Dubya's Europe Trip Canceled After His Arrest Is Called For

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2013/05/dubyas_euorpe_t.php

Dubya's Europe Trip Canceled After His Arrest Is Called For
By Michael Musto Thu., May 2 2013 at 9:48 AM


George W. Bush was all set to go and torture Switzerland with his views when several human rights groups spoke up, asking for him to be arrested and investigated on grounds that he propagated torture.

No, not with his mispronunciations.

They mean with his waterboarding tactics, for one thing.

Perhaps admitting to having approved that practice in his memoir was...dumb.

So was doing it in the first place.

[BeyondGeography]

1. Thank you, European friends

[lastlib]

37. +100!

(that's 100-factorial, for the math-challenged....a REALLY BIG number!)

[aggiesal]

58. They should have . . .

kept quiet until he arrived there.
Have a welcome wagon waiting at the airport.

That would have been beautiful.

Now we'll never get him.

[gussmith]

75. Irony

The word irony is not descriptive enough when the U.S. Secret Service is protecting a war criminal in others' view.

[still_one]

76. Except a lot of those Europeans joined in with him during the invasion of Iraq

[Arugula Latte]

2. Good on ya, Europe. Bush will never wash the blood off his hands

no matter how many showers and baths he takes.

[go west young man]

36. looks like one of those strange US Christian

sin washing devices.

[Berlum]

68. + 1,000. Your analysis of that painting is spot on, Latte

Shrub has his back to the viewer, and is starkly staring in the rearview mirror of The Past as he vainly attempts to expunge the dirt.

[deutsey]

3. K&R

[LondonReign2]

4. They spoke too soon

They should have kept the plans quiet until Shrub actually got there, THEN arrest him.

Loose lips sink ships. And let a war criminal sail.

[LeftInTX]

5. +1

[BrotherIvan]

7. It is too bad

But at least somewhere there is sanity and the truth is being told. After the disgusting display in the last few weeks, it is very important that the truth is not allowed to be bought off.

[zipplewrath]

8. Takes too long

I suspect that it would take to long to get to the point where he was actually arrested, if you don't start before he gets there. He'd probably be gone by the time the warrant was signed. 'Twould be nice if as many countries as could would get these warrants signed now, so that there would be a long, formal, list of places he couldn't go.

[Recursion]

9. Arresting a former head of state for official actions is an absolute PITA

There are all sorts of motions you have to go through with several UN bodies. Look at what a fiasco the UK had with Pinochet.

[dixiegrrrrl]

28. andyet...he DID cancel the trip.

Which, in my mind, counts as gilty behavior.

[MAD Dave]

59. He canceled the trip......

......he felt honestly threatened by being arrested for his crimes. It's too bad that they had too show their cards prior to his arrival.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

79. I guess they couldn't get a cogent response out of Poppy...

... so he couldn't contact his, "friends", in Europe to help out with Dumya. Either that or they are all like Poppy now.

[dixiegrrrrl]

80. There's a pisser for you.

The war criminals get very old and start drooling into their pablum, forgetting their name, and their crimes.

sheesh..I remember news stories of hunting down Nazi war criminals for decades.

[pipi_k]

21. My thoughts exactly...

It was a nice gesture, though.

To let him know what they think of him, I mean...

[Ilsa]

52. My thoughts exactly. nt

[smirkymonkey]

53. +1000

Brilliant idea.

[calimary]

65. No kidding, dammit! DO NOT telegraph your next move to your opponent!!!

That's one of the things they taught in karate class. NEVER give away your next move.

[newfie11]

6. To bad he will never be arrested in America

He, Cheny, and Rumsfeld are a Hugh embarrassment to America.

[hootinholler]

10. NSN, NGU!

Never Say Never, Never Give Up.

[Stuart G]

13. I agree...stranger things have happened in this country...once..

I was absolutely sure, positive beyond any possible small chance..that this fellow who was Afro American from Illinois could never possibly become President of the United States. Not while I was alive...as a kid, I remember......we as humans will never walk on the moon....
Also, I recall vaguely, looking at the huge computer that I saw in a magazine, taking up a whole room of space..and being sure I would never own one of those.. I now own one of those, that has more memory and power than that thing in the huge room..

