So Bush pushed the Envelope—Let Switzerland Charge Him With War Crimes?
I certainly changed my opinion on the permissibility of the Bush Administration’s interpretation of torture, essentially based on the grounds of sheer morality. Reading into the lasting traumatic consequences of water-boarding I kind of jumped ship, also in part because the government has been finding that the vital and critical information obtained isn’t really reliable. However I am NOT on board with other countries meddling into our affairs, interpreting OUR laws of OUR people. Having another country leading a charge to prosecute ANYONE —even if to just make a statement— is not only reprehensible but highly insulting.
David Frum, an assistant to Bush in the early 2000’s lays out the rebuttal.
So when people file actions in Switzerland against Bush, it’s not merely the former president they are targeting. They are targeting the entire American legal system. They are demanding that Switzerland override an American decision about which Americans should be prosecuted for violating an American law.
They want Switzerland to say the following:
“We disagree with your attorney general’s interpretation of your War Crimes Act. We are therefore arresting you in Switzerland for acts you ordered in the United States against armed military enemies of the United States.
“We will put you on trial in Switzerland, where none of the protections of the U.S. Constitution apply. Instead, you will be tried according to the rules of Swiss law — even though you had no vote in the making of that law and have no legal representation in the Swiss government.
“Admittedly, none of the acts here have any legal connection to Switzerland at all. None of the people involved are Swiss, neither the alleged torturers nor the alleged torturees. Our involvement is purely coincidental; this action could just as easily have been brought in Luxembourg or Uruguay.”
In other words, what the people bringing actions against Bush are calling for is a new kind of global legal regime in which law is severed from political representation. Call it human rights without democracy.
As dramatic and exaggerated as it sounds, a “new kind of global legal regime” is not a good idea.