 MADRID - The judge who tried to jail Chile’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet said on Tuesday it was time to hold US President George W. Bush and his allies to account for waging war in Iraq. In an opinion piece in the newspaper El Pais, published on the fourth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon said the war was ‘one of the most sordid and unjustifiable episodes in recent human history’.
‘We should look more deeply into the possible criminal responsibility of the people who are, or were, responsible for this war and see whether there is sufficient evidence to make them answer for it,’ Garzon wrote. ‘There is enough of an argument in 650,000 deaths for this investigation and inquiry to start without more delay,’ he said.
| Oh dear, Seafarious is going to be quite upset about this. Yo, Judge, it isn't 650,000 deaths, it isn't criminal to remove a nasty, genocidal dictator, and we really don't care what you think, 'k? |
Garzon, who became famous in 1999 when he tried to extradite Pinochet from Britain and try him for crimes against humanity, was particularly critical of the former Spanish government, a major backer of the Iraq invasion. ‘Those who joined the US president in the war against Iraq have as much or more responsibility than him because, despite having doubts and biased information, they put themselves in the hands of the aggressor to carry out an ignoble act of death and destruction that continues to this day,’ he said.
In February, Spain’s former leader Jose Maria Aznar said he now knew Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction but ‘the problem was not having been clever enough to know earlier.’ Garzon wrote: ‘If he didn’t know enough, he should be asked why he didn’t act prudently, giving United Nations inspectors more leeway instead of doing the opposite in total submission and fidelity to President Bush.’
| Why not give the UN inspectors forever? Hans Blix sure could have used the time. Sheesh. |
Gaspar Llamazares, head of the left-wing party Izquierda Unida, said he would present a motion to the Spanish parliament that leaders behind the war should face international tribunals. ‘People cannot be allowed to make decisions that cause hundreds of thousands of victims, fail to recognise their errors and not have to answer to a court,’ said Llamazares, whose party is allied to the ruling Socialist party.
| But no one had the right to try Saddam, of course. |
Garzon, who took a sabbatical last year to study international terrorism, ...
| ... that worked well, didn't it ... |
... said the Iraq war had helped incite hatred and garner more support for terrorist training camps. ‘In some way, with a terrible lack of awareness, we have been and are helping this monster grow more and more and strengthen by the minute so it is probably invincible,’ he said.
| Okay, Judge, you jumped the shark and your fifteen minutes are up. Back to divorce court for you! |
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