{"article":{"id":111209,"heading":"Bush Administration guilty of wide range of war crimes in Iraq","author":"Rania Jawad","created":"2004-05-26 01:19:29","modified":"2013-11-11 00:29:57","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:29:57","article":"

Bush Administration guilty of wide range of war crimes in Iraq: Jury of Conscience demands accountability

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE http:\/\/www.worldtribunal-nyc.org<\/a>

May 12, 2004 Contact: Rania Jawad at rjawad7@yahoo.com<\/a> or 646 230 1780

Bush Administration guilty of wide range of war crimes in Iraq: Jury of Conscience demands accountability

NEW YORK: An international jury of conscience, including Eve Ensler, Obie-award winning author of “The Vagina Monologues,” issued a statement today finding U.S. civilian leaders to be “responsible and accountable for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions” in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.

The thirteen-member jury considered evidence on a range of violations including the continued arbitrary detention and torture of Iraqi civilians, the use of cluster munitions in heavily populated civilian areas, the extrajudicial killings of Iraqi civilians, and the destruction of vital services.

The jurors found that “instead of caring for Iraqi people, the US authorities have killed, starved, maimed and tortured thousands of Iraqi people, destroying their infrastructure, including their water and health facilities. … This was done by the US government. The people of the US are responsible and must hold their government accountable.”

As outrage over the torture of Iraqi prisoners by the U.S. military continues to grow both domestically and internationally, the evidence at the tribunal highlighted the systematic brutality of the U.S. invasion and military occupation for the people of Iraq.

Juror Eve Ensler commented on the impact of Saturday’s tribunal: “The images of bombs falling like grapes from the sky and children playing in barrels of uranium, the language of not calling it torture, and the failure to provide security, water, and health and to preserve the ancient cultural property of Iraq shatters my heart: I hold a human shame, a sorrow that is so vast and so deep there is a physical aching in all of me.”



The Jury’s statement emphasizes that “the responsibility for defining the future of their country has always rested with the people of Iraq and not with any outside power, or external military force, let alone one that previously encouraged and collaborated with Saddam Hussein in some of his most violent escapades.”

Columbia University Professor Hamid Dabashi, Chairman of the Jury, noted, “The fire of the pain we witness our fellow humans endure half-way around the globe tests our mettle. But we will win – we, the ordinary people, have always won.” Fellow juror Eve Ensler concurred: “What gives me hope is the will of the people. We will win this struggle, there is no alternative.”

Global anti-war activists created the World Tribunal on Iraq in 2003 to hold the Bush administration and its allies accountable for their actions, to establish facts about what happened in Washington and Iraq, and to inform the public of those facts. Precedents for this process include the 1967 Russell Tribunal to investigate crimes by the U.S. and allies in Vietnam, and the International War Crimes Tribunal against weapons of mass destruction by the German Green Party in Nuremberg in 1983. Hearings are being held in sixteen cities across the world and will culminate in the final session in Istanbul, Turkey on the second anniversary of the invasion, March 20, 2005.



Witnesses, advocates and representatives of the WTI - New York Session are available for interviews. Advocate presentations are available online at http:\/\/www.worldtribunal-nyc.org<\/a>

New York Session of the World Tribunal on Iraq

www.worldtribunal-nyc.org

Final Statement of the Jury of Conscience

Rabab Abdulhadi, Sinan Antoon, Dennis Brutus, Hamid Dabashi, Bhairavi Desai,

Eve Ensler, Jenny Green, Lisa Hajjar, Motarilavoa Hilda Lini, Elias Khoury,

Ibrahim Ramey, Kiyoko McCrae, Robert van Lierop

May 8, 2004

Preamble

The war against Iraq has posed one of the most challenging, frustrating and

explosive international crises in recent memory.

The World Tribunal on Iraq sitting in session at Cooper Union in New York

City on May 8th 2004 and having heard the testimony and evidence presented

and having carefully weighed that evidence has reached a series of

conclusions.

>From its conception to its prosecution and the current occupation, fact, law

and logic have been turned on their heads and fabricated to rationalize and

justify what can only be considered, by all international standards, an

unjust war of aggression.

There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein waged unjust wars of

aggression itself against Iran, Kuwait and those Iraqis who did not

acquiesce in the regime's reign of terror and corruption. That, however,

does not for one minute justify the violence, destruction and degradation

visited upon the people of Iraq from the 20th of March 2003 and continuing

today.

The responsibility for defining the future of their country has always

rested with the people of Iraq and not with any outside power, or external

military force, let alone one that previously encouraged and collaborated

with Saddam Hussein in some of his most violent escapades.

International law has always recognized a legitimate right to resist foreign

occupation. The people of Iraq cannot be considered an exception to this

well-established principle of customary international law.

War is a fundamental collapse of human reason and failure of imagination,

and should always be an absolute last resort undertaken only in strict

adherence with the charter of the United Nations. The current war and

occupation of Iraq were undertaken in disregard of the most fundamental

principles of international law and with obvious contempt for truth,

posterity, and the morality which should guide all human actions. The result

has been the occupation and colonization of Iraq and the destruction of its

economy and increased violence and insecurity for the overwhelming majority

of the Iraqi population. The world cannot sit by passively and watch the

continued deterioration of the future of our planet.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) provides an opportunity for the

expansion and enhancement of the international rule of law. Unfortunately,

the current administration in Washington has not only chosen to separate

itself from the evolving international consensus on respect for the rule of

law, but has also chosen to undermine the rule of law through its actions

against the International Criminal Court and other legal regimes. It must be

noted that the majority of professional legal associations in the United

States have expressed support for the ICC even while the administration

works against it.

