Saturday, February 19, 2011

Taiwan Sets Example that the USA should Follow--i.e. arrest, try, and imprison ex presidents

The United States Could Learn Something from Taiwan in how to follow through in the Courts with ex-Presidents, Vice-Presidents, & their Wives

By Kevin Stoda, an American in Taiwan & U.S. Presidential Candidate looking for a Party

Yesterday morning I was watching Taiwanese news when the ailing wife of ex-President Chen Shui-bian was rolled back out of the Taichung Prison. The woman was obviously crippled and aging. According to the TAIPEI TIMES, the “[f]ormer first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) was taken home from a prison hospital yesterday after Taichung Prison declined to admit her because of her poor health.”

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/02/19/2003496252

Apparently, this ex-first lady will be sent back to prison as soon as her health permits. She will, of course, in the meantime not be allowed to leave her housing compound without permission and she definitely will not be allowed to leave the country.

Her husband, Chen Shui-Bian, meanwhile, has already been serving his 17.5-year sentence following his bribery convictions. The TAIPEI TIMES notes, “The former president, who had been held at a detention center since late 2008, was transferred to Taipei Prison in Taoyuan County on Dec. 2 to begin serving his sentence.”

Interestingly, the ex-President of Taiwan served in office from 2000 through 2008—roughly the same 8-year term period as ex-President George W. Bush did in the U.S.A.

http://www.uswarcrimes.com/

According to Professor Michael Haas, in his book, GEORGE BUSH WAR CRIMINAL?, the Bush Administration was responsible for no less than 269 war crimes. (Incidentally, the preface of Haas’ book was written by Nuremberg Chief Prosecutor Benjamin B. Ferencz.) As early as 2004, Bush was already formally charged with war crimes by an international criminal tribunal for Afghanistan in Tokyo. .

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/TOK403A.html

Meanwhile, Switzerland and Spain are the newest locations of claims of criminality filed against the former president of the USA. Yet, American courts fear to follow suit.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/TOK403A.html

According to David Wallechinsky, “The War Crimes Act of 1996, promoted by Republicans and passed by both houses of Congress without a dissenting vote, made it a federal crime to commit a ‘grave breach’ of the Geneva Conventions, meaning the deliberate ‘killing, torture or inhuman treatment’ of detainees. It includes ‘outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.’ Violations of the War Crimes Act that result in the death of a detainee carry the death penalty and they do not have a statute of limitations. Although it was initiated to prosecute foreigners who mistreat American prisoners, Congress, in an admirable display of bipartisan support for human rights, applied the law as well to American treatment of foreign prisoners of war, reasoning that we should hold ourselves to the same standards we hold others.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-wallechinsky/is-george-bush-guilty-of-_b_26669.html
However, Congress and the White house have stalled implementation of the Act for ten years. Here was the flim-flam performed on the global public in 2002:
“In a memo to President Bush dated January 25, 2002, then White House counsel Alberto Gonzales suggested that Bush find a way to avoid the rules of the Geneva Conventions as they relate to prisoners of war because that ‘substantially reduces the likelihood of prosecution under the War Crimes Act.’ A week later, Attorney General John Ashcroft sent a memo to the president also stressing that opting out of the Geneva treaty ‘would provide the highest assurance that no court would subsequently entertain charges that American military officers, intelligence officials, or law enforcement officials violated Geneva Convention rules relating to field conduct, detention conduct or interrogation of detainees.’ Ashcroft reminded Bush, ‘The War Crimes Act of 1996 makes violation of parts of the Geneva Convention a crime in the United States.’"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Crimes_Act_of_1996
However, in reality opting out should never have been (and is still not) the American option. In the last decade, over a million Americans have made calls and signed petitions for the arrest and trial of George W. Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney and various leaders.
http://www.democrats.com/special-prosecutor-for-bush-war-crimes
Similar calls were made during the Reagan, GHW Bush, and Clinton administrations—but none of these presidents were brought to trial either.
Why can new democracies like Taiwan face the reality of implementing justice in their nations courts (even if the ex-president is involved), while Americans—living in a supposedly older and supposedly more mature democracy-- cannot expect the same?

In a 2010 interview, George W. Bush admitted he would again break the Geneva convention if he were president. He has since admitted in his recent book that he committed such breaches.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2010/6/8/2090/29988

America, what are you waiting for?

http://eslkevin.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/when-will-bush-be-arrested-for-war-crimes

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