George Bush Cancels Trip To Europe For Fear of Being Arrested
George Bush (salon.com)
Former United States President George Walker Bush had to cancel a trip to Europe, where he was supposed to deliver a speech before the Switzerland-based United Israel Appeal, after a few human rights organizations asked the Swiss authorities to take him into custody as soon as he arrived and prosecute him for authorizing torture.
Since he left office, Bush has traveled a lot abroad but he never went to Europe, where there is a very serious tradition of international prosecution.
Bush’s spokesman argued that the reason for the cancelation was that protests against the former president had been announced, which is not something he hasn’t dealt with before, but Amnesty International and the Center for Constitutional Rights argued that Switzerland, as a part of UN Convention against Torture, must investigate Bush for possible prosecution.
Tony Blair, George Bush (powerline.blogspot.com)
In a memo of Swiss Amnesty International Bureau it is said that Bush could be prosecuted in any one of the 174 countries that have adhered to the convention against torture, and that no accountability has been noticed so far for what happened in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo.
The report also states that international community must take it upon itself to bring Bush to justice, since the American authorities have failed to do so.
George Bush has been criticized and protested against on various occasions for his decision to war on Afghanistan and Iraq, two military operations that have brought absolutely no change in the way the terrorist organizations around the world operate.
In fact, it is widely believed by now that in spite of putting an end to terror, they spent America’s dollars for nothing.
War on Iraq (informedvoters.wordpress.com)
As the new administration attempts to put an end to them, it is clear that they leave behind countries that are even more vulnerable and inclined toward terrorist activity.
The campaign in Iraq, where Saddam was removed for allegedly possessing chemical weapons, was criticized when it was clear that Saddam was no threat to anybody and, on top of all, had no connections with Al Qaeda.
Another reasons for criticism against Bush is that he allowed barbaric treatment of prisoners, as documented by different media outlets, one of the most important of which being the famous website WikiLeaks, both in Iraq and in CIA-run detention facilities, such as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
WikiLeaks published what was supposed to be a handbook teaching the guardians how to treat their prisoners, where methods that go against every human right were being implied.
The first public protest against George Bush was the spontaneous one at the press conference in Baghdad, where an Iraqi journalist threw his shoe at him, in what is deemed in Arab world a gesture of ultimate slander, giving him a chance to show his dodging skills.
Bush’s political friend, Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister, was also on various occasions subject to spontaneous citizen’s arrests, when activists or journalists wanted to take him in custody for the same reason.
Last summer, he even had to cancel a book signing in London, after he had been egged by protesters in Dublin for the same involvement in the Iraqi war.
Blair has appeared twice before a panel investigating the circumstances of the war on Iraq, where he restated his conviction that the war was necessary, but added he felt sorry for its victims.
