by Russia Today, Moscow
The wasted lives are still being counted in the hundreds of thousandsEditors Note: Just after a recent article, when I again suggested that the concept of full diplomatic immunity for actors involved in state-sponsored terrorism should be put squarely on the world table for public debate, here comes the energizer bunny of human rights activism — Ramsey Clark. And long may he live, as there are not enough of them doing this “high end” work.
Remember the casual attitude we saw — by not only America’s Cheney-Bush(43) coup government but our entire military command, when they put out that they were not going to “keep track of civilian death statistics” to measure the ripples of never-ending 9-11s on the Iraqi people? That was a new permanent twist in spreading freedom and democracy, which is now a totally debased slogan. It was vandalized by the Bush gangsters.
Some will say these lawsuits are hopeless and herefore, a waste of time. Resistance against evil is never a waste of time, as those who keep the spark of resistance alive are buying time for a new generation to emerge with less laziness and cowardice in their DNA.
On the practical side, these lawsuits create an important public evidentiary record, which blows the bad guys’ cover that all will be forgotten after a few years, so they can enjoy their ill-gotten gains without booing from the audiences where they appear. That is a weapon that is free, but also the most under-used one in our arsenals.
Ramsey Clark is a living legend, especially in contrast to the political bums that have held our highest judicial office, where their most important qualification is understanding whom the people are that will never be prosecuted, no matter what; and what riches can be waiting for them when they retire.
We need to pour our thank yous in to Mr. Clark, to see how many will step forward to do that. And for those who think that would be a waste of time, they do not matter. What does matter is what gratitude Mr. Clark and his staff feel, and some sort of display for all those thinking about following his lead but wondering if people in any real numbers care anymore.
We need to back up the few we have out on point like we would hope for if it were us out there on the tip of the spear. So VT sends its thanks to Ramsey Clark this day… and let’s try to figure a way to clone him while we can… Jim W. Dean
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WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY ERIC DRAPER
– First published … June 17, 2015 –
Members of the Bush administration are being sued for their involvement in the Iraq War by an international team of lawyers, one of whom was former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. The team was assembled by Sundus Saleh, an Iraqi single mother.
“The invasion resulted in the total destruction of a beautiful, peaceful country,” Saleh told Truthout. “The invasion didn’t destroy only the country’s infrastructure, buildings and heritage; it destroyed millions of families and their dreams.”
Saleh’s pro bono counsel, San Francisco-based Comar Law, filed an amicus brief on May 27 urging the US Court of Appeals on the Ninth Circuit to review facts and statements of former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other high-ranking members of the Bush administration during the Iraq War.
Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark told Truthout that Saleh’s case represents a crucial struggle for anyone concerned with human rights.
The lawyers on the team are requesting that the US Court of Appeals hear Saleh’s claim that the US-led Iraq war was illegal under the international system of law created from the Nuremberg trials in the wake of World War II.
“Ms. Saleh alleges that the Iraq war constituted ‘aggression’ as defined by the Nuremberg trials in 1946,” Saleh’s lawyer, Inder Comar, told Truthout. “She is asking the Ninth Circuit to review the holdings of Nuremberg, which it can do, and to apply that law to the facts leading up to the war. She is convinced, as am I, that under Nuremberg, these officials broke domestic and international law in planning and waging the Iraq war.”
An additional amicus brief was filed by the Planethood Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Benjamin Ferencz, the last living prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials and advocate for international rule of law.
Clark argues that the lawsuit is important for the US public and for the rule of law – the principle that the United States is based upon.
Saleh’s case asserts that the highest officials of the Bush administration – including former President Bush himself – waged a war of aggression when executing the Iraq War.
It claims that they knowingly issued false statements that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and ties to Al-Qaeda to manipulate the public into supporting the war.
Saleh’s suit was dismissed in December 2014 by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, ruling that members of the Bush administration had immunity from a civil suit. Her lawyers are now requesting that the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturn that ruling.
Aggressive war was declared as the “supreme international crime” during the Nuremberg trials that convicted the leaders of Nazi Germany for committing such crimes.
Out of those trials, which were largely set up by the United States, came a set of international guidelines called the Nuremberg principles, which were created to determine what constitutes a war crime.
There have been numerous attempts to bring lawsuits against President Bush and members of his administration over the war.
In September 2005, a German Court declared that the Iraq War violated international law.
In 2006, a criminal complaint was filed in Germany against senior officials, including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former CIA Director George Tenet, alleging war crimes.
In 2014, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights lodged a criminal complaint against agency heads and high-ranking members of the Bush administration.
Jim W. Dean was an active editor on VT from 2010-2022. He was involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews.
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