Original source URL: http://www.williambowles.info/iraq/2006/0706/bush_criminal_charges.html News and opinions on situation in Iraq 4/7/06 Criminal Charges Filed Against George H.W. Bush (Sr.) in Iceland For Immediate Release, July 4th 2006, 16:25 local time Please disseminate Reykjavik, Iceland (3 July 2006) A group of ten Icelandic citizens filed yesterday at the Office of the State¹s Police Chief criminal charges against George H.W. Bush, former U.S. President, who is expected in Iceland this evening at the invitation of Icelands¹s President Olafur R. Grimsson. The group accuses former President Bush for participation in war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes against the peace, and crimes against internationally protected persons. It demands that former President Bush be detained by the Icelandic authorities and investigation on these charges. Should the investigation conclude that legal proceedings against him are warranted, the group requests that he be tried before an Icelandic court or extradited to an international criminal tribunal which possesses the requisite jurisdiction to deal with his case. Icelandic courts are, under international law, qualified to try individuals suspected of having committed international crimes. George H.W. Bush is charged of initiating a war of aggression against Panama in 1989, in breach of international law and the UN Charter, constituting a crime against the peace, and of ordering the kidnapping of Panama¹s President Noriega in violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons. George H.W. Bush is furthermore charged for his command responsibility for the multiple war crimes committed by US forces in the Gulf War in 1991, including the policy of deliberately bombing civilian targets and the massacre of soldiers hors combat. His command responsibility for these crimes is equivalent to those of other heads of states who have been charged, indicted and convicted for international crimes, including torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. George H.W. Bush is also charged for inducing an uprising of Kurds and Shi¹ites in Iraq during the Gulf War and then ordering US forces to withhold aid from those who risked the uprising, thus leaving unarmed uprising masses unprotected against Saddam Hussein¹s brutal forces. By such policies, he knowingly facilitated the commission of crimes against humanity by Saddam Hussein. He is finally accused for conspiring in imposing deadly economic sanctions against the people of Iraq, with the intent to harm the well-being, health and lives of the Iraqi civilian population, with foreknowledge of the likely consequences and with the subsequent knowledge of the sanctions¹ devastating consequences. Such conduct is considered to be a crime against humanity under international customary law. About one million persons are believed dead as a result of the economic sanctions, thereof half a million children below five years of age. The group holds that Icelandic courts can assert subject-matter, territorial and personal jurisdiction over former President Bush, on the base of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons. In addition, the group argues that Icelandic courts can assert their jurisdiction to any person who is suspected of having planned, directed or committed crimes against humanity under international customary law, as well as for planning and carrying out crimes against the peace. For further information, please contact Elias Davidsson, •••@••.••• The Charges are posted (in Icelandic) on the webpage www.aldeilis.is -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.••• Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Blogs: cyberjournal forum http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Achieving real democracy http://harmonization.blogspot.com/ for readers of ETM http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/ Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/ Blogger made easy http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html
