Lawyers press for Bush arrest, as #Occupy activists set to converge in Surrey
“Once BUSH is present, if no extradition is sought, the Canadian authorities are under a positive legal obligation to investigate BUSH and submit the case for prosecution.”
- Canadian Centre for International Justice & Center for Constitutional Rights document
Thus concludes a 70-page legal indictment -- accompanied by a staggering 4,000-page dossier -- which will be filed in a Surrey, B.C. courtroom tomorrow to have former U.S. president George W. Bush arrested during his visit to the city.
The allegations, submitted in late September to Canada's attorney general by U.S. and Canadian rights law organizations, call for the former U.S. president to be charged with torture and war crimes alleged to have been committed during his time in office. Four plaintiffs -- Hassan bin Attash, Sami el-Hajj, Muhammed Khan Tumani and Murat Kurnaz -- say they were tortured by the U.S. at Guantánamo Bay prison and in Afghanistan.
Bush -- along with former president Bill Clinton -- will be in the Lower Mainland speaking at the Surrey Regional Economic Summit. But with Amnesty International demanding his arrest and #OccupySurrey announcing demonstrations, chaotic scenes like those during former vice-president Dick Cheney's visit last month -- when police roughed up sit-in protesters and one demonstrator was arrested for assault -- may be in the works.
“When WAR CRIMINAL Bush comes to Surrey October 20th,” announced Twitter group @OccupySurrey last week, “we will meet him with a FLASH OCCUPATION. Expect us.” The group said it is meeting at 9 a.m. at the Vancouver Art Gallery before traveling to Surrey tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the world's largest human rights organization, claiming three million members in 150 countries, put its weight behind the campaign last week. Amnesty International says the 1987 Convention Against Torture – to which Canada is a signatory -- allows and even requires members to enforce international law.
“The evidentiary record is crystal clear,” Alex Neve, executive director of Amnesty International Canada, said in an interview with Vancouver Observer. “He made policies which unleashed a range of serious rights violations, including torture. The range of violations are at the level of war crimes.”
“They constitute crimes against international law. Bush should be held accountable for his policies.”
Surrey mayor Dianne Watts – who chairs the organization behind the economic summit Bush will address – defended her invitation of the former president.
“This isn’t a political event, it’s an economic summit,” she told The Surrey Now newspaper. “It’s not about whether you like an individual, it’s about having a dialogue.”
“If you only deal with one side, you’re not learning the other half of the equation.”
The allegations include Bush's remarks, after leaving office, that he authorized water-boarding -- a form of simulated drowning -- as well as dozens of secret prisons where suspects were subjected to 'enhanced interrogation techniques' as part of the U.S. 'War on Terror.' These techniques, according to the documents, include exposure to extreme temperatures, sleep deprivation, punching, kicking, isolation in 'coffin' cells for prolonged periods, threats of bad treatment, solitary confinement, and forced nudity.
- 1
- |
- 2
- next ›
- last page »
More in News
(6) Comments
To allow Mr. Bush into the country and not arrest him makes us all complicit in his highest of all crimes.
Shame on Mayor Watts of Surrey for inviting him - and paying him $150,000 to come.
Shame on the Harper government for attempting to discredit Amnesty with their double speak - they did bar George Galloway if you recall and all he did was speak out against Israel which is not a crime - and allowing this violation of Canadian and International law to happen.
No one who condones such a violation is worthy of holding office in this formally law abiding country. Mr. Harpers new prisons should be used to house them.
Arrest that bastard!! I can't BELIEVE karma hasn't smoked his ass already.
I'm a Canadian currently living in the U.S. and I marvel at how near sighted most Canadians become in their p@!&s envy of America. Instead, why not put Canadian officials on trial for the raping of the environment in Alberta for the sake of $$ from oil. How can you compare trying Bush to the lost children of Argentina. Innocent CHILDREN ripped from the hands of their parents vs. questionable tactics against suspected agents of violence. No, it doesn't make it right, but please understand how ridiculous you make Canada seem to your neighbor in the south. Admit that you just hate the US regardless of what she does and move on with your life.
It amazes me time and time again how GW Bush can get the leftosphere going. I believe the current resident of the White House - one B Hussein Obama ordered the murder of an American citizen - Anwar al-Alwaki without due process. Waterboarding a terrrorist vs murdering an American citizen. Hmm, while neither of them are anything to be proud of, I've always considered murder a much more serious crime than assault. Go ahead and try and justify Obama's actions - you can't without justifying GW's. Oh, and by the way Liz Zhao - I believe Bush's Karma just ran over your Dogma. Have a nice day.
Lying to go to war, fabricating intelligence, mass murdering hundreds of thousands in Iraq, widespread torture programs, domestic spying, evisceration of international laws and agreements.
Why is a war criminal and admitted torturer, who was a total failure economically, having the red carpet rolled out for him in Surrey at an Economic Forum ?
Follow the money.