It is unlikely that Bush will ever be charged in the USA..but who knows??maybe...


Tell me....is it really true you can hold one of these things..a computer... in your hand???? ....
......................... maybe some day......but.....????????

[RoccoR5955]

12. Not unless he shows up in Vermont.

There's still an arrest warrant for him and Cheney.

[premium]

20. Really? I didn't know that,

good for VT., although, I think they'd have a tough time getting through his Secret Service detail.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

25. If we can get 48 more states to do it, he'd have to stay in Texas.

(Sorry, Texas).

Still, I am surprised that either he or Cheney are still here. I had Dubai in the office pool.

[rhett o rick]

70. I also thought Dubai. My CT is that there was a grand bargain to get Bush and Cheney to

leave office quietly. Part of the bargain was that they dont get prosecuted and maybe even promised a pardon.

I thought it was unusual that Bush/Cheney made such a sudden change from their "we rule the world" attitudes to the "quiet as a church mouse" when they slithered out of Washington. I didnt think they would go quietly especially Cheney.

[xtraxritical]

73. Long ago the World Court charged GWB and friends with "crimes against humanity"...

[rhett o rick]

74. Please explain further. Do you think Pres Obama will prosecute them or pardon them? nm

[xtraxritical]

77. Ok, my bad, it was a Maylasian court...

Are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney war criminals? Malaysian court says 'yes'

[LeftInTX]

81. There was talk earlier this week of a city or county in California

Wanting to charge him with murder for their citizens who lost their lives in the Iraq war. I hope they go through with it.

[quakerboy]

29. What do the secret service contingent do in a case like that?

If one of them at some point goes to a location with a valid, active arrest warrant for bush or Cheney, what do their secret service agents do? My understanding is that bush is the last president who will receive full life long SS protection. So what do they do? Do they let him be arrested and go with him to the jail? I suspect that they are obligated to stay with him. Can you take SS protection with you into prison if you are convicted?

[raccoon]

46. Is that to save money? "My understanding is that bush is the last president who will receive full

life long SS protection"


I hadn't heard that.

[Auntie Bush]

49. Obama should have life long SS protection

With all the crazy, hateful, angry, racist Rethugs out there...he'll need it!

At least if Hillary wins...she'll have SS protection whenever she's with Bill.

[montex]

60. GOP will change that

I would not be surprised to see the next GOP President find a way to cut Obama's Secret Service protection somehow. We can never forget the kind of people we're talking about - as the Left often does.

[Auntie Bush]

72. I wouldn't doubt it if they did that. But when they get a ReThug president

they'll reinstate SS protection for life again. I hope not after the damage has been done.

[tammywammy]

64. That law has been changed, all presidents receive life long protection.

Bush would have received protection for only 10 years, but that law was reversed back in January.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.6620:

[quakerboy]

82. Good to know

I had read that bush was going to be the last with full life coverage, and Obama was to be the first with only 10 years coverage.

Any chance you have a link to the actual law in place currently, with its current wording, rather than just the bill altering it? Now I'm curious what the law says.

[tammywammy]

83. Here's a link

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/3056

edited to add: The 10 year limit of Secret Service protection would have started with Bush.

[quakerboy]

84. Interesting. Thanks for setting the record straight

I wonder why it only covers former presidents children up to their 16th birthday. The 18th or 21st birthday would seem to make more cultural and maybe legal sense to me.

[freshwest]

63. Yep, loved them for that! He'll be the new Kissinger, unable to land anywhere.

And Darth maintains himself at his undisclosed locations. These guys are only safe with their rich and dangerous cronies. The world will get smaller for them.

