Should Bush and Cheney be indicted for war crimes?

No

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by Dean Ralph

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There are several factors that one must consider before indicting any one for war crimes. First thing that one must consider is the legality of the war in which these crimes allegedly occurred. In this case it would be the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Getting a federal indictment would be next to impossible against either Bush or Cheney for the following reasons.

First and foremost, both the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq were approved by the sitting Congress. I will concentrate mostly on the war in Iraq since that is the war most Americans use when wanting war crime charges brought.

There has been the argument that the evidence presented, not only to the Congress but to the United Nations, was fabricated. These claims have been made by people on both sides of the aisle. This evidence, if it was in fact fabricated, would have required the assistance of several different Countries, none of which stood and denied any of these claims during the presentation to the United Nations.

Here are but a few examples of evidence gathered by Non U.S. Agencies, that Gen Powell presented to the U.N in Feb. 2003.

U.N. Inspectors, just 9 days before Gen. Powell went in front of the U.N., declared that between 100 and 500 TONS of chemical weapons were unaccounted for, Of these weapons were 4 tons of VX nerve gas.

Iraqi Chemical Engineer: Claimed he was a supervisor in a Mobile chemical weapons lab.

Abu Mussab Zarqawi established an Al Qeada camp in Northern Iraq and received medical treatment in Bahgdad.

British Police foiled a plot to produce ricin, The plot was linked to Abu Mussab Zarqawi

2 Al Qeada operatives linked to Zarqawi were arrested crossing into Saudi Arabia from Iraq.

116 operatives connected to Zarqawi's network were arrested in France, Britain, Spain and Italy.

As late as 2/25/01 German Intelligence reported that between 20-80 chemical sites were in operation in Iraq. One Quarter of which were believed to be making weapons grade chemicals.

So for this evidence to have been fabricated would have, in effect, required an multi-national conspiracy. In addition, a report issued june 21, 2006 to the Permanent Select Committee of Intelligence in the House of Representatives stated that "Since 2003 coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent." So the argument of Hussein not being in violation of the U.N. Sanctions and a threat are null and void.

Let's not forget the Iraq Liberation act signed into Law by Preident Clinton Oct. 31 1998. Which states."Declares that it should be the policy of the United States to seek to remove the Saddam Hussein regime from power in Iraq and to replace it with a democratic government. " Or the fact that on numerous occasions over the yeas Saddam Hussein had violated U.N Sanctions and thrown weapons inspectors out of the country.

Am I saying that Bush/Cheney picked the right time to over throw Saddam? No, I am not. Am I suggesting that the killing of civilians is acceptable. No I am not. However, not unlike Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein murdered his own Countrymen. He had torture chambers and rape rooms. He had thrown people into while they were still alive.Raped and murdered women in front of their families. in comparison the losses suffered by the Iraqi people are small compared to those of WWII or those suffered at the hands of Saddam Hussein himself.

Civilian casualties during WWII were estimated to be 34,564,600 - 47,009,600 people. Deaths of Iraqis at the hands of Saddam Hussein are believed to be responsible for the deaths of 150,000-300,000 civilians. Reports also suggest that approx. 1,200,000 civilians died as a direct results of U.N Sanctions against Iraq. According to the Iraqi Government the civilian death toll due to the war stands at 100,971. Any way you do the math fewer civilians have died due to the war than under the rule of Saddam or us a direct result of U.N. Sanctions. The people of Iraq are living in a better place because of the actions taken by Bush/Cheney than they would be had we not went to war in Iraq. Not only did we liberate them from Saddam Hussein but also from the United Nations. If it is charges that you want, how about charging the United Nations with abuse of power crimes for the deaths they caused.

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