War Crimes Committed Under Bush's Orders, Says Prosecution

KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 (Bernama) -- The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal today was told that former United States (US) President George W. Bush and his associates had issued executive orders to commit war crimes. Led by Prof Gurdial Singh Nijar, the prosecution submitted that Bush and seven others should be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) as they were the real criminals. He said since the September 11 attacks against American targets, the US was in denial over the existence of the Geneva Convention, wanting others to follow their way and being subjected to their laws. Gurdial Singh said according to Bush, al-Qaeda or Taliban members should not be subjected to the Geneva Convention. He highlighted that key parts of the convention stated that prisoners must be treated humanely at all times and they must be protected against acts of violence or intimidation, and against insults and public curiosity. Gurdial Singh argued that as commander-in-chief of the US military leading the conduct of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bush intended that these orders were acted on. He contended that in this capacity, Bush had received reports from the battlefields as well as other sources which pointed clearly to violations. "He did nothing to stop war crimes from being committed. The fact that his executive orders were based on legal opinions is an issue that doesn't absolve him. Indeed, it makes those giving advice equally liable for war crimes. "President Bush issued a memorandum on Feb 7, 2002, declaring that al-Qaeda prisoners were outside the protection of the Geneva Convention as they were 'enemy combatants', not prisoners of war. This was a prelude to subjecting them to torture and inhumane acts," Gurdial Singh said. Gurdial Singh also said that the prisoners were detained in Guantanamo Bay at the southern tip of Cuba with the aim of taking them out of the jurisdiction of any legal system. Today was the third day of the trial against Bush; Dick Cheney, former US vice-president; Donald Rumsfeld, former defence secretary; Alberto Gonzales, then counsel to President Bush; David Addington, then general counsel to vice-president; William Haynes, then general counsel to the secretary of defence, Jay Bybee, then Assistant Attorney-General and John Yoo, former Deputy Assistant Attorney-General. Former Federal Court Judge Tan Sri Lamin Mohd Yunus heads the quorum of the tribunal with the panel comprising Tunku Sofiah Jewa, Alfred Lambremont Webre, Professor Salleh Buang and Datuk Mohd Saari Yusuf. Over the last two days, three witnesses, namely Abbas Abid, Moazzam Begg and Jameelah Hameedi had testified on incidents of torture they suffered at the hands of the US military plus two additional statutory declarations by Ali Shalal and Rhuhel Ahmed were also read out and submitted to the tribunal. In further submissions, Gurdial Singh said that testimonies provided by all the witnesses showed a sustained perpetration of "brutal, barbaric, cruel and dehumanising" course of conduct against them. He said these acts of crimes were applied cumulatively to inflict the worst possible pain and all the accused persons had violated the Torture Convention and Geneva Convention III. Gurdial Singh stated that the prosecution sought that all the accused be found guilty as charged and convicted. The trial, which is being held in an open court at the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War in Jalan Perdana here, continues Thursday. -- BERNAMA