Bush's risk of indictment for war crimes

Huffington Post is reporting that George Bush can't go to Switzerland because of the threat of legal action for ordering torture.

GENEVA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George W. Bush has canceled a visit to Switzerland, where he was to address a Jewish charity gala, due to the risk of legal action against him for alleged torture, rights groups said on Saturday. . . .

Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say.

Human rights groups said they had intended to submit a 2,500-page case against Bush in the Swiss city on Monday for alleged mistreatment of suspected militants at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base in Cuba where captives from Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts in the so-called War on Terror were interned. . . .

[There is a growing movement] to hold Bush accountable for torture, including waterboarding. He has admitted in his memoirs and television interviews to ordering use of the interrogation technique that simulates drowning. . . .

Reed Brody, counsel for Human Rights Watch said:

"I'm surprised he (Bush) would even consider visiting a country that has ratified the torture convention and which takes its responsibilities seriously," said Brody.

"I think George Bush's world is a very small place at the moment," he said. "He may enjoy some kind of impunity in the United States, but other countries will not treat him so indulgently."

I understand why Obama declined to call for an investigation of this and other crimes and malfeasances of his predecessor. I have no interest in seeing Bush behind bars -- but it is abhorrent to me that history is being rewritten and that we will take no official action to deplore what was done in our name. At least this kind of action puts it in the historical record -- like the Chilcott Inquiry in Britain that has investigated how they wound up invading Iraq along with us.

Ralph