Oh Canada...please arrest war criminal Cheney

Former Vice President Dick Cheney doesn't travel very much outside America. It's not because he doesn't like foreign travel; he loves it. However, since leading the rush to criminal war against Iraq in 2003, Cheney fears arrest for war crimes should he venture too far away from the friendly confines America has given him from his criminal skulduggery. But this week Cheney makes one of his rare foreign jaunts, crossing the border to Canada for the Toronto Global Forum. Normally, the Canadian government avoids unduly irritating Uncle Sam by arresting his war criminals. But the international Lawyers Against War is urging Canada to arrest Cheney when he arrives. Their letter to Canadian Attorney General John Geretsen and Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair urged his arrest "as a person suspected on reasonable grounds of authorizing, counseling, aiding, abetting and failing to prevent torture"...an indictable offense in Canada. While a Cheney arrest in Toronto is highly unlikely, it's important for law abiding and peace loving individuals and groups keep the pressure on the world community to arrest Cheney and his fellow chieftains in criminal war and torture: President George W. Bush, Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Even with likely Canadian government inaction, Cheney will be on alert. In September, 2011, Vancouver demonstrators blocked his exit from a fancy hotel for several hours till evacuated by police. He's also cancelled one trip to Toronto due to safety concerns when large protests occurred. When it comes to criminal war, the American position is to not cry over spilt milk, even when what's split is an ocean of blood from hundreds of thousands killed and wounded. We forget that the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, largely an American affair, executed 16 high ranking Nazis and told the world that criminal war is the highest form of criminality that cannot go unpunished. As long as that youthful new heart of his is still beating, we must all keep beating the drums of justice to see that Cheney gets many years of life with it...in a prison cell. Come on Canada, do the right thing and arrest Dick Cheney for war crimes when he arrives in Toronto this week. Also published in the Glen Ellyn Patch