George W. Bush spent the past week touring this country, with stops in Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Montreal. Critics have dubbed the trip his “war crimes Canadian tour.” His Montreal appearance was organized by the Montreal Chamber of Commerce and took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel this past Thursday.
The event drew a few hundred protesters who, among other acts of defiance, threw shoes, burned effigies, and called the former American President a criminal, murderer, and torturer.
Bush’s fall from the podium of international politics ended in a face plant. The former President has become the punch line for more jokes than “your mama” did back in junior high.
But just because he’s no longer in power, does not mean we should forget his legacy. Bush should not only be blamed for errors of judgment, but for his selective disregard for the basic tenets of international law.
Canada has ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture, the Geneva Convention, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
In doing so, Canada has taken on a responsibility to prosecute or extradite individuals suspected of war crimes, crimes against humanity, or violations of human rights protected by international and Canadian law.
After the Second World War, Canada was among nations who demanded the extradition of Nazi party members in hiding, so that they could stand trial before an international tribunal for crimes against humanity.
Not only this but the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act forbids the entry of any foreign national suspected of any of the above crimes and transgressions into Canada.
In his book George Bush: War Criminal? Michael Haas details 269 different cases in which the Bush administration violated domestic and international law.
One such violation is the case of Omar Khadr. The 1977 protocol addition to the Geneva Conventions states “No Party to [a] conflict shall arrange for the evacuation of children, other than its own nationals, to a foreign country.” When 15 year-old Khadr was sent to Guantanamo Bay, Bush and his subordinates violated international law.
Even the United States Supreme Court has come to the conclusion that Bush is an international criminal. In 2004, following the case of Rasul v. Bush, they stated that by ordering the suspension of habeas corpus (a prisoner’s right to petition to appear in court) to Guantanamo Bay prisoners, Bush had violated both international and U.S. law.
This was the reason that hundreds stood their ground and made their voices heard last Thursday. They were trying to send a message to those in power that criminal acts committed by people in positions of power will not be tolerated.
Being one of the most hated politicians in the Western world since Richard Nixon cannot be easy, and it has to be a pretty serious blow to the ego when your successor is given the Nobel Peace Prize for ostensibly not being you.
While one could almost be forgiven for feeling bad for George W. Bush these days, sympathy for the devil is a hard pill to swallow.
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