We see a lot of posts and memes on social media, particularly on Facebook. 

Many political statements get shared by hundreds, if not thousands, of Facebook users.  Sometimes, one comes along that grabs our attention, such as a recent photo of former President George W. Bush and former Vice-President Dick Cheney with the following quote:

"When I was growing up, I would never have believed that a former president and vice president of the United States would be unable to visit Europe due to outstanding warrants."

We wanted to know if this was true, so we turned to our partners at PolitiFact and asked them to check it out.  PolitiFact reporter Joshua Gillin says that this Facebook post rates FALSE on the Truth-O-Meter.  Gillin says that it was a pretty straight-foward determination that Bush and Cheney aren't going to face arrest in any European country.

"We talked to representatives at INTERPOL, which is the international police organization," said Gillin.  "They assured us that there were no outstanding warrants for either George W. Bush or Dick Cheney.   We also checked with the International Criminal Court in the Hague, and they told us that there weren't any warrants or even pending warrants to arrest the former president and vice-president."

Gillin notes that the idea of leaders of state being arrested isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility.  "Remember that back in 1998, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London after warrants had been issued by Spain for Pinochet's detention after some citizens of Spain were murdered in Chile," said Gillin.  "There's always a possibility that it COULD happen, but it's highly unlikely that it ever WOULD happen."

Because there are no known warrants for the arrest of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney from either INTERPOL or the International Criminal Court, PolitiFact rates this Facebook claim FALSE.

 

SOURCES: BUSH/CHENEY ARREST WARRANTS