Cheney 'created climate for US war crimes'

By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Published: 30 November 2005
(snip)
A leading aide to the former secretary of state Colin Powell has accused Vice-President Dick Cheney of creating the climate in which prisoner abuse could flourish, and implied that he might have committed war crimes. Lawrence Wilkerson, General Powell's chief of staff until January this year, alleged that US policy on Iraq before and after the March 2003 invasion had been hijacked by an alliance between Mr Cheney and the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld ­ fostered by President George Bush's "detached" attitude to details of post-war planning. He also suggested that the faulty intelligence used to justify the war had been at the least "cherry-picked" by the White House and the Pentagon. The controversy over prisoner abuse and torture has recently flared up anew in Washington. But for Colonel Wilkerson, the problem has arisen as the result of an "alternative decision-making process," led by Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld.

Mr Bush had tried to steer a middle course, whereby the Geneva Conventions would apply to "all but al-Qa'ida and al-Qa'ida look-alikes," Col Wilkerson told the BBC yesterday. That policy was defensible in legal terms, but was quickly undermined in practice.
Under Mr Cheney's protection, "the Secretary of Defence moved out to do what they wanted to do in the first place". Asked whether the Vice-President was guilty of a war crime, Col Wilkerson said it was "an interesting question". It was certainly a domestic crime "to advocate terror", and "I would suspect it is ­ for whatever it's worth, an international crime as well".

The former State Department aide's outburst came on the eve of a major speech on Iraq by Mr Bush, in which the President is expected to set out conditions for a reduction of US troop strength in Iraq.
Mr Bush said yesterday that there would be no immediate withdrawal: "We want to win, and I don't want the troops to come home without having achieved victory." The US "has sacrificed a lot" in Iraq, including the lives of more than 2,100 of its troops. "We're not going to cut and run, we will achieve our objective," he declared. But for Col Wilkerson, the situation has been made far worse by poor post-war planning, and the abuse of some foreign detainees, which had blotted the reputation of the US around the world.


(snip)
The former Powell aide also cast strong doubt on the regime's explanation for the use of faulty intelligence to justify the invasion. Until recently, Col Wilkerson said, he had tended to accept the White House explanation that ­ along with the intelligence services of Britain, Germany and other countries ­ the CIA and other US agencies had simply been fooled over Iraq's presumed weapons threat. "You begin to wonder, was this intelligence spun? Was it politicised? Was it cherry-picked? I am beginning to have my concerns," Col Wilkerson said.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article330218.ece

or around '91. And we "won". We sanctioned the sh*t out of Iraq for 10 or 12 years and we "won". (They suffered immensely). We once again bombed the sh*t out of Iraq a couple of years ago and we once again "won". I forgot to mention that we bombed Iraq in the nineties, over and over and over and over and we "won" that.

So dumbya, wtf is your definition of winning? How many innocents have to die so that you can say that you "won" something?? We were a lot safer when you were in Texas.... Texas wasn't, but we, the rest of the country was.

Everybody forgets one of the #1 reasons you should treat detainees well. You want them to surrender rather than fighting to the death. Ask a Pacific WWII vet and they will talk about what happens when you enemy thinks you will torture them if they surrender.

That is exactly correct. Also, it is an adage to those who study military science/history that how you treat the other sides soldiers usually inevitably becomes the way your soldiers will be treated.

OK, I long ago gave up believing that Dick Cheney has an atom of decency in his body, but is this guy (and many others in the Bush Admin.) a bloody fool? Can you think of any position that is more wrong that these dirtbags have taken? In all facets--moral, military, geopolitical--this is a disaster. This is doing almost irreparable damage to America's standing in the world. Maybe after 20 years we will get some of our moral authority back?

Thanks for screwing my country so royally you bastards.

Robert

If there is anyone more cunning, more deceitful, more dishonest, more lying, more conneiving than Dubya Bush, its the V-Pee Cheney. This sonofabitch is a bad omen that has struck America. Americans have yet to see a more corrupt VPee than this asswipe Prick Cheney and would probably not see one in a long time. I was hoping that Americans will get rid of him automatically the next time his pacemaker fails but apparently the devil's spawn has more of his sinful time left on this earth.

Why not impeach these bastards and get rid of this scum of the earth once and for all.

Welcome to DU!! :toast: