No rest for Rummy

As I wrote the other day after hearing about Rummy's much-belated resignation as Defense Secretary, "We hope to see you again in the news very soon. Testifying before Congressional committees, for example. Or defending yourself in front of the International Criminal Court."

Or maybe in front of a German court:  Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse by Adam Zagorin Time Online 11/10/06.  This is a story about how several former residents of the Bush Gulag are suing in the German court system to require a prosecution of Rummy and several others for crimes in relation to torture and illegal confinements.  Zagorin explains how German law allows such an action for crimes not committed within German jurisdiction.  He also relates a bit of recent history that got close to zero attention in the American press:

Germany was chosen for the court filing because German law provides "universal jurisdiction" allowing for the prosecution of war crimes and related offenses that take place anywhere in the world.  Indeed, a similar, but narrower, legal action was brought in Germany in 2004, which also sought the prosecution of Rumsfeld. The case provoked an angry response from Pentagon, and Rumsfeld himself was reportedly upset. Rumsfeld's spokesman at the time, Lawrence DiRita, called the case a "a big, big problem." U.S. officials made clear the case could adversely impact U.S.-Germany relations, and Rumsfeld indicated he would not attend a major security conference in Munich, where he was scheduled to be the keynote speaker, unless Germany disposed of the case. The day before the conference, a German prosecutor announced he would not pursue the matter, saying there was no indication that U.S. authorities and courts would not deal with allegations in the complaint.

This was not under the current German "Grand Coalition" government but under the previous "red-green" coalition.  This was a sign of things to come, though our own press corps snoozed through it.  Rummy took the problem seriously enough that he wasn't going to come to Germany for fear he might be arrested.  German officials waited until one day before the defense ministers' conference to reject the call to prosecute him.  A quiet but serious gesture that should have stood as a reminderto the Cheney-Bush administration that anyone who had anything to do with promoting or administering torture, as well as anyone involved in planning the Iraq War policies and fabricating intelligence to justify it, had probably better think carefully before planning any European vacations.

For Republicans, the following part of Zagorin's piece will just merit a snort of contempt, at most.  But it's a grim commentary on how drastically the Cheney-Bush administration has skirted the law, so far with legal impunity for the senior officials:

In bringing the new case, however, the plaintiffs argue that circumstances have changed in two important ways. Rumsfeld's resignation, they say, means that the former Defense Secretary will lose the legal immunity usually accorded high government officials.  Moreover, the plaintiffs argue that the German prosecutor's reasoning for rejecting the previous case - that U.S. authorities were dealing with the issue - has been proven wrong.

I know a lot of people think that references to war crimes prosecutions for the principals of the Cheney-Bush administrations is just some partisan polemics.  But it's not for me.  And it's not simply an American decision.  The rest of the world sees the reckless nuclear proliferations policies of this administration, the Bush Doctrine of preventive war and its brutal application in Iraq and looking at ways they can reinforce a world order of international law that can constrain the behavior of an American administration pursuing the policies of a rogue state.

We shouldn't underestimate the pressure that senior officials in this administration feel from knowing they might be held accountable for serious violations of the law. The scope of the current legal action in Germany gives a hint of how far-reaching this fear could be.  Along with Attorney General Abu Gonzales and former CIA director George Tenet, the action includes others:

Along with Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Tenet, the other defendants in the case are Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone; former assistant attorney general Jay Bybee; former deputy assisant attorney general John Yoo; General Counsel for the Department of Defense William James Haynes II; and David S. Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. Senior military officers named in the filing are General Ricardo Sanchez, the former top Army official in Iraq; Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of Guantanamo; senior Iraq commander, Major General Walter Wojdakowski; and Col. Thomas Pappas, the one-time head of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib.  (my emphasis)

Expect these names and more to pop up when the new House and Senate begin their investigations of the Iraq War and torture in the Bush Gulag.