The “Pinochet”-ing of Dick Cheney

This needs to happen; hopefully sooner rather than later. If our own spineless “leaders” won’t prosecute the war criminals in our midst, an international agency might have to do their jobs for them.

As you probably know, Chile’s now-deceased dictator, Augusto Pinochet, was arrested in London in 1998 after being indicted for crimes against humanity. And now, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, has said he will testify against Dick Cheney if Cheney is ever put on trial. Wilkerson said:

“I, unfortunately — and I’ve admitted to this a number of times, publicly and privately — was the person who put together Colin Powell’s presentation at the United Nations Security Council on 5 February, 2003. It was probably the biggest mistake of my life. I regret it to this day. I regret not having resigned over it.”

In the same interview, Salon’s Glen Greenwald said:

“The evidence is overwhelming… that Dick Cheney is not just a political figure with controversial views, but is an actual criminal, that he was centrally involved in a whole variety not just of war crimes in Iraq, but of domestic crimes, as well, including the authorization of warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens in violation of FISA, which says that you go to jail for five years for each offense, as well as the authorization and implementation of a worldwide torture regime that, according to General Barry McCaffrey, resulted in the murder — his word — of dozens of detainees, far beyond just the three or four cases of waterboarding that media figures typically ask Cheney about. And as a result, Dick Cheney goes around the country profiting off of this, you know, sleazy, sensationalistic, self-serving book, basically profiting from his crimes, and at the same time normalizing the idea that these kind of policies, though maybe in the view of some wrongheaded, are perfectly legitimate political choices to make. And I think that’s the really damaging legacy from all of this.”

Lawrence Wilkerson was then asked if he thought former Bush Administration officials should be held accountable for their crimes:

“I certainly do. And I’d be willing to testify, and I’d be willing to take any punishment I’m due. And I have to say, I agree with almost everything just said. And I think that explains the aggressiveness, to a large extent, of the Cheney attack and of the words like ‘exploding heads all over Washington.’ This is a book written out of fear, fear that one day someone will ‘Pinochet’ Dick Cheney.”

Well, what are we waiting for? Hurry up and Pinochet that cocksucker before he pulls a Kenneth Lay and pretends to “die.”