German Prosecutor Rejects Investigation of Rumsfeld

A federal prosecutor rejected calls Thursday to investigate allegations that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was guilty of war crimes in the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal.

The ruling came ahead of a European security conference in Munich scheduled this weekend, which a Pentagon spokesman said Rumsfeld probably would attend.

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and four former Iraqi prisoners, who said they were abused by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison, filed a criminal complaint with Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm in November.

They filed the complaint under a 2002 German law that allows its judicial officials to investigate human rights abuses and war crimes cases regardless of where they occurred.

According to the complaint, Rumsfeld, former CIA Director George J. Tenet, a senior defense official and seven U.S. military officers, including the former top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, were ultimately responsible for the torture and humiliation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Nehm said it was up to the United States to pursue legal action against the alleged perpetrators and their superiors.

German prosecutors could step in only if U.S. authorities failed to act, for which there was no evidence, Nehm said.

Rumsfeld said last week that the filing of the criminal complaint factored into his decision on whether to attend the Munich conference.

He was in Europe to attend a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Nice, France, and then flew to Mosul, Iraq, for a surprise visit.

“It appears likely that Secretary Rumsfeld will attend the conference in Munich. We are in contact with the conference coordinators and are currently working through scheduling issues,” chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said in Nice. He did not mention Nehm’s decision.