One
of the first questions is why in God’s name would Malaysia have
attracted this? What have they done?
The
following two articles offer some clues.
We
all know the lengths that the United States will go/is going to take
revenge - (just think of the name Vladimir Putin). Once again Isarel
seems to pop up in the equation.
Bush
Convicted of War Crimes in Absentia
Foreign
Policy Journal,
Kuala
Lumpur — It’s official; George W Bush is a war criminal.
In
what is the first ever conviction of its kind anywhere in the world,
the former US President and seven key members of his administration
were yesterday (Fri) found guilty of war crimes.
Bush,
Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their legal advisers Alberto
Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo
were tried in absentia in Malaysia.
The
trial held in Kuala Lumpur heard harrowing witness accounts from
victims of torture who suffered at the hands of US soldiers and
contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They
included testimony from British man Moazzam Begg, an ex-Guantanamo
detainee and Iraqi woman Jameelah Abbas Hameedi who was tortured in
the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
At
the end of the week-long hearing, the five-panel tribunal unanimously
delivered guilty verdicts against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their
key legal advisors who were all convicted as war criminals for
torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.
Full
transcripts of the charges, witness statements and other relevant
material will now be sent to the Chief Prosecutor of
the International
Criminal Court, as well as the United Nations and the
Security Council.
The
Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission is also asking that the names of
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Yoo, Bybee, Addington and Haynes be
entered and included in the Commission’s Register of
War Criminals for public record.
The
tribunal is the initiative of Malaysia’s retired Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad, who staunchly opposed the American-led invasion of
Iraq in 2003.
He
sat through the entire hearing
as it took personal statements and testimonies of three witnesses
namely Abbas Abid, Moazzam Begg and Jameelah Hameedi. The tribunal
also heard two other Statutory Declarations of Iraqi citizen Ali
Shalal and Rahul Ahmed, another British citizen.
After
the guilty verdict reached by five senior judges was delivered,
Mahathir Mohamad said: “Powerful countries are getting away with
murder.”
War
crimes expert and lawyer Francis Boyle, professor of international
law at the University of Illinois College of Law in America, was part
of the prosecution team.
After
the case he said: “This is the first conviction of these people
anywhere in the world.”
While
the hearing is regarded by some as being purely symbolic, human
rights activist Boyle said he was hopeful that Bush and Co could soon
find themselves facing similar trials elsewhere in the world.
“We
tried three times to get Bush in
Canada but
were thwarted by the Canadian Government, then we scared Bush out of
going to Switzerland. The Spanish attempt failed because of the
government there and the same happened in Germany.”
Boyle
then referenced the Nuremberg Charter which was used as the format
for the tribunal when asked about the credibility of the initiative
in Malaysia. He quoted: “Leaders, organizers, instigators and
accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common
plan or conspiracy to commit war crimes are responsible for all acts
performed by any person in execution of such a plan.”
The
US is subject to customary international law and to the Principles of
the Nuremberg Charter said Boyle who also believes the week-long
trial was “almost certainly” being monitored closely by both
Pentagon and White House officials.
Professor
Gurdial Singh Nijar, who headed the prosecution said: “The tribunal
was very careful to adhere scrupulously to the regulations drawn up
by the Nuremberg courts and the International Criminal Courts”.
He
added that he was optimistic the tribunal would be followed up
elsewhere in the world where “countries have a duty to try
war criminals” and he cited the case of the former Chilean
dictator Augustine Pinochet who was arrested in Britain to be
extradited to Spain on charges of war crimes.
“Pinochet
was only eight years out of his presidency when that happened.”
The
Pinochet case was the first time that several European judges applied
the principle of universal jurisdiction, declaring themselves
competent to judge crimes committed by former heads of state, despite
local amnesty laws.
Throughout
the week the tribunal was packed with legal experts and law students
as witnesses gave testimony and then cross examination by the defence
led by lawyer Jason Kay Kit Leon.
The
court heard how
Abbas
Abid, a 48-year-old engineer from Fallujah in Iraq had his
fingernails removed by pliers.
Ali
Shalal was attached with bare electrical wires and
electrocuted and hung from a wall.
Moazzam
Begg was beaten, hooded and put in solitary confinement.
Jameelah
was stripped and humiliated, and was used as a human shield whilst
being transported by helicopter.
The
witnesses also detailed how they have residual injuries till today.
Moazzam
Begg, now working as a director for the London-based human rights
group Cageprisoners said he was delighted with the verdict, but
added: “When people talk about Nuremberg you have to remember those
tried were all prosecuted after the war.
“Right
now Guantanamo is still open, people are still being held there and
are still being tortured there.”
In
response to questions about the difference between the Bush and Obama
Administrations, he added: “If President Bush was the President of
extra-judicial torture then US President Barak Obama is the President
of extra judicial killing through drone strikes. Our work has only
just begun.”
The
prosecution case rested on proving how the decision-makers at the
highest level President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, Secretary of
Defence Rumsfeld, aided and abetted by the lawyers and the other
commanders and CIA officials – all acted in concert. Torture was
systematically applied and became an accepted norm.
According
to the prosecution, the testimony of all the witnesses exposed a
sustained perpetration of brutal, barbaric, cruel and dehumanising
course of conduct against them.
These
acts of crimes were applied cumulatively to inflict the worst
possible pain and suffering, said lawyers.
The
president of the tribunal Tan Sri Dato Lamin bin Haji Mohd Yunus
Lamin, found that the prosecution had established beyond a
“reasonable doubt that the accused persons, former President George
Bush and his co-conspirators engaged in a web of instructions, memos,
directives, legal advice and action that established a common plan
and purpose, joint enterprise and/or conspiracy to commit the crimes
of Torture and War Crimes, including and not limited to a common plan
and purpose to commit the following crimes in relation to the “War
on Terror” and the wars launched by the U.S. and others in
Afghanistan and Iraq.”
