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Bush Administration Pronounced Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity

Bush Administration Pronounced Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity

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The Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration released its final verdict on Wednesday, September 13, 2006. Guilty.

11:00 AM, Press Conference, Camp Democracy (Constitution & 14)
12:00 Noon, Delivery of Verdict to the White House

Full text of the verdict in PDF.

An unprecedented Commission of Inquiry has found the President of the United States and his administration guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The five-member panel of jurists unanimously found the administration’s actions “shock the conscience of humanity” in five areas – wars of aggression, illegal detention and torture, suppression of science and catastrophic policies on global warming, potentially genocidal abstinence-only policies imposed on HIV/AIDS prevention programs in the Third World, and the abandonment of New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina.

THE VERDICT

In their summary, the Commission jurists found that: “Each of these constitutes a shocking crime in itself, and taken together the full horrors are all the more unconscionable. It is also clear that this is an administration that demonstrates an utter disregard for truth and flagrantly lies about the reasons for its actions.

“In arriving at this decision the jurists were particularly alarmed by the degree to which the Bush Administration’s actions in all five indictments were informed by the extreme right. …. although the specific conduct differs among the indictments, the result is the same: human life was debased and devalued by gratuitous acts of violence, torture, narrow self interest, indifference, and disregard.”

In arriving at their verdict, the Commission’s panel of jurists examined a wealth of evidence with care and rigor. Consistent standards were employed, with well-established international law referenced where applicable.

The panel of jurists consisted of Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, William H. Bowen School of Law, Little Rock; former executive director, National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL). Dennis Brutus, former prisoner, Robben Island (South Africa), poet, professor emeritus, University of Pittsburgh. Abdeen Jabara, former president, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Ajamu Sankofa, former executive director, Physicians for Social Responsibility-NY. Ann Wright, former US diplomat and retired US Army Reserve Colonel.

THE HEARINGS

The Commission’s year-long investigation included five days of public hearings in October 2005 and January 2006 in New York City. The 45 expert and first-hand witnesses included former commander of Abu Ghraib prison Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray, former UN official Denis Halliday, former UN arms inspector Scott Ritter, Guantanamo prisoners’ lawyer Barbara Olshansky, and Katrina survivors.

The verdict’s release comes with war crimes again on front pages following President Bush’s defense of secret prisons, rendition, and practices constituting torture under existing law, his demand that the War Crimes Act be fundamentally weakened, and his threats against Iran.

In a preface to the printed verdict, historian Howard Zinn writes: “The Bush Administration has been following a course, which can only now be described as a series of crimes against humanity. . . . What could be a higher crime than sending the young people of the country into a war against a small country on the other side of the world, which is no danger to the United States, and in fact a war which is condemned by people all over the world and a war which results in, not only the loss of American lives and the crippling of young Americans, but results in the loss of huge numbers of people in Iraq? These are high crimes.”

No CoverYerA Pro-Torture Legislation

No CoverYerA Pro-Torture Legislation

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Ignoring the Supreme Court, the advice of top military lawyers, our nation’s laws, and the domestic and worldwide outcry against torture, the Bush Administration is aggressively fighting for the legal right to abuse detainees in U.S. custody.

This administration is currently polishing up an amendment to the War Crimes Act (Section 2441 of title 18 US Code) that would legally permit abusive interrogations. This would further undermine Common Article 3 in the Geneva Conventions, and try to evade the recent Hamdan v. Rumsfeld Supreme Court ruling. The amendment would not ban “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment” (such as “waterboarding”), although such acts are specifically banned by the Geneva Conventions.

The White House also announced that the bill “will apply to any conduct by any U.S. personnel, whether committed before or after the law is enacted.” So, they want to grandfather in any previous criminal offenses – duh.

Passing this legislation would excuse the administration from current, past, or future criminal charges stemming from its treatment of prisoners in the “war against terror.” It looks to me as though it’s quite concerned with protecting its own policymakers from being prosecuted under the War Crimes Act. Yeah, I wonder why that would be.

The time-honored and (almost) universally-accepted Geneva Conventions help to protect our own troops. The Bush administration is not only willing to risk the lives of our soldiers – and further tarnish our reputation – so that it can engage in cruel and inhuman treatment with impugnity – but it also want to protect those who have authorized it from any accountability!

Outside of all the ethical and legal reasons to oppose torture (especially in our name), there is also the pragmatic reason not to torture: Expert interrogators have already said that good information comes not through torture, but rather by establishing relationships of trust. People who are tortured will say anything to make the torture stop. Read up on the Inquisitions. The Witch Hunts. Or something more recent. Take your pick. Torture doesn’t work.

Shall we go down as the first nation to retreat from the Geneva Conventions?
Shall we be known as the country who stood up to champion cruel and degrading treatment?

Is this what America has become? Is this what we stand for? Will Americans speak up?

The “good guys” don’t need to do this.

No more torture in America’s name!
No grandfathered protections for those who authorized it!

Tell the President to drop this bid to gain the legal right to abuse detainees. Tell him to respect our laws and the Geneva Conventions. (Human Rights First)

Read up on the issues. Then, please contact your representatives to tell them your views, and the position you would urge them to take on this matter.

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