A couple of years ago, a legal action was brought against Donald Rumsfeld in Germany, stemming from alleged wrongdoing in Iraq, including prisoner abuse. The Pentagon was livid, and Bush administration told German officials that the matter could adversely impact U.S.-German relations. Eventually, a German prosecutor announced he would not pursue the matter, leaving the issue to law-enforcement officials in the U.S. to consider. (Bush’s Justice Department wasn’t exactly interested in investigating Bush’s Defense Secretary.)
A new legal matter seems a little more serious. (thanks to K.K. for the tip)
New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany’s top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The plaintiffs in the case include 11 Iraqis who were prisoners at Abu Ghraib, as well as Mohammad al-Qahtani, a Saudi held at Guantanamo, whom the U.S. has identified as the so-called “20th hijacker” and a would-be participant in the 9/11 hijackings. As TIME first reported in June 2005, Qahtani underwent a “special interrogation plan,” personally approved by Rumsfeld, which the U.S. says produced valuable intelligence. But to obtain it, according to the log of his interrogation and government reports, Qahtani was subjected to forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, prolonged stress positions, sleep deprivation and other controversial interrogation techniques.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs say that one of the witnesses who will testify on their behalf is former Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, the one-time commander of all U.S. military prisons in Iraq. Karpinski — who the lawyers say will be in Germany next week to publicly address her accusations in the case — has issued a written statement to accompany the legal filing, which says, in part: “It was clear the knowledge and responsibility [for what happened at Abu Ghraib] goes all the way to the top of the chain of command to the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.”
What about leaving the matter to U.S. law-enforcement officials again? That doesn’t appear to be an option this time.
For one thing, immunity according to high government officials won’t apply to Rumsfeld now that he’s stepping down as Defense Secretary. For another, the assumption that U.S. authorities would review and investigate the questions raised against Rumsfeld have proven to be wrong.
“The utter and complete failure of U.S. authorities to take any action to investigate high-level involvement in the torture program could not be clearer,” says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a U.S.-based non-profit helping to bring the legal action in Germany.
He also notes that the Military Commissions Act, a law passed by Congress earlier this year, effectively blocks prosecution in the U.S. of those involved in detention and interrogation abuses of foreigners held abroad in American custody going to back to Sept. 11, 2001. As a result, Ratner contends, the legal arguments underlying the German prosecutor’s previous inaction no longer hold up.
I really doubt anything serious will come of this, but it’s worth keeping an eye on. For what it’s worth, the right will help keep us posted on developments — they’re already apoplectic about the charges.