President
Lamin told a packed courtroom: “As a tribunal of conscience, the
Tribunal is fully aware that its verdict is merely declaratory in
nature. The tribunal has no power of enforcement, no power to impose
any custodial sentence on any one or more of the 8 convicted persons.
What we can do, under Article 31 of Chapter VI of Part 2 of the
Charter is to recommend to the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission to
submit this finding of conviction by the Tribunal, together with a
record of these proceedings, to the Chief Prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court, as well as the United Nations
and the Security Council.
“The
Tribunal also recommends to the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission
that the names of all the 8 convicted persons be entered and included
in the Commission’s Register of War Criminals and be
publicised accordingly.
“The
Tribunal recommends to the War Crimes Commission to give the widest
international publicity to this conviction and grant of reparations,
as these are universal crimes for which there is a responsibility
upon nations to institute prosecutions if any of these Accused
persons may enter their jurisdictions”.
From back in 2003 a very independent-minded PM Mahathir made a call to Muslims
Malaysian
PM urges Muslims to unite against 'Jewish domination'
Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday told a summit of Islamic
leaders that "Jews rule the world by proxy" and the world's
1.3 billion Muslims should unite, using nonviolent means for a "final
victory."
16
October, 2003,
His
speech at the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit, which he
was hosting, drew criticism from Jewish leaders, who warned it could
spark more violence against Jews.
Mahathir
— known for his outspoken, anti-Western rhetoric — criticized
what he described as Jewish domination of the world and Muslim
nations' inability to adequately respond to it.
Excerpts
from speech
Excerpts
from Malaysian prime minister's speech at Islamic leaders' summit:
"Our
only reaction is to become more and more angry. Angry people cannot
think properly. And so we find some of our people acting
irrationally. They launch their own attacks, killing just about
everybody including fellow Muslims to vent their anger and
frustration."
"There
is a feeling of hopelessness among the Muslim countries and their
people. They feel they can do nothing right. They believe that things
can only get worse."
"But
is it true that we should do and can do nothing for ourselves? Is it
true that 1.3 billion people can exert no power to save themselves
from the humiliation and oppression inflicted on them by a much
smaller enemy? Is there no other way than to ask our young people to
blow themselves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of
our own people?"
"We
are actually very strong. 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped
out. The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today
the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die
for them."
"The
Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews
rule the world by proxy," Mahathir said, opening the meeting of
Islamic leaders from 57 nations. "They get others to fight and
die for them."
...
Malaysia,
a democratic nation which has a large non-Muslim population and does
not enforce strict Islamic law, has long been a critic of Israel's
occupation of Palestinian territories and of U.S. policy in the
Middle East, including the war in Iraq and Washington's strong
backing of the Jewish state.
Mahathir,
77, who is retiring on Oct. 31, has used almost every international
podium to lambaste the West for two decades, winning a reputation as
an outspoken champion of Third World causes.
"For
well over half a century we have fought over Palestine. What have we
achieved? Nothing. We are worse off than before," he said. "If
we had paused to think, then we could have devised a plan, a strategy
that can win us final victory."
The
prime minister, who has turned his country into the world's
17th-ranked trading nation during his 22 years in power, said Jews
"invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy"
to avoid persecution and gain control of the most powerful countries.
Mahathir
added that "1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few
million Jews," but he suggested using political and economic
tactics instead of violence.
Israeli
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled expressed disappointment in
the remarks but said he wasn't surprised.
"It
is not new that in such forums there is always an attempt to reach
the lowest common denominator, which is Israel bashing," he said
in Jerusalem. "But obviously we'd like to see more moderate and
responsible kind of declarations coming out of such summits."
Rabbi
Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los
Angeles, said Mahathir has used anti-Israel statements in the past to
prove he's tough on the West. But, he said, Thursday's speech was
still worrisome.
"What
is profoundly shocking and worrying is the venue of the speech, the
audience and coming in the time we're living in," Cooper said
during a visit to Jerusalem. "Mahathir's speech today is an
absolute invitation for more hate crimes and terrorism against Jews.
That's serious."
U.S.
Ambassador to Malaysia Marie Huhtala declined to comment on
Mahathir's speech. Washington was angered over a speech he made in
February, as host of the Non-Aligned Movement of 117 countries, in
which he described the looming war against Iraq as racist.
Afghan
President Hamid Karzai said he supported Mahathir's analysis, which
also included steps for how Muslim nations can develop economically
and socially.
"It
is great to hear Prime Minister Mahathir speak so eloquently on the
problems of the ummah (Muslim world) and ways to remedy them,"
Karzai said. "His speech was an eye-opener to a lot of us and
that is what the Islamic world should do."
The
summit is the first since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks reshaped
global politics and comes at a time when many Muslims — even U.S.
allies — feel the war on terrorism has become a war against them.
"It
is well known that the Islamic community is being targeted today more
than at any other time before in its creed, culture and social and
political orientation," said Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin
Khalifa al-Thani, who hosted the U.S. headquarters in the Iraq war.
The
status of Iraq also proved a divisive issue. Malaysia resisted
inviting the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council, describing it as a
puppet of American occupation. But Arab countries that have
recognized the interim body prevailed and council representatives
were attending the summit.
Leaders
attending the summit included Jordan's King Abullah, Syrian President
Bashar Assad, Morocco's King Mohammed VI, Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo are attending as special observers because of their large
Muslim minorities.
Just ONE day before the accident, as his country was being lashed by terrrible storms
Obama
Enjoys a Spot of Golf With Malaysian Leader
Posts
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