(Image Source: Cleveland Leader)
BY TRACY PFEIFFER
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He may have once been the most powerful man in the world, but George W. Bush’s world has just gotten a little smaller.
Dubya recently canceled a speaking engagement in Geneva, Switzerland, citing security concerns -- but some analysts believe it’s more about the horde of human rights groups calling for his arrest and prosecution on war crime charges. (Video: RT)
A writer for Salon explains, this visit wouldn’t have just run-of-the-mill protesters -- New York’s Center for Constitutional Rights drew up a 25-hundred page complaint against the former U.S. president and were prepared to take advantage of the speech’s location because...
“...Switzerland, as a party to the UN Convention against Torture, is obligated to investigate Bush for potential prosecution.”
Swiss officials made no indication they planned to arrest the former U.S. president, but pressure for his prosecution has been mounting since he admitted he approved waterboarding interrogation subjects.
Fmr President GEORGE W. BUSH: “I was charged with protecting America, and those decisions I made were necessary.” (NBC)
A blogger for dagblog says, he’s all for Bush’s arrest, noting America shouldn’t receive quote- “special privileges in the world.”
“Saddam Hussein committed some of his worst crimes while he was a U.S. client. He was hanged on Youtube. … We don't often respect sovereigns when they offend our interests. Maybe we shouldn't expect similar immunity for our own leaders when they head out into the wider world.”
But a writer for the conservative website American Thinker takes the political route, saying these rights groups have bigger fish to fry.
“Funny how leftists never seem to get around to calling for legal action against people like … Iran's Ahmadinejad whose trips to New York and elsewhere never elicit calls for that loony's arrest for human rights violations that sicken anyone with an ounce of decency.”
Yet despite all the ruckus, a correspondent for RT says it’s unlikely the former U.S. president will ever be prosecuted.
“It’s difficult to know where to start with George W. Bush, because it’s an entire cadre of people. It’s Dick Cheney, it’s Donald Rumsfeld, it’s Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, we now have Rumsfeld’s memoirs. I think international law has proved pretty useless when it comes to torture.”
Dubya isn’t the only one from his administration who’s run into travel snags -- rights groups previously threatened similar action against his Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, ahead of a visit to Germany.
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