[Prec. per data] [Succ. per data] [Prec. per argomento] [Succ. per argomento] [Indice per data] [Indice per argomento]

Fw: Jan 20: Hold the War Criminals Accountable


Hold the War Criminals Accountable!
Join the People Judge Bush contingents tomorrow in Washington DC to protest the inauguration of George W. Bush 
www.PeopleJudgeBush.org
Last week, a military court convicted Army Reserve Spc. Charles Graner Jr. on charges of assault, indecent acts, derelection of duty, and other offenses stemming from his abuse of prisoners in the torture chambers of Abu Ghraib.
There is no doubt that Graner abused and tortured prisoners. "Good upper-body workout, but hard on the hands," he wrote in an email with a photo from a now notorious night when he stacked seven naked prisoners into a pyramid.
Graner also posed beside the corpse of an Iraqi prisoner that had been beaten to death. The body is wrapped in polythene, with the right eye bandaged and a broken nose. Graner is giving the "thumbs up' and smiling.
Although Graner's acts are certainly despicable and inhuman, the fact remains that these illegal acts are not the act of a single "bad apple." In the words of Abu Ghraib prisoner Ameen Al-Sheikh, "Graner is a man who represents the people that are sick-minded."
We now know that these acts of torture were not isolated incidents. They were authorized from the White House itself.
While Charles Graner should be held responsible for his crimes, ultimately, it is George W. Bush and others in the Administration who helped plan and carry out the war and occcupation of Iraq that must be held accountable. 

White House Authorized Torture
Torture of prisoners was not limited to Abu Ghraib. There is strong evidence of abuse of prisoners elsewhere in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and FBI eyewitnesses reported grotesque torture of detainees at Guantánamo Bay. This is because the torture of prisoners is a policy approved by the Bush Administration.
An August 2002 Justice Department memo included the opinion that laws prohibiting torture do "not apply to the President's detention and interrogation of enemy combatants." Further, the memo puts forth the opinion that the pain caused by an interrogation must include "injury such as death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions-in order to constitute torture." According to Newsweek, the memo "was drafted after White House meetings convened by George W. Bush's chief counsel, Alberto Gonzales, along with Defense Department general counsel William Haynes and [Cheney counsel] David Addington." 

Occupation is Torture
The psychological and political groundwork for the torture chambers of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay was prepared over a long period of time by the warmongers in Washington DC. Their demonization of Arab and Muslim people, their characterization of the people of the region as terrorists, carried out with the cooperation of the corporate media, has the result of dehumanizing the intended targets of U.S. aggression and justifying the most inhumane acts against them.
This dehumanization of an entire people, rooted in colonial racist attitudes, was necessary to justify the full-scale attack and attempted subjugation of Iraq. The result has been the deaths of more than 100,000 Iraqi people, most of them children, and the illegal detention, sexual assaults, and torture of thousands of Iraqis. 

Confronting the War Criminals
It is not enough to target a few low-ranking soldiers and hold them solely accountable for an international policy of war crimes that originates in the White House. We must hold Bush and his Administration accountable.
On Thursday, January 29, George W. Bush will be inaugurated in Washington, DC. We must be there to confront him. People are converging from all over the country to march and line the parade route as the war criminal Bush. 

Join us in DC to protest the inauguration.
That War Crimes have been committed by U.S. forces in Iraq and elsewhere is beyond doubt. Pictures, video and eyewitness testimony make that clear. And who is responsible for U.S. forces? The Commander-in-Chief, George W. Bush.
Bush, Rumsfeld, Rodrigez and others have made it clear that they have no intention of obeying International Laws prohibiting torture, attacks on civilians, attacks on medical facilities, or use of weapons that cause unnecessary suffering. They say the Geneva Convention doesn't apply.
According to their values, if they find a loophole in the law against torture of prisoners, they will torture prisoners. If they find a loophole in the law against attacks on civilians, they will attack civilians. Where does it end? If they find a loophole in the law against killing children, will they claim it is acceptable to kill the children?
We must make it clear to the world that we do not support, and cannot accept, the inauguration of someone who is responsible for the needless killing, torture and destruction of an entire country.
We demand the indictment and impeachment of Bush, Rumsfeld and others responsible for war crimes against the sovereign nation of Iraq and its people.
Join the People Judge Bush contingent at the counter-inaugural on January 20. We are calling on people to pick up George Bush: Guilty of War Crimes placards (also available as downloads from http://peoplejudgebush.org ) from our volunteers in Malcolm X Park (16th and Euclid Sts NW - nearest to U Street and Columbia Heights Metro Stations) and at 4th & Pennsylvania in DC. We will also have People Judge Bush petitions, calling for the prosecution of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace. We are working to gather tens of thousands of signatures on these petitions, which we will present to the United Nations at a public call for a trial for war crimes. You can also sign the petition online at http://peoplejudgebush.org/ivotebushguilty.shtml.
In Washington, the day of protest will begin with a permitted rally at Malcolm X Park, organized by the DC Antiwar Network and other organizations, at 9:00 AM., followed by a march at 11:15 AM, toward the White House down 16th Street and ending at McPherson Square Park (15th & I Sts) approximately at 12:30 PM. People Judge Bush Activsits will be in Malcolm X Park and other locations with peititons and placards. From McPherson Square, march participants may join in several actions. Many are expected to join protests along the inauguration parade route at 4th St. and Pennsylvania Avenue. The parade is scheduled to start at 2:30 PM after Bush's inauguration ceremony at the Capitol building. 



www.PeopleJudgeBush.org