Case One

Question posed to the jury: Was this an illegal war?



The laws governing the initiation of hostilities derive from the UN charter.

There are only two situations in which a country can legally go to war:

1.\tSelf defense

2.\tWith the approval of UN Security Council, which is vested with

responsibility to make determinations about the ?common interest? for global

peace and security.

Our finding based on the evidence presented to this tribunal is: the US

government has committed a crime of aggression for the following reasons:

1.\tThere was no legitimate self-defense issue at stake:

a.\tThere was a long period of a pre-planning and aspirations for war on Iraq.

b.\tThe fabrication and falsification was driven by ideological agenda.

c.\tFear mongering to gain US public support included false linkages of Iraq

with Al-Qai?da and the September 11th attacks.

2.\tThere was no imminent threat at stake:

a.\tThere were many pleas for continued inspections

b.\tThere were many expert statements from inspectors that there were no

weapons of mass destruction.

c.\tThe prevalence of the preventive war doctrine dominated the preparatory

stages of this war.

3.\tThis war has destabilized Iraq, the region and the world.

a.\tThe UN Security Council did not approve military action.

b.\tThere was unprecedented mass global opposition to this war.

Case Two

In war, has force been used legally?

Have war crimes been committed?

Who is legally accountable for violations of International Humanitarian Law

(IHL)?

Our findings:

Numerous violations of IHL have been committed by the US and coalition

forces. Civilian leaders are responsible and accountable for grave breaches

of the Geneva Conventions and their Protocol I.

1.\tThe US is a party to the Geneva Conventions, which are thus binding on

the US .

2.\tProtocol I to the Geneva Conventions constitutes customary international

law and therefore is universally binding.

3.\tGrave breaches require prosecution.

The evidence on which our conclusions are based:

1.\tThe targeting of Iraqi leaders in ?decapitation? strikes, violating the

principles of necessity, proportionality and military values.

2.\tThe use of incendiary weapons and cluster munitions constitute war crimes

as these forms of weaponry are inherently indiscriminate and cause

unnecessary suffering. Furthermore, their use in heavily populated civilian

areas is a violation of civilian immunity.

3.\tThe use of extrajudicial killings at \"checkpoints\" violates the

principles of civilian immunity, distinction, and proportionality.

The US military and the US administration are responsible for these

violations and liable under the Geneva Convention for prosecution. The US

has violated International Humanitarian Law.

Case Three

Concerning the matter of Iraq under the occupation, the jury addressed a

number of questions: the first finding was that the occupation itself was

and continues to be illegal.

Under international law countries have the right to self-determination.

Under international law the United States as occupying power has obligations

to adhere to the Geneva Conventions, to which both the United States and

Iraq are parties, and other treaties to which Iraq is a party.

The U.S. has violated all of these requirements. The evidence presented

proves that there has been continuing public insecurity including the lack

of safety, the continued arbitrary detention and torture, unlawful attacks,

the destruction of vital services and economic colonization.

Conclusion

In the name of a preventive strike on Iraq, the US government fabricated a

web of lies. We were told that the war on Iraq was waged because there were

weapons of mass destruction, and that there were linkages between Saddam

Hussein and Al-Qua'ida. We were told that the US authorities were deeply

concerned for Iraqi people and their suffering under Saddam Hussein and they

longed for their freedom and democracy. If all this were true, then why have

no weapons of mass destruction been found? Why instead of finding

Al-Qua'ida, have they invited Al-Qua'ida? Instead of caring for Iraqi

people, they have killed, starved, maimed, tortured thousands of Iraqi

people, destroying their infrastructure, including their water and health

facilities. In the name of democracy they have created a corporate tyranny

which has essentially stolen Iraq out from under the Iraqi people. They have

committed war crimes against Iraqi people in prisons and have made freedom

of movement and speech almost impossible. This was done by the US

government. The people of the US are responsible and must hold their

government accountable.

We the jury of conscience therefore affirm the following conclusions and

recommendations:

1.\tThat the US and its coalition partners immediately cease all violations

of the civil, political and human rights of the people of Iraq;

2.\tThat the military occupation of Iraq be immediately ended;

3.\tThat all parties guilty of war crimes against the Iraqi people be brought

to justice under international law;

4.\tThat reparations be paid by all responsible parties to the people of Iraq

for the damages caused by both the war and the occupation;

5.\tThat we work to strengthen the mobilization of the global antiwar movement;

6.\tThat the occupation of Palestine, Afghanistan and all other colonized

areas is illegal and should be brought to an end immediately.

http:\/\/www.uslaboragainstwar.org\/article.php?id=4856<\/a><\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"NEW YORK: An international jury of conscience, including Eve Ensler, Obie-award winning author of \u201cThe Vagina Monologues,\u201d issued a statement today finding U.S. civilian leaders to be \u201cresponsible and accountable for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions\u201d in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2004\/05\/111209.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}