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"The
use of cluster bombs on civilian areas is a war crime,"
Fermon
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BRUSSELS,
May 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The U.S. commander in
Iraq, General Tommy Franks, was accused of war crimes Wednesday,, May
14, in a Belgian lawsuit that has provoked stern “warnings” from
Washington that Belgium’s standing as an international hub is at risk.
Lawyer
Jan Fermon submitted the complaint against Franks and a U.S. Marines
colonel in a Brussels court on behalf of 19 Iraqis whom he described as
victims of cluster bombs and U.S. attacks on ambulances and civilians.
"General
Franks is responsible as commander in chief for the way some of his men
acted on the ground: for instant the use of cluster bombs on civilian
areas is a war crime," Fermon was quoted by Agence France-Presse
(AFP) as saying.
The
suit relates to about 20 alleged crimes during the war against Iraq,
including three cases in which U.S. troops are accused of firing on
ambulances, Fermon said.
The
legal action will likely further cloud relations between the United
States and Belgium, already soured recently by Brussels' fierce
opposition to the Iraq war.
The
19 plaintiffs filed the suit under Belgium’s "universal
competence" law, which allows charges to be brought regardless of
where the alleged crimes took place.
The
plaintiffs comprise 17 Iraqis and two Jordanians -- the widow and father
of Tareq Ayub, a Jordanian correspondent for Arabic satellite
broadcaster Al-Jazeera, who was killed on April 8 in a
U.S. missile attack on the channel’s Baghdad office. The International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said such attacks were possible war
crimes.
The
Qatar-based channel accused the U.S. military of "deliberately
targeting"
its offices and recalled that the station's Kabul bureau had been hit in
November 2001 during the U.S.-led assault on the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan.
“Legitimate”
Targets
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Franks
could face prosecution for reported U.S. military crimes in Iraq
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The
suit also names Marine Lieutenant-Colonel Brian MacCoy, who is accused
of categorizing the ambulances as "legitimate targets" because
he suspected them of harboring gunmen.
Fermon
lodged the case with the federal prosecutor's office in Brussels, which
will decide within a month whether to refer the suit to an investigating
judge. The suit was also filed with the justice ministry, which could
decide to send it to U.S. prosecutors.
The
"universal competence" law, in force since 1993, allows
Belgian courts to rule on alleged crimes under international law,
regardless of where they were committed, the nationality of the accused
or the victims.
It
has drawn strong criticism from the United States, which has warned that
Belgium’s standing as an international hub is at risk.
Chairman
of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, said Tuesday,
May 13, the lawsuit was very serious and could have an effect on the
travel arrangements of U.S. officials.
"It's
looked upon by the U.S. government as a very, very serious situation...
It is serious and it could clearly have an impact on where we
gather," he said.
The
case has further strained ties with the United States, tense after
Belgium opposed the war on Iraq and obstructed NATO's efforts to boost
Turkey's defenses ahead of the aggression.
In
March, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said that unless restricted,
the Belgian law could affect the activities of both the European Union
and NATO, which are based in Belgium.
Powell’s
warning
came after seven Iraqi families filed a lawsuit
in Belgium against him along with former U.S. president George Bush,
incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney and retired U.S. General Norman
Schwarzkop for the bombing of a civilian shelter in Baghdad that killed
403 people on the night of February 12-13, 1991.
Belgian
Foreign Minister Louis Michel attacked the Wednesday complaint against
Franks as an abuse of the law.
"It's
an abuse of the law," Michel said, according to his spokesman.
"The
United States is a democracy and I don't see why this lawsuit has not
been introduced in that country," he said. "Belgium has no
pretensions to judge the United States."
But
Michel, a strident critic of the U.S.-British war against Iraq, added:
"There is a division of powers in Belgium and it is first up to the
federal prosecutor to decide."
In
early April 2003, Belgian lawmakers tightened up the law to increase the
power of federal prosecutors to decide whether to proceed with a suit.
The
amendments also curtailed the ability of foreigners to file suits in
Belgium and allowed the government to refer certain cases back to the
accused party's own country.
Some
30 current or former political leaders are facing legal action under the
law, including Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and former U.S.
president George Bush and Powell.
On
November 24, 2001, a Belgium court summoned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon to appear in a hearing concerning civil suits over his role in
the 1982 massacres of up to 2,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in
light of a lawsuit filed by the families of the victims.
