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Dirk
Adriaensens, member of the BRussells Tribunal
Executive Committee (04 December 2011)
International observer at
the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal 19-21 November 2011.
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The Kuala Lumpur
Foundation to Criminalise War is serious about getting George W. Bush and Tony
L. Blair arrested and prosecuted, after the milestone verdict of the Kuala
Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, where they were found guilty of Crimes against
Peace, Crimes against Humanity and War crimes on 22 November
2011.
Bush is currently
visiting Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia. He launched his Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon
project in Zambia. The project is aimed at expanding the availability of breast
care education and cervical cancer screening and treatment.
On 03 December the former
Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir sent a letter to the
presidents of these 3 African countries: Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia with a request to arrest and prosecute
George Bush. The letter was sent by Dr. Yaacob Merican, Secretary General
of the Kuala Foundation to Criminalise War. Here’s the message that was
sent to the president of Tanzania:
The Secretary
to
His Excellency
Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete,
President of
United Republic of Tanzania
Dear
Sir/Madam,
I would be most
grateful if you could bring to the immediate attention of His Excellency Jakaya
Mrisho Kikwete the contents of the attached letter from His Excellency Tun. Dr.
Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia and currently Chairman of
the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War on the above-stated
subject-matter.
--
DR. YAACOB
MERICAN
Secretary
General
Kuala Lumpur Foundation
To Criminalise War
50480, Kuala
Lumpur
www.criminalisewar.org
The content of the letter
reads:
Your
Excellency,
Please accept our
personal compliments.
I have the honour to
draw to your attention the Judgment by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal
dated 22 November 2011, a certified copy of which is
attached.
The Tribunal
unanimously ruled that Mr. George W. Bush is guilty of committing a Crime
against Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity. We respectfully request
that your government immediately arrest and prosecute Mr. Bush for these
grievous crimes against international law and the domestic laws of every state
in the world, including your own. Under principles of international law and
comity this judgment constitutes prima facie evidence of Mr. Bush’s guilt
warranting the initiation of domestic criminal proceedings against him by your
government.
We look forward to
hearing from you of the disposition of our request at your earliest
convenience.
Please accept,
Excellency, the assurance of our highest consideration.
Signature
Tun Dr. Mahathir
Mohamad
Chairman
Kuala Lumpur
Foundation to Criminalise War.
It is the first time that
a former head of state writes an official letter to presidents of countries
where war criminal George W. Bush sets foot, with a request to arrest him. This
is no doubt a novelty and a courageous stand by Tun Mahathir, totally in
accordance with the recommendations as pointed
out in the judgment of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes
Tribunal.
More political
personalities should have the courage to follow Dr. Mahathir’s example.
War Crimes should not go unpunished. Visits of Bush & Blair should be
protested, wherever they go. War criminals should not feel themselves safe from
punishment. Moreover, many countries have the right and the duty to arrest and
prosecute War Criminals under the law of Universal
Jurisdiction.
On 01 December, Amnesty
International urged the governments of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia to arrest
former US President George W. Bush for crimes under international law,
including torture, when he visits this week. (Amnesty International has made
the same request of Switzerland and Canada during the former President’s
trips to those countries.)
Zeke Johnson writes on
Amnesty International’s website:
No person, however high
the office they may have held, should be above the law. We seek to hold former
President Bush only to the same standard as any other person accused of similar
crimes, from whatever country they may come. You do the crime, you do the
time.
The former
President’s stated aim is to raise awareness about health issues in
Africa, but per Amnesty’s statement today,
“this cannot lessen
the damage to the fight against torture caused by allowing someone who has
admitted to authorizing water-boarding to travel without facing the
consequences prescribed by law.”
“If the US
government won’t arrest former President Bush for torture—President
Obama has said he wants to look forward, not backward—why would some
other country stick its neck out? Well, there is precedent for such an arrest
(read: Chilean General Augusto Pinochet); it’s up to regular people like
us to demand it.”
On 20 October, Bush,
along with former president Bill Clinton, appeared at the Surrey Regional
Economic Summit. Amnesty International, the Canadian Centre for International
Justice, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, and Lawyers
Against the War have all called on Canadian authorities to arrest and prosecute
Bush for the use of torture by U.S. forces.
The efforts of the World
Tribunal on Iraq, International Legal Scholars, Peace movements worldwide and
the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War are beginning to show
results.
