pretty good for our President. His biggest problem was how to get through his remaining term, then get out there and “replenish the ol’ coffers.”
Because we had so many congressmen pretending to be too stupid to realize or who were too crooked to admit that drowning people constitutes torture; and because he got his own lawyers to say it was okay, all of his wildest fantasies of completely dominating people that could not fight back were within his grasp. The secret meetings must have closely resembled this scene from the movie Yellowbeard.
Things went smoothly for a while. Bush was replaced by a new Democratic President that did not have the backbone, the resolve, or the depth of human decency necessary to hold the former President and his administration accountable for their actions. Given this perfect storm of complacency, it looked like he just may have gotten away with it.
Meanwhile, Julien Assange made the news again this week because the systematic plan to extradite him for crimes they have not had time to fully invent has hit a snag. No one has been able to come up with an actual crime Assange has committed in any country, not to mention the U.S. other than to embarass its top brass. But getting him is still a top priority. His lawyers fear he will wind up at Guantanamo or worse yet, one of the secret concentration camps we have yet to close down around the world.
Oh yea, and one other small thing - so small in fact that it barely made the news at all this week. It seems that our former President had to cancel his trip to Geneva because if he leaves this country other governments less timid than our own will place him on trial for war crimes against their citizens.
Now isn’t that embarrassing? Thanks largely to his insistence on going around bragging about how he was above our laws and international law, our former leader cannot leave the country for fear of being arrested and held accountable for his crimes. It looks like Bush will have to replenish the ol’ coffers with money from his right-wing groupies here in the States. If he wanders too far from home he could wind up finally having to answer for what he did to his own people and the rest of the world. And it doesn’t look like he could handle that.
Copyright © 2011, Rick D. Massey, JD
Oh well, Dumbya wasn’t really planning to go to that there Switzerland place anyway. He only wants to go to places he can find on a map, and after several excruciating hours of poring over a map of Scandinavia, he still couldn’t find it.
Seriously though, I hope this trend becomes a lot more common. Pinochet spent his twilight years being scared sh*tless to leave Chile. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld (and all the rest of their henchmen) deserve the same fate.
Tom: The sad thing is that my conservative friends were calling the French cowards simply because they understood that Bush was not their president and they told him and Cheney where to stick their bogus war. Then they used to respond to my complaints that he was a war criminal with “then why isn’t he in jail?” Of course the answer is that our supposedly elected leaders don’t represent us and will not do their job and put him in jail. But there is always hope that his yacht will drift into international waters and someone will pick him up. His dad is not in the CIA anymore. So he may just be on his own.
It’s starting to look like Bush was wrong when he said history will judge him long after he’s dead. Now that the Shrub is out of his protective bubble, maybe he’ll bump into some more judgment.
As long as Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld walk as free men, there is no way the US can be considered a just and free democratic republic.
We are on the path to totalitarianism unless there comes some accountability. Obama with his shameful “looking forward” has now become part of the problem.
I will always love the Dixie Chicks for having the courage of their convictions. Well, along with the other obvious reasons. I heartily suggest seeing them in “Shut Up and Sing”.
Dave: I have to agree. Obama’s “looking forward” is not only shameful but dishonest. Holding our leaders above the law is a pretty foolish way to look forward. “As long as Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld walk as free men, there is no way the US can be considered a just and free democratic republic.” That statement is just as true for the remaining minority of Americans that think about these things as it is for the rest of the world. We are already viewed as a laghing stock that will impeach it’s President for lying about something that was no one else’s business in the first place, but will look the other way when he commits war crimes. If the right wingers ever had any credibility, I don’t see how they can hold onto it much longer.
I’d comment, but I have nothing to add. Great post, Rick