Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson won’t ask police chief to arrest Dick Cheney
Lawyer Gail Davidson wants Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson to do to ex-U.S. vice president Dick Cheney what a chap named Boris Johnson did to former American president George W. Bush.
Johnson is, of course, the mayor of London, who in November 2010 wrote an opinion piece advising Bush against coming to his city or any other European capital.
Johnson, who is a Conservative, warned that Bush “might never see Texas again” because he could be arrested for torture and war crimes.
In the end, Bush didn’t dare go to Europe to promote his book Decision Points.
Cheney is due for a speaking engagement in Vancouver on September 26 to talk about his book In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir.
“I would like council to, the mayor to make a public statement that Vancouver won’t be a safe haven for accused war criminals,” Davidson told the Straight by phone today (September 20).
Davidson also suggested that Robertson contact Jim Chu and advise the Vancouver police chief of what he should do under international and local laws.
“His responsibility once Mr. Cheney enters Canada is to arrest him for war crimes,” Davidson said.
Robertson wasn’t available to provide a quick comment, according to the mayor’s assistant, Kevin Quinlan.
“But I can inform you that the Mayor will not be asking Chief Chu to arrest Dick Cheney,” Quinlan wrote in an email to the Straight.
Meanwhile, Bush is scheduled to be a keynote speaker at the Surrey Regional Economic Summit on October 20.
Comments
33 Comments
JohnnyCanuckFan
Sep 20, 2011 at 12:48pm
Why not? Hopefully there can be a citizen's arrest.
kenneyboy
Sep 20, 2011 at 1:22pm
Mayor Gregor, do the right thing and have this criminal arrested and put on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, murder, and hate crimes. He should never be welcome here in Vancouver or Canada!
Mark Fornataro
Sep 20, 2011 at 2:11pm
I remember several years ago when Van.city councillors Harry Rankin and Mike Harcourt rightly referred to Henry Kissinger-appearing in Vancouver to speak at the time- as a war criminal. Rankin stood his ground, following the backlash from the corporate media- and probably paid the price for that by losing his bid for position of Mayor. Harcourt, facing the same pressure from the Van. Sun apologized, and became Mayor sometime thereafter. Cheney is of the same mold(mould?) as Kissinger and I for one admire politicians who have the guts to stand up to criminals of this ilk, in the face of an often hostile mainstream media.
Scheisser
Sep 20, 2011 at 3:53pm
Bah, Gregor is such a Dick.
Darren Pearson
Sep 20, 2011 at 4:12pm
Dick and George have both publicly admitted there criminal involvement in torture crimes. Canada has laws on the books that specifically list water-boarding as a torture crime. Throw the book at the lot of them!
khalil the american
Sep 20, 2011 at 4:39pm
dood. if he got arrested i would like Canada more than i already do. my friends would ask "hey K, why you go up north so much ?" and I'd say "why friend cuz they don't allow war criminals to walk the streets and to go to the Richmond night market."
Roedy Green
Sep 20, 2011 at 5:06pm
When Canada signed on to the world court we agreed to arrest war criminal fugitives.Cheney has freely admitted to torture and aiding and abetting two aggressive wars (a capital offence). The only reason not to arrest him would be fear of illegal reprisals from the USA. WE ARE LEGALLY REQUIRED TO ARREST CHENEY. Seriously, do you think Obama would risk war to protect Cheney? Even if Cheney spent a night in jail before Harper sprung him, it would rattle him and keep him from defiling Canada with his presence in future.
glen p robbins
Sep 20, 2011 at 6:16pm
C'mon people - Cheney's done - he's on dinner club tour - let's get on with it - we have progress to make - this isn't going to get done. Accept it and move on.
Bruce
Sep 20, 2011 at 8:59pm
Hey, nobody has arrested Kissinger yet either.
Gregor Samsa
Sep 20, 2011 at 10:12pm
Cheney should pay for his Kafkaesque policies. Vancouver should not give a free pass to this war criminal. City council and the mayor should step up and condemn this event.