Office of the Prime Minister
Langevin Block
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0A2
Tel: 613 6868
Fax: 613-941-6900
Email: [email protected]
URGENT
Dear Prime Minister Martin:
It was with absolute dismay that we learned of the planned visit of President
Bush to Canada on November 30th 2004.
Surely you are aware of the many grave crimes against humanity and war crimes
for which President Bush stands properly accused by the world, starting with the
Nuremberg Tribunal�s �supreme international crime� of waging an aggressive war
against Iraq in defiance of international law and the Charter of the United
Nations, and including systematic and massive violations of the Geneva Conventions
Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and Relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War, as well as the United Nations Convention
Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. As
recently as November 16, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and former war
crimes prosecutor Louise Arbour called for an investigation into crimes against
the Geneva Conventions in the assault by US forces on the densely populated
city of Fallujah.
[1]
The terrible toll in life and limb of these crimes was documented in a study
carried out by the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in Baltimore
and published in the October 29, 2004 issue of the British Medical Journal The
Lancet which conservatively estimated that the war had taken 100,000 Iraqi
lives, mostly women and children.
[2] This was well within the range predicted
before the war, for example by a British affiliate of International Physicians for
the Prevention of Nuclear War who, in November 2002, assessed the probable death
toll at a minimum of 48,000 deaths, mostly civilians, and predicted that
post-war conditions would cost an additional 200,000 lives.
[3] The President�s responsibility for these offences derives not only from his
�command responsibility' as Commander in Chief of US forces, for crimes that he
knew were being committed, or ignored through willful blindness, but did nothing
to prevent; it also comes from his direct involvement in the formulation of
policy. This includes his personal involvement not only in the devising and waging
of an aggressive, illegal war, but also of the unlawful refusal to grant
prisoner of war status to prisoners of war, contrary to specific provisions of the
Geneva Conventions, an act repudiated in the US Courts.
[4] It also includes the
approval of techniques of interrogation by his direct subordinate, Secretary of
Defense Rumsfeld, that legally and morally constitute torture and that led
directly to the disgraceful violence against Iraqi prisoners, for example at the
prison at Abu Ghraib.
As you know, not only are these acts criminal under international law, but many
of them are also criminal under Canadian law, under laws enacted in pursuance
of our international obligations, most importantly the Crimes Against Humanity
and War Crimes Act, put in place just four years ago under a Liberal government.
They also violate the provisions on torture in the Canadian Criminal Code.
By these laws, Canadians and non-Canadians alike are liable to prosecution in
Canada, no matter where in the world they have committed their crimes.
Furthermore, as the Attorney General can advise, the fact that these crimes have been
committed by Mr. Bush while President of the United States is absolutely
irrelevant to his personal liability to prosecution in Canada, according to principles
established at Nuremberg and universally recognized since then, including by
the British House of Lords in the Pinochet case in 1999. And if President Bush
were to visit Canada after leaving office, we would be seeking the Attorney
General�s permission under section 9 of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes
Act and section 7 of the Criminal Code to commence proceedings against him.
However, as you also know, should President Bush come to Canada now, while
still President, he would be clothed with both diplomatic and head of state
immunity from our laws and we would be powerless to bring him to justice.
Your invitation in these circumstances, therefore, shows contempt for both
Canadian and international law and is a grievous insult to the literally hundreds
of thousands of victims of President Bush�s international crimes. It is also our
belief that the invitation endangers Canadians� security at home and abroad,
because it is a departure from our steadfast refusal to this point to participate
in this criminal war of the Bush administration. In fact, it is our belief that
this invitation can only act as an encouragement to President Bush in his
continuing criminal activity, providing him with an important platform in this, his
first post re-election foreign visit, to defend illegal US actions in Iraq and
to improve his international standing despite them, all this against the wishes
of the majority of Canadians.
Indeed, we feel bound to point out that your invitation to President Bush may
thus constitute an abetting of the crimes he and his administration and military
continue to commit. As such you and your colleagues could be personally liable
to prosecution under the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act by virtue
of section 21 of the Canadian Criminal Code, for crimes so serious that they are
punishable in Canada by up to life imprisonment. Abetting a crime, as the
Attorney General will advise, is regarded as equally criminal to actually committing
it and is complete when one intentionally, knowingly, or with willful blindness
encourages the commission of a crime by another.
Nor would President Bush�s immunity be capable of shielding you and your
colleagues from prosecution, because, as the Attorney General will advise, the
immunity applies only to foreign officials visiting Canada and not to members of the
Canadian government itself. Nor does the inability to prosecute a criminal
affect the criminal liability of an abettor.
It is for all these reasons we urgently request a meeting with you, the Foreign
Minister, the Attorney General or your representatives in Ottawa, so that we
might have the opportunity to elaborate on these matters and to persuade you to
declare President Bush persona non grata in Canada, or at least to rescind this
invitation, and thus to avoid implicating yourselves and Canada in the most
serious of international crimes.
Sincerely,
Michael Mandel and Gail Davidson
on behalf of Lawyers against the War (LAW) a Canada-based committee of jurists
and others with members in thirteen countries.
Contacts:
Michael Mandel, Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, 4700 Keele
Street, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3. Tel: 416 736-5039, Fax: 416-736-5736,
Email: < ahref="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]a
Gail Davidson, Tel: 604 738 0338; Fax: 604 736 1175, Email:
[email protected][1] Reuters, �U.N. Rights Boss Urges Fallujah 'Abuses' Probe�
http://yahoo.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6828157
[2] Les Roberts, Riyadh Lafta, Richard Garfield, Jamal Khudhairi, Gilbert
Burnham, Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, published online 29
October 2004.
http://image.thelanct.com/extras04art10342web.pdf"
[3] Collateral Damage: the Health and Environmental Costs of War on Iraq, 12
November 2002.
www.ippnw.org/CollateralDamage.pdf
[4] For example Hamdan v. Rumsfeld et al, (United States District Court for the
District of Columbia, November 7, 2004).
cc: The Honourable Bill Graham P.C. Q.C. M.P.
Minister of National Defence
General George Pearkes Building
101 Colonel By Drive � 13th Floor
Ottawa Ontario K1A 0K2
Tel: 613 992 5234
Fax: 613 996 8607
Email: [email protected]
The Honourable Irwin Cotler
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
312 West Block
House of Commons
Ottawa Ontario K1A 0A6
Tel: 613 992 4621
Fax: 613 990 7255
Email: [email protected]
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