Will Dick Cheney Be Arrested for War Crimes in Canada?

By Jodie Gummow, AlterNet

30 October 13

he international group, Lawyers Against War, has urged Canadian authorities to arrest former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney for war crimes when he arrives at the Toronto Global Forum this week, Huffington Post reported.

The anti-war group wrote a letter to the Attorney General John Gerretsen and Police Chief Bill Blair saying it was their duty to arrest Cheney, "as a person suspected on reasonable grounds of authorizing, counseling, aiding, abetting and failing to prevent torture."

"Once Richard (Dick) Cheney enters Canada … Canada must ensure that Dick Cheney is either investigated and prosecuted for the indictable offence of torture in Canada or extradited to another country willing and able to do so," Lawyers Against the War's Gail Davidson wrote.

Cheney was a "big supporter" of waterboarding and other unlawful interrogation techniques during his vice presidency, in which thousands of people were tortured, kidnapped and assassinated based on his instruction.

Last year, the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal convicted Cheney, as well as former U.S. President George W. Bush and six other Bush administration officials in absentia of war crimes including torture and cruelty.

Cheney's visit is likely to spark large protests. In September 2011, he was barricaded during large protests on a visit to Vancouver, where demonstrators blocked him from leaving an exclusive hotel for several hours before police were able to evacuate him. Subsequently, he cancelled a trip to Toronto in March 2010 citing safety concern, which led to large protests.