Former Boeing pilot sent a message to Russia’s UN Ambassador through a newspaper in order to secure his help in suing ex-US President George W. Bush.
An American citizen, Anthony Caither, passed his letter to Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin through the office of Russia’s Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Daily). The Russian diplomat is being asked to facilitate bringing to trial the ex-president of the US, George W. Bush, and certain top American officials on the charge of crimes against humanity.
It looks like this crusade against the former administration of the US is gaining momentum.
In his letter, Caither says he contacted the Russian diplomat because Churkin currently presides as head of the UN Security Council.
According to Caither, he has already filed a lawsuit in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against former president Bush, the ex-United States Attorney General, Alberto R. Gonzales, and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller.
On March 12, 2009 the ICC ruled that it has no jurisdiction over American citizens because the US never recognized its authority. That is why Caither’s revised and amended lawsuit is now addressed to the UN Security Council. Cither says this is actually not the first time he tried his luck in the UN, but now he lays his hope with the Russian chairman.
Well, whatever Caither may seem to be, there is a public campaign in the US that is trying to bring to trial the former American administration and this is an incontestable fact.
First of all, this has to do with the questionable methods the Bush administration chose to prosecute terror suspects, which included torture.
So far, the Bush supporters have managed to control the situation. The Supreme Court of the United States has not decided to support terror suspects who spent months and years under arrest in high-security prisons. Deportation after confinement, without filing accusation, has become common practice.
Up to now, none of the high-ranking official from the Bush administration has been brought before the courts on a charge of human rights violation or authorizing the use of practice of sensory deprivation interrogation techniques.
In the meantime, the Pentagon has officially confirmed that over 400 officials received disciplinary punishment or have been jailed for abusing prisoners.
Human rights activists in the US are becoming particularly active when it comes to focusing on the legal advisers from the US Department of Justice who laid a foundation for the admission of sensory deprivation interrogation techniques and have threatened to strip them of their ability to practice law.
Whether these high-ranking officials are going to be brought to court is a purely political question. President Barack Obama mentioned that the answer to this issue will come from United States Attorney General Eric H. Holder who, in turn, promised to review the evidence and comply with the law.
Anyways, the debates around the torture of terror suspects are becoming more and more painful for the new American administration. Obama’s decision on publishing photos showing the torturing of POWs was called off. But wouldn’t the promise made to the CIA agents that used torture, “according to instruction”, which compounded the offence be called off as well?
The recent accusations against the CIA made by Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, suggests that everything is possible. Probably the witch-hunting season has opened.
Still, the Bush legacy is something that is not that easy to sort out and the example of Guantanamo Bay’s special prison may serve as a good example. Strange as it may seem, Obama probably has to keep operating the prison– with all the detainees – simply because nobody knows where to put them once the prison is closed, as the US Senate is sharply opposed to letting the detained terrorists onto American soil.