Might Dick Cheney really be tried for war crimes?
Is there a possibility that former Vice President Dick Cheney will be tried as a war criminal?
The question arises because Lawrence Wilkerson, a former top aide to ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell, said Tuesday that Mr. Cheney fears that very thing.
Cheney鈥檚 tough defense of his record during interviews promoting his new memoir 鈥淚n My Time鈥� are the bluster of someone who underneath is really worried about his actions, .
鈥淚 think he鈥檚 just trying to, one, assert himself so he鈥檚 not in some subsequent time period tried for war crimes, and second ... [vindicate] himself because he feels like he needs vindication. That in itself tells you something about him,鈥� Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson said that he thought that as vice president, Cheney seemed to be a totally different person than he had been earlier, during his service as secretary of Defense in the administration of George H. W. Bush.
鈥淗e鈥檚 developed an angst and almost a protective cover, and now he fears being tried as a war criminal,鈥� Wilkerson said.
First off, we鈥檒l note that Wilkerson鈥檚 words are likely a salvo in the developing feud between Cheney and Mr. Powell. Cheney has called Powell disloyal to the president he served, Powell has said Cheney takes cheap shots in his book, and so forth. As a loyal staffer Wilkerson is jumping in here on the side of his ex-boss.
Second, the chance that Dick Cheney will be tried as a war criminal is vanishingly small.
Yes, Human Rights Watch did issue urging that President Obama investigate former President George W. Bush, Cheney, and other top ex-administration officials for allegedly ordering abuse of detainees that amounted to torture.
Waterboarding is among the harsh techniques cited in the Human Rights Watch report, along with use of secret CIA prisons and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture.
鈥淭丑别 US has a legal obligation to investigate these crimes,鈥� said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, when the report was released. 鈥淚f the US doesn鈥檛 act on them, other countries should.鈥�
But the Obama administration has declined to conduct a broad probe of the legality of interrogation policies authorized by the Bush White House. The Justice Department instead is looking into whether unauthorized techniques were used in the deaths of two men in CIA custody.
And the part about other countries acting, if they US doesn鈥檛? For that to have any actual consequence, it would have to involve snatching Dick Cheney off the streets and spiriting him away to, say, the International Criminal Court in the Hague. That鈥檚 almost certainly not going to happen.
The US would protest strenuously 鈥� and probably take some kind of action in retaliation 鈥� if one of its citizens was subjected to international courts without Washington鈥檚 approval. It is not a member of the ICC, after all, and that鈥檚 a big reason why.
Cheney, for his part, has been joking about his status as the Bush official the left most loves to hate.
On 鈥淭oday鈥� earlier this week, interviewer Matt Lauer noted that Cheney has been called many things, including the most divisive US political figure of the century.
鈥淵ou left out Darth Vader,鈥� Cheney replied.
