Why we must prosecute Bush and his administration for war crimes

Mike Ferner
Online Journal
Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008

During the rush to get the Nuremberg Tribunals underway, the Soviet delegation wanted the tribunal’s historic decisions to have legitimacy only for the Nazis. U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Robert Jackson, serving as the chief prosecutor for the Allies, strong-armed the Soviets until the very beginning of the tribunal before changing their mind.

In his opening statement Jackson very purposely stipulated, “ . . . Let me make clear that while this law is first applied against German aggressors, the law includes, and if it is to serve a useful purpose it must condemn aggression by any other nations, including those which sit here now in judgment.”

Can there be a better reason for prosecuting George W. Bush and his administration for war crimes than those words from the chief prosecutor of the Nazis, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, with the full support of the U.S. government? Robert Jackson’s words and the values this nation claims to stand for provide sufficient moral basis for putting Bush and Cheney, their underlings who implemented their policies and the perverted legal minds who justified them all in the dock. If those are not sufficient reasons, there is a long list of binding law and treaties — written in black and white in surprisingly plain English.

Bush imagined, and his attorneys advised, that he could simply wave aside these laws with “they don’t apply.” Imagine how a judge would treat even a simple traffic court defendant who brazenly stated the law was only a quaint notion, just “words on paper?”

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Masses of people and an embarrassingly small number of their elected representatives in this country read the law for themselves and demanded otherwise, only to be silenced by the Guardians of Reality in the corporate news media.

But it’s all there, where it has been for 220 years, the Constitution’s “supremacy clause,” Article II, section 4, and in the War Crimes Act of 1996 (18USC §2441). They provide the authority to make additional treaties legally binding — no matter how much former White House lawyers David Addington and John Yoo may object.

Those additional treaties include among others, the Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg rulings, the Laws and Customs of War on Land and UN General Assembly Resolution 3314. To give just a snapshot of how serious these laws are, consider this portion of 18 USC 2441 which defines a war crime as “ . . . a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party . . .” The guilty can be “ . . . fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death.”

Here, Justice Jackson answers another question about war crimes — who bears the greater responsibility: those who committed barbaric acts in the field or those who created the conditions for barbarism?

The case as presented by the United States will be concerned with the brains and authority back of all the crimes. These defendants were men of a station and rank which does not soil its own hands with blood. They were men who knew how to use lesser folk as tools. We want to reach the planners and designers, the inciters and leaders without whose evil architecture the world would not have been for so long scourged with the violence and lawlessness, and wracked with the agonies and convulsions, of this terrible war.

And yet it is not just because Bush violated the Constitution and federal law that he and his lieutenants must be prosecuted.

At Nuremberg, the foremost crime identified was starting a “war of aggression,” later codified by U.N. Resolution 3314, Art. 5, as “a crime against international peace.” Launching a war of aggression, as Hitler did against Poland, is considered so monstrous that the nation responsible can then be charged with “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” spelled out in detail in the Geneva Conventions. As Tom Paine said long before the U.N. formalized the definition of aggression, “He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of Hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death.”

A small sampling of the contagion of Hell let loose by Bush includes illegally invading a sovereign state, using banned weapons such as white phosphorous and napalm, bombing hospitals and civilian infrastructure, withholding aid and medical supplies, terrorizing and knowingly killing civilians, torturing prisoners, killing a million people and displacing 4 million more in Iraq alone.

Following World War II, humanity resolved that wars do more than spark a series of loathsome, individual crimes. Leaders responsible for a war actually commit crimes against the entirety of humanity. They inflict harm on every human being, something that must be put right before humanity can be restored.

There is a final reason why we must prosecute Bush and Co. It is not what some argue, although they point to a serious danger: that Bush trashed the law and usurped powers, encouraging future presidents to expand where he left off. Such reasons are about George W. Bush and those who hold the office after him, but in the final analysis this is about us.

We are complicit in the horrors of this administration. We can claim neither ignorance nor innocence. We are complicit by the very fact that we are citizens of the United States, more so because we paid for the war, and even more so for this reason. Listen to a village sheik I met in Iraq describe it better than I ever could.

I met this man in a small farming village one afternoon in early 2004. He described how he and a dozen others were swept up in a raid by the U.S. Army and detained on a bare patch of ground surrounded by concertina wire. They had no shelter and but six blankets. They dug a hole with their hands for a toilet. They had to beg for water until one time it rained for three days straight and they remained on that open ground. He somehow found the graciousness to say he understood there was a difference between the American people and our government. Then through his tears he added, “But you say you live in a democracy. How can this be happening to us?”

Do we? Whether or not we bring our own government officials to justice for their crimes will determine the answer.

Ferner is a writer from Ohio and author of “Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq.”