[Gregorian]

11. My dream is that eventually his radius of freedom will get smaller and smaller.

[Stuart G]

14. That is already happening...................nt

[Blue Owl]

41. All the way until it's the cone of silence

[Paul Alan]

15. Will Bush set foot in Europe again in his lifetime?

A planned trip by Bush to speak at the Switzerland-based United Israel Appeal later this week has been canceled after several human rights groups called for Swiss authorities to arrest Bush and investigate him for authorizing torture. Bush has traveled widely since leaving office, but not to Europe, where there is a strong tradition of international prosecutions.


http://current.com/community/94110143_george-w-bush-cancels-europe-trip-amid-calls-for-his-arrest.htm

[xxqqqzme]

17. So he has traveled

more since he left office than before he was installed as president? That is an interesting footnote to history.

My fantasy is he is so threatened by prosecution of his war crimes, he is a prisoner in his own home.

[heaven05]

16. excellent

At least the rest of the world is awake and watching for a misstep from this clown and his gang of international crooks and liars.BRAVO!!!!!

[Coyotl]

18. I hope we have a 2016 candidate run on a Prosecute War Criminals platform.

Of course, then Obama might go to jail too!

[alfredo]

19. Why broadcast it before he is in country?

[truebluegreen]

22. Much as I hate having him here,

I hope he never gets to leave the country again.

Unless it is to face trial at the Hague....

I know: na ga hapen...but for a member of the global elite (cough) its gotta burn a little.

[xocet]

23. It is too bad that he did not travel to Europe....

In case he tries to travel again, his photo should be distributed to border agents of all countries, so that they do not miss apprehending him:

[former9thward]

24. This is a very old OP.

The trip was to be in Feb. 2011. Bush has gone to other countries since then.

[babylonsister]

31. I figured it was current because of the

date of the OP.

[muriel_volestrangler]

42. Both the Village Voice and Current have reposted this 2 year old story

It's getting to be an epidemic. I think I've seen 7 stories in the past 2 weeks on DU that come from some site other than DU reposting an old story as if it's new.

I think it's a symptom of the end of normal journalism - people running websites are just repeating what they read elsewhere, without actually reading it carefully. They cannot take the time to do the old job of journalism - they just cut and paste.

[babylonsister]

44. Like I did.

Well, it was a nice fantasy.

[muriel_volestrangler]

45. But you don't get paid for it

It's the people who get paid (or run their own websites and ads based on the views they get) who should be doing some basic checking.

[Paper Roses]

26. Hopefully what comes around, goes around. Keep this idiot on the farm.

[Berlum]

27. Bush goes AWOL again. As always. How Republican is that?

[progressoid]

32. This is meaningless.

There have been "arrest warrants" issued for a lot of people. Bush, Cheney, Kissinger, the Pope, Queen Elizabeth...

[Iggo]

35. He should go, then.

[99th_Monkey]

38. Totally Agreed. :-)

They'd never dare arrest one of the pillars of the Bush Crime Syndicate.

They are just bluffing. Bush should go tell them to "FUCK OFF!!" to their face.
In fact, if he doesn't, that means he's "CHICKEN". Bush is such a wuss.

[LanternWaste]

39. Meaningless doesn't often result in a major change of one's travel itinerary.

Meaningless doesn't often result in a major change of one's travel itinerary.

Therefore, it is either "meaningless" only with additional qualifiers conspicuously absent from your premise; or, it holds in fact, some meaning.

[progressoid]

43. There are similar lawsuits and charges against President Obama by various civil rights organizations

As there were against Bill Clinton. Certainly, I am in no way comparing the actions of Clinton or Obama to Bush. It's just that we've heard these claims before and nothing has happened. I worked for a rabid RWer during and after the Clinton years. And he couldn't wait until Bill went overseas and was arrested for his crimes too.

Of course no one is saying why Bush cancelled. It could just as likely be because the Swiss told him they couldn't protect him from flying rotting vegetables.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2011/02/bush_not_at_risk_of_arrest_in.html

Bush not at risk of arrest in Europe, experts say
Posted at 6:40 PM ET, 02/ 8/2011

European law enforcement officials and other experts say the chances of George W. Bush being arrested on war crimes charges in Switzerland--or anyplace else on the continent--are almost nil.

Headlines and assertions by human rights groups that the former president risked a “possible arrest warrant” if he traveled to Geneva to give a speech this weekend were overblown, those with direct experience in such matters said.

