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Goofy Belgian leftie lawyer Iraqis to File U.S. War Crimes Complaint
Followup, severely EFL.
Lawyers representing a group of Iraqis aim to file a war crimes complaint Wednesday in a Brussels court against U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of American forces in Iraq. The planned complaint has already sparked outrage in Washington, but legal experts said it is likely to be rejected following recent changes to Belgium's war crimes law to prevent such charges against Americans. ``This could be just a spectacular way of catching attention in the media,'' said Prof. Jan Wouters, director of the Institute for International Law at the University of Leuven.
Oh, do you think?
The complaint against Franks was to be filed by attorney Jan Fermon, who is running for parliament Sunday in Belgium's national elections, representing the small, far-left Resist group. Fermon said the complaint would also include charges against other U.S. military personnel, whom he did not identify. Two other leftist candidates, Dr. Geert Van Moorter and Dr. Colette Moulaert, found the 16 wounded or bereaved Iraqis in whose name the complaint was lodged while working for a medical aid group in Baghdad during the war.
Chased down their ambulances, did she? Wotta goil!
The Belgian government rushed changes to the law through parliament last month after complaints lodged against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former President Bush and current U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell soured relations with Washington and Jerusalem. Under the new amendments, Belgian courts should refer foreigners facing war crimes charges to their own countries if they are democracies with a record of fairness in justice. Despite that, Fermon said he was optimistic that his claim would be accepted. ``We have a very specific case, with specific evidence,'' he said in a recent interview.
"Mr. Franks failed to distribute the ice cream ration to the children, and he ordered the bombing of the factory that made the feed for the baby ducks!"
Fermon's announcement last month that he planned to file the complaint provoked concern from the U.S. government. ``The Belgian government needs to be diligent in taking steps to prevent abuse of the legal system for political ends,'' said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
Wonder if we can file a claim in the Belgian courts about the genocide in the Congo -- that's certainly the fault of the Belgians.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-05-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=14246