George W. Bush has cancelled an appearance at a Swiss charity gala after human rights groups put pressure on the government to arrest him for war crimes when he arrived. This is the exact opposite of a Roman Polanski situation.
Oops.
Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod's annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the Alpine country.
Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say.
Human rights groups said they had intended to submit a 2,500-page case against Bush in the Swiss city on Monday for alleged mistreatment of suspected militants at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base in Cuba where captives from Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts in the so-called War on Terror were interned.
Leftist groups had also called for a protest on the day of his visit next Saturday, leading Keren Hayesod's organizers to announce that they were cancelling Bush's participation on security grounds -- not because of the criminal complaints.
But groups including the New York-based Human Rights Watch and International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) said the cancellation was linked to growing moves to hold Bush accountable for torture, including waterboarding. He has admitted in his memoirs and television interviews to ordering use of the interrogation technique that simulates drowning.
We can't send this guy anywhere.
Maybe if he had a hat or something. Or a book. Nobody would ever recognize him if he was wearing a beret and holding a copy of Anna Karenina. It would be the perfect disguise! "That can't be him, he's holding Tolstoy!" And he could go visit whatever country he wanted to without all this messy war crime tribunal and international human rights violations crap.
Totally worth it, Dubs.
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