But Amnesty International insisted that “Anywhere in the world that he travels, President Bush could face investigation and potential prosecution for his responsibility for torture and other crimes in international law, particularly in any of the 147 countries that are party to the U.N. convention against torture."

"From a legal point of view, I believe it could be possible,” said Dick Marty, a Swiss prosecutor who led Council of Europe’s investigation into alleged illegal CIA secret prisons. “But I'm convinced that the political reality is that there are no chances for such a step."

[librechik]

33. hey, he's proud of his legacy, and wouyldn't change a thing

so he should be arrested and tried, IMO.

[Iggo]

34. Not just dumb.

It's criminal.

[kentuck]

40. Does that mean he will have to speak to the Waco Chamber of Commerce instead?

"Call up the Mayor, Laura...there has been a change in plans..."

[emsimon33]

47. If he leaves the North America, he is under treat of arrest...so is Cheney

I am surprised that he was unaware of this.

[tclambert]

48. Dammit! Couldn't those human rights people keep quiet until AFTER he arrived?

You scared him off, dumbasses. Don't tip off the criminals before the raid.

[Cali_Democrat]

50. I long for the day when I see that war criminal in handcuffs. n/t

[SleeplessinSoCal]

51. Very poor journalism from Michael Musto at The Village Voice.

"Update: This story turns out to be not new, despite having been presented as breaking by a gossip site. My apologies. I find it still very much relevant, though. After all, Dubya still hasn't been prosecuted for his crimes."

Dubya's Europe Trip Was Canceled After His Arrest Was Called For! UPDATE
By Michael Musto Thu., May 2 2013 at 9:48 AM

[marble falls]

54. There are a lot of places other Bagdad he will not visit.

[DhhD]

55. This canceled trip to Switzerland was from 2011. He is still hot all over the world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/feb/06/george-bush-trip-to-switzerland

[Skittles]

56. as much as I wish he would leave Texas

Europe has enough on its plate

[libdude]

57. Good thought tho.

That there are those in the world that will not let this matter go. Keep this from getting forgotten, that all the effort to rehabilitate his image and his time in office will provide some measure of symbolic justice. There should always be those that speak for the victims of injustice.

[AsahinaKimi]

61. Here's a Question ... for ya..

Lets Say Bush did go to Europe and was arrested. Would Right wing Americans demand we go to war with said country that is, in their mind.."Holding a US President hostage" ?? Could you imagine the people SCREAMING on Fox News?

Can you imagine the foam coming from the mouths of Anne Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'reilly?


It might make for fun speculation what would seriously happen.

[DhhD]

69. If the GOP is tied to torture and genocide around the world and for over thirty years,

it might be time.

http://blog.amnestyusa.org/europe/arrest-warrants-coming-for-6-bush-era-officials-in-madrid/

[Quixote1818]

62. Water-boarding is a war crime but lying us into a war in the first place was a much bigger crime

That should always be the focus in my opinion. Of course not forgetting the water boarding just putting lying us into the war as front and center.

[Jasana]

66. Couldn't happen to a nicer SOB. nt

[spicegal]

67. George Bush and others in his administration won't be leaving the country, since they're all at risk

for being arrested. Didn't Rumsfeld almost get arrested? What a dark chapter in our history. No wonder Bush has turned to art therapy for solace.

[CanonRay]

71. He can look at the picture books of Switzerland in his library

instead of actually going. I'll bet Laura is not amused.

[Hubert Flottz]

78. All that dough and no place to go!

Obama should hand the entire gang over.

[sofa king]

85. He's never getting out of his bathroom now.

I guess I can take some solace from the fact that W's prison walls have contracted ever so slightly.

Unfortunately, the truth is that fucking idiot had no interest whatsoever in traveling out of the country before he ran for President--which perfectly marks the level of expertise that he brought to US foreign policy and relations for the entirety of his miserable eight years.

There is one reason I can think of which will require W to leave the country from time to time, which is to check in on the overseas tax shelters where he no doubt keeps his ill-gotten money, distilled from the tears of children both foreign and domestic.