2011-09-23 Will Dick Cheney be arrested in Vancouver?, Vancouver Observer

Torture, Haliburton, the War on Terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

What kind of welcome does Cheney deserve? Appaluse, or arrest?

The former Vice President under the Bush Administration brings his book tour to the exclusive group’s Vancouver Club event and activist groups are organizing protests, while an SFU professor has even written the mayor, demanding he direct the police chief to arrest Cheney when he arrives in the city.

Cheney is on tour to  promote his book In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir at the Bon Mot Club. 

Sponsored by the Globe and Mail, Sauder School of Business, the Bon Mot Club is hosted by Leah Costello, the Fraser Institute’s savvy, leggy blonde spokesperson for the controversial Fraser Institute school report card.      

“Think of it as a TED conference or IdeaCity but just down the street with your own friends, colleagues, and clients,” Costello writes on the Bon Mot Club’s website.  “We’ll send you the featured book in advance—and whether you read it or not, everyone is encouraged to partcipate in a lively discussion with the author and the guests.”

Last time I wrote about the Bon Mot Club, Sarah Palin was the featured speaker. So here comes Dick Cheney.

Jodie Evans cofounder of the U.S. anti-war group CodePink, explained on Fox News’s America  Live why she attempted to do a “citizen’s arrest” of  Cheney last September 7th at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda California. 

Evans  sat politely through Cheney’s book reading and then, when it was nearly over disrupted the event.  Evans stood up brandishing an arrest warrant,  called out that she was making a citizens arrest.  Codepink reported:

Referring to Cheney as an international war criminal, Evans explained how he had undermined the U.S. economy and it’s standing in the international community, made it’s citizens less safe, and left a million people dead in his wake.

“You brag about caring about soldiers,” Evans responded to Cheney’s speech, “but there are hundreds of thousands of casualties.”

“You are guilty of conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States, for false information leading to the War in Iraq. You are guilty of treason, sedition, and subversive activities including, but not limited to submitting and fomenting false information leading to the War in Iraq, illegal detainment and torture of prisoners in Guantanamo and elsewhere, and other fraudulent acts leading to the deaths of more than 4,000 U.S. military personnel as well as approximately 300,000 Iraqi civilians. And you are guilty of felony murder… You have the right to remain silent.”

Cheney said nothing until Evans and CODEPINK member Sharon Tipton were being dragged out by security. Proving his allergy to the truth, Cheney referred to the facts as “play-time.”

Dick Cheney has openly advocated torture, including describing himself as a “big supporter” of waterboarding. He was inside the Nixon Library peddling his book “In My Time”.

Both Evans and Tipton called out Cheney on the lies and criminal acts that have killed so many Iraqis, Afghans and Americans.

Cheney said nothing until Evans and a fellow activist were dragged out by security. Later, Evans said she wished all Americans should call for Cheney’s arrest.

Vancouverites respond to Dick Cheney’s visit

That was California and this is Vancouver. What will happen here?

A number of local anti-war groups are calling Cheney a war criminal and asking the Canadian government to stop Cheney from entering Canada.

SFU professor Donald Grayston sent this letter to Mayor Gregor Robertson.

Mr Mayor: I am disappointed that you will not emulate the mayor of London in regard to his warning to war criminal George W. Bush. A worse war criminal, Dick Cheney, will be in Vancouver on Monday. I urge you to relocate your spine and ask Chief Chu to arrest him for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The election is coming, and many of us will remember your response.

Sincerely

Don Grayston

Voting resident of Vancouver

Vancouver lawyer Gail Davidson has called for Cheney’s arrest.  The Georgia Straight reports that:

The cofounder of the international group Lawyers Against the War wants the government of Canada either to bar the former U.S. vice president from entering the country or, if he’s allowed in, to arrest and prosecute him for torture, war offences, and crimes against humanity. And if Canada isn’t keen on punishing the ex–vice president to former president George W. Bush, Davidson argues, then it should extradite Cheney to a country that is willing and able to prosecute him.