20 Nov Tory Mayor of London to Bush: Don’t Visit Europe
This is how real conservatives roll — not the faux American kind, who believe that waterboarding is wrong only when someone else is doing it:
It is not yet clear whether George W Bush is planning to cross the Atlantic to flog us his memoirs, but if I were his PR people I would urge caution. As book tours go, this one would be an absolute corker. It is not just that every European capital would be brought to a standstill, as book-signings turned into anti-war riots. The real trouble — from the Bush point of view — is that he might never see Texas again.
One moment he might be holding forth to a great perspiring tent at Hay-on-Wye. The next moment, click, some embarrassed member of the Welsh constabulary could walk on stage, place some handcuffs on the former leader of the Free World, and take him away to be charged. Of course, we are told this scenario is unlikely. Dubya is the former leader of a friendly power, with whom this country is determined to have good relations. But that is what torture-authorising Augusto Pinochet thought. And unlike Pinochet, Mr Bush is making no bones about what he has done.
[snip]
“Waterboarding” is a disgusting practice by which the victim is deliberately made to think that he is drowning. It is not some cunning new psych-ops technique conceived by the CIA. It has been used in the dungeons of dictators for centuries. It is not compatible either with the US constitution or the UN convention against torture. It is deemed to be torture in this country, and above all there is no evidence whatever that it has ever succeeded in doing what Mr Bush claimed. It does not work.
[snip]
How could America complain to the Burmese generals about the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, when a president authorised torture? How can we talk about human rights in Beijing, when our number one ally and friend seems to be defending this kind of behaviour? I can’t think of any other American president, in my lifetime, who would have spoken in this way. Mr Bush should have remembered the words of the great Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who said in 1863 that “military necessity does not admit of cruelty”. Damn right.
It’s the new Nuremberg defense: My lawyer told me to do it.
It’s interesting since only a couple of years ago, the thought of prosecuting Western leaders was only in the minds of “leftist extremists” (was beyond the pale) and now more and more average people dare express the idea in public, without fear of being ridiculed. Is this a sign of changing international law?
We also have laws and can prosecute stateside. Some of us have been pointing this out since at least 2005. On many occasions there have been those who say – be realistic. Soyez realiste! Demandez l’Impossible! If Americans insist, we will prosecute.
Best,
Ben
Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is not exactly news. Philippe Sands QC was arguing as early as 2005-2006 that it would be unwise for anyone connected with the Bush Administration to travel abroad – essentially for the same reasons indicated by Boris Johnson.
Britain would be a particularly awkward destination as Pinochet (No. 3) doesn’t leave a whole lot of ambiguity – especially after President Bush’s recent public admissions regarding waterboarding. As far as UK law is concerned, by ratifying the Torture Convention the United States has effectively waived immunity for acts of torture by heads of state. While diplomatic pressure may persuade the UK to forgo an intensely controversial arrest and/or prosecution, nothing in the law as interpreted by the Law Lords would prevent such an outcome.
AGP
No sitting US President would ever tolerate a former US President being arrested overseas. Ever. The blowback from that would be unpleasant to say the least.