Rumsfeld won’t be tried for war crimes

BERLIN – The German federal prosecutor’s office announced Thursday it would not pursue a request to investigate war-crimes allegations against U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that arose from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

In recent weeks, Rumsfeld had deferred a decision on whether to attend an annual defense conference in Germany, at which he usually speaks. Defense officials had said the pending complaint against Rumsfeld was one of several factors affecting his indecision.

After the German announcement, a spokesman for Rumsfeld, Larry Di Rita, said in a statement it was “likely” Rumsfeld would attend the conference.

Di Rita called the complaint “irresponsible” and said dropping it was “the right thing to do.” He declined to comment on whether the complaint being rejected had swayed Rumsfeld toward attending the conference.

The complaint was filed by a New York-based civil-rights group, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and four Iraqis who said they were abused at Abu Ghraib. The filing was based on a 2002 German law allowing prosecutors to investigate alleged war crimes no matter where they occur.

The prosecutor’s office did not comment on the merit of the complaint.