The message of the
Perdana Global Peace Organisation and the Malaysian Foundation to Criminalise
War is very simple but very clear:
THE KUALA LUMPUR
INITIATIVE TO CRIMINALISE WAR
The Kuala Lumpur Global
Peace Forum of concerned peoples from all five continents are:
UNITED
in the belief that peace
is the essential condition for the survival and well-being of the human
race,
DETERMINED
to promote peace
and save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,
OUTRAGED
over the frequent resort
to war in the settlement of disputes between nations,
DISTURBED
that militarists are
preparing for more wars,
TROUBLED
that use of armed force
increases insecurity for all, and
TERRIFIED
that the possession of
nuclear weapons and the imminent risk of nuclear war will lead to the
annihilation of life on earth.
To achieve peace, we now
declare that:
Wars increasingly
involve the killing of innocent people and are, therefore, abhorrent and
criminal. Killings in war are as criminal as the killings within societies in
times of peace.
Since killings in peace
time are subject to the domestic law of crime, killings in war must likewise be
subject to the international law of crimes. This should be so irrespective of
whether these killings in war are authorized or permitted by domestic
law.
All commercial,
financial, industrial and scientific activities that aid and abet war should be
criminalised.
All national leaders who
initiate aggression must be subjected to the jurisdiction of the International
Criminal Court.
All nations must
strengthen the resolve to accept the purposes and principles of the United
Nations Charter and institute methods to settle international disputes by
peaceful means and to renounce war.
Armed force shall not be
used except when authorised by a Resolution passed by two-thirds majority of
the total membership of the General Assembly of the United
Nations.
All legislators and all
members of Government must affirm their belief in peace and pledge to strive
for peace. (…)
Zambia has dismissed
Amnesty International’s call for the arrest on torture charges of former
President George W. Bush.
"On what basis does
Amnesty International want us to arrest President Bush?" state media
quoted Foreign Affairs Minister Chishimba Kambwili as saying.
Kambwili said Zambia
would have considered the request only if it had come from the International
Criminal Court acting on behalf of international organizations like the United
Nations.
This answer is totally
irrelevant. The ICC has proved to be an instrument of Victor’s Justice.
Here’s ICC’s Special Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo’s biased and
meaningless answer on 9 February 2006:
“The Office of the
Prosecutor has received over 240 communications concerning the situation in
Iraq.(…) The available information provided no reasonable indicia that
Coalition forces had “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,
ethnical, racial or religious group as such”, as required in the
definition of genocide (Article 6). Similarly, the available information
provided no reasonable indicia of the required elements for a crime against
humanity, i.e. a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian
population. (…) The available information did not indicate intentional
attacks on a civilian population. (…) After analyzing all the available
information, it was concluded that there was a reasonable basis to believe that
crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court had been committed, namely wilful
killing and inhuman treatment. (…) The information available at this time
supports a reasonable basis for an estimated 4 to 12 victims of wilful killing
and a limited number of victims of inhuman treatment, totalling in all less
than 20 persons. Even where there is a reasonable basis to believe that a crime
has been committed, this is not sufficient for the initiation of an
investigation by the International Criminal Court.”
This cynical answer was
written after the Fallujah massacre, after hundreds of thousands Iraqis had
died and after the total destruction of the Iraqi state.
In light of the
unwillingness of the ICC to prosecute war criminals Bush & Blair, every
country in the world has the duty to prosecute them.
“The ICC was
established in order to punish war criminals who were not prosecuted by their
own countries. So far, the ICC has only managed to prosecute Africans. The
current cases presented for investigation involve Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast and Libya.
In the past a few Serbs were thrown in for good measure, but otherwise Africa
has been the ICC target”, writes Margaret Kimberley.
The recommendations of
the War Crimes Tribunal in Kuala Lumpur are very clear:
RECOMMENDATIONS
First, the
Commission must invoke the Nuremberg law to report Bush, Blair and their
accomplices for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity
under Part VI of the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal.
Second, the
Commission must file reports of genocide and crimes against humanity with the
International Criminal Court (ICC).
(…)
Fourth, the findings
of this Tribunal must be communicated to all countries that have acceded to the
Rome Statute and are possessed of universal jurisdiction.
Efforts to prosecute
these war criminals are clearly increasing. But more needs to be done.
Worldwide, the common
slogan should be “War is a crime. War criminals belong behind bars.
Watch out, Bush & Blair, this is only the beginning. You will
never be safe wherever you go”
Dirk Adriaensens, member
of the BRussells Tribunal Executive Committee.
International observer at the
Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal 19-21 November 2011.
