Run, Rummy, Run!

[Say_What]

<clips>

Could the Pinochet precedent keep Donald on the lam?

Only such a towering pile of self-absorbed arrogance as Don Rumsfeld could have the gumption to take a couple of high-profile victory laps at the precise moment in which his war policies have collapsed into full-blown catastrophe.

If he had been a Japanese official suffering such shame and dishonor, he might have had a nice, solo sashimi dinner during which he contemplated all his mistakes, and then, in a final act of penance, plunged the Ginsu knife into himself and yanked out his own shriveled but still beating heart. Instead, this guy was out there bouncing around this weekend in his tennis shoes and with a 25-cent grin on his mug, communing with “his” troops on what was billed as his farewell tour to Iraq. By the way, I want to know why we the taxpayers have to pick up the tab for this obviously self-promoting P.R. junket. Rummy’s out of office this coming Monday, so no one can seriously believe he was conducting any official government business while stomping through the Green Zone.

No matter: Really, the payback awaiting Rumsfeld might be of a somewhat more ominous nature. With the death of the former Chilean dictator this past Sunday, perhaps Rummy should do some reading on what human-rights activists call the Pinochet precedent. Then, get himself a couple of lawyers. Allow me to explain: Back in 1998, by then retired from the taxing life of dictator and now merely a self-appointed and unelected senator-for-life, General Augusto Pinochet rolled into London with an eerily similar Rumsfeldian swagger. His plan was much the same as Rummy’s — intense image redemption. For the first time almost ever, Pinochet arranged to give a long self-serving interview with The New Yorker, do a little shopping at Harrods, have some high tea with Maggie Thatcher, and get a needed tune-up on a back problem in a posh, private clinic.

Instead, Interpol tagged the aging strongman with an arrest warrant issued by Spanish judges probing the dictator’s role in the murder of Spanish citizens in Chile. As Pinochet was placed in British custody, what became known as the Pinochet precedent constituted a watershed moment in international human rights. In a new global era, no longer could egregious human-rights violators roam with impunity. If their own governments wouldn’t get them, others might.

While he languished in British custody for 503 days, Pinochet was slapped with follow-up warrants from a half-dozen other European nations. In the end, the Brits kicked him back to Chile, where he was immediately hit with 200 more accusations of murder, torture and mayhem. He was indicted five times, and only his illness allowed him to escape formal trial. But by the time he checked out last week at age 91, he was not only discredited and decrepit, but also unable to travel outside Chile for fear of arrest.

http://www.laweekly.com/news/dissonance/run-rummy-run/15213/

[MadMaddie]

1. So if you are saying that for the rest of Rummy's life he will

have a miserable life....then I hope he shares the same path as Pinochet...until he passes from this world....he is a selfish man who was inept and got a lot of soldiers and civilians killed for nothing....

[rpannier]

2. My hope is that rummy never sees 91

but if he does...it's behind bars somewhere. Preferably someplace unpleasant

[cassiepriam]

3. Repugs love their crooks. Look at Ollie North, a hero in their eyes.

Rummy will hit the talk circuit and make a mint.