German court affirms dismissal of war crimes complaint against Rumsfeld News
German court affirms dismissal of war crimes complaint against Rumsfeld

[JURIST] A German state court in Stuttgart ruled Thursday that a federal prosecutor is not required to bring war crimes charges against US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in connection with abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive] in 2003 and 2004. Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm [official profile in German] dismissed the complaint in February [JURIST report] on the grounds that law only allows such a prosecution if the US fails to act. Rumsfeld cancelled a planned trip to Germany [JURIST report] in January while the case was pending. The suit [PDF complaint] was originally brought by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights [advocacy website] and four Iraqi citizens in November 2004 under the German court's doctrine of universal jurisdiction [JURIST report]. Deutsche Welle has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.