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8 Responses to “Why we must prosecute Bush and his administration for war crimes”

Elizabeth Says:
December 16th, 2008 at 7:10 am
Hamg on – many on the planet are still waiting for Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright and the rest of that pack of war criminals to be tried at the Hague. Put Bush in the queue.
Clinton has blood, including christian blood, pouring from his hands.
Why hasn’t he been turned over and indicted?
rich Says:
December 16th, 2008 at 7:16 am
anybody knows that the puppets are like elliot ness’s men, “the untouchables”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....annel_page

goldieshouse.piczo.com
One Prosecutor Needed Says:
December 16th, 2008 at 8:10 am
If you are prosecutor here is some help:

http://prosecutegeorgebush.com/book.htm

now go do your job. If you are afraid then grow some balls.
Eating Sarah Palin's Sweet, Sweet Muffin Says:
December 16th, 2008 at 11:00 am
#1, who did Clinton kill again? Was I not watching the news that day? I’m not saying Clinton was perfect, but I don’t recall his surname being attached to 3 wars (Iraq, Iraq2, Afghanistan). So, although Clinton did bang that chubby girl, he didn’t send thousands of U.S. troops to their deaths to help the NWO corporations profit.

Throw Bush in prison!
immafreeman Says:
December 16th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Watch the documentary “Fog of War” where Robert McNamera (Sec of Defence) says “we all would have been tried as war criminals (for the fire bombing of Japan and Nuclear bombing) if we (U.S.) had lost the War (W.W.2)”. Every war is started by bankers for profit they are the real war criminals-MoneyMasters.
caleb Says:
December 16th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
why we must prosecute bush in his administation for war crmes? because they guilty.
watching the US ambassador to Australia on TV,still defending bush and americas war time actions, what a f*#king tool.
Peter Says:
December 17th, 2008 at 2:58 am
at 4#: Clinton attacked ( under NATO umbrella) a souvereign country and killed thousands of civilians with cluster bombs and DU. Don’t remember? Christians, Elizabeth is referring to are serbian-orthodox christs.
originalpatriot09 Says:
December 17th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Things would really have to get bad before something like that happened.But I agree the entire Bush family and Dick Cheney should be held and tried as criminals of war.But there would have to be a full blown revolution for that to even be a remote possibility,as most people are angry, the system is going to use Barrack Obama to put us back to sleep.And pour honey in our ears giving us a renewed sense of hope,a lot of these people will go back to being willfully unaware of the trully evil powers that are in place in this Country,further enabeling them to carry out their plan to eliminate most of the population.We need to get 70% of the population on board to effectively overthrow the old regime and take back control of the military.And get rid of the federal reserve and tell them we owe them NO money.And start printing our own Money and take back this Country and try making it Great again.Now certainly their may be more detailed alternatives to the overall plan concerning getting rid of the federal reserve ,but they are the very problemb with this Country.And until people are willing to acknowledge this reality and make it a #1 priority things will never change for the better.And our children or grandchildren will be living in a rigidly controlled police state that makes Hitler’s actions seem like a misdomeaner by comparison.I really hope that is not the case.But the more I keep my eyes open to this situation ,the more I know it cant be anything but.And while our ability to blog and voice our opinion may give the illusion that we still have freedom of thought and opinon.It is exactly that an “illusion”.For they know in a sense that we are all venting,and it is basicly harmless.And as long as we dont start organizing and making actual plans,were not going to get in their way.And this is what they know.So until more people take this a lot more serious than they are.And begin to realize that we are the many ,we are the masses.We can make fundamental radical changes necassary to survive,not these phony politicians.No matter how eloquently they speak and how good they look on tv,they are essentialy worthless useless scum.Their soul purpose is to effectively put us to sleep and lie to us ,so that the new world order can go as planned.But effectively convincing the vast majority of brainwashed Americans of these revelations is no easy task.We have to stop caring about stupid things,who cares what kind of dog Barrack Obama is getting for the White house..?See what I mean Cute little diversions ,that are only meant to put us to sleep.Dont forget he not just in the White house cause we voted for him,he was also deemed acceptable by the elite.Most people never heard of Obama until 2 years ago,thats funny then who decided he should be president?Not me.Not most people.But because it was either him or that idiot MCcain….he won.Not because he’s this really sincere man who wants to restore the Country to its former glory and give the american citizens back their rights.Not because he was gonna repeal the patriot act and stop spying on Americans and making them paranoid in their own” Country”.No he won because he was seemingly the lessor of two evils.And THEY told us that was our choice.Once again pointing out the illusion of “choice”By the way, you would think an issue like the patriot act and our privacy would be a big selling point in politics to garner votes.Peticularly among Democrats.But its never even an issue for debate…funny.Just Further proof that every thing they do and say is a smoke screen for an evil hidden agenda.Im sure when they take office its under the understanding that they and their family will be safe from the riots and murder and martial law that is to come.I could go on and on about these scum.But i think the point is well made ,atleast to any reasonably educated American.And that is that these people cant even call themselves real Americans.And they indeed are not Americans by definition.