Sunday, March 1, 2009

SIGN ON HERE: Statement on Prosecution of Former High Officials: Support Coalition to Prosecute the War Criminals

INTRO: these may be helpful in defining the WHYS and wherefores in summary: Prof. Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild on why we need a special prosecutor rather than a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) here

Possible short definition for Special Prosecutor, USA: here

SIGN ON - individual or group - to the following Statement and go get out the word!

If the above url for signing on is temporarily flooded or not working, here's another possibility - This one does NOT require log-in:
here

This one requires log-in:
here

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Recently, the National Lawyers Guild and a diverse coalition of groups and individuals released the following:

Statement on Prosecution of Former High Officials

NEW YORK - February 24 -

We urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a non-partisan independent Special Counsel to immediately commence a prosecutorial investigation into the most serious alleged crimes of former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard B. Cheney, the attorneys formerly employed by the Department of Justice whose memos sought to justify torture, and other former top officials of the Bush Administration.

Our laws, and treaties that under Article VI of our Constitution are the supreme law of the land, require the prosecution of crimes that strong evidence suggests these individuals have committed. Both the former president and the former vice president have confessed to authorizing a torture procedure that is illegal under our law and treaty obligations. The former president has confessed to violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

We see no need for these prosecutions to be extraordinarily lengthy or costly, and no need to wait for the recommendations of a panel or "truth" commission when substantial evidence of the crimes is already in the public domain. We believe the most effective investigation can be conducted by a prosecutor, and we believe such an investigation should begin immediately.

Drafted by The Robert Jackson Steering Committee

here

Signed By:

Center for Constitutional Rights

here

The National Lawyers Guild

here

After Downing Street

here

American Freedom Campaign

here

Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserve Colonel and US diplomat

here

Backbone Campaign

here

Brad Blog

here

Cities for Peace

here

CODE PINK: Women for Peace

here

Daniel Ellsberg, Truth-Telling Project

here

Defending Dissent Foundation

here

Delaware Valley Veterans for America

here

Democrats.com

here

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

here

Gold Star Families for Peace

here

Grandmothers Against the War

here

Grassroots America

here

High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project

here

Iraq Veterans Against the War

here

Justice Through Music

here

Marcus Raskin, co-founder of Institute for Policy Studies, member of editorial board of the /Nation/, member of the special staff of the National Security Council in the Kennedy Administration

Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored

here

Naomi Wolf, author of /End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot/, and /Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries/

here

National Accountability Network

Northeast Impeachment Coalition

here

Op Ed News

here

Peace Action

here

Peace Team

here

The Progressive

here

Progressive Democrats of America

here

Republicans for Impeachment

here

United for Peace and Justice

here

Velvet Revolution

here

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

here

Veterans for Peace

here

Voters for Peace

here

War Crimes Times

here

Wisconsin Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition

here

World Can't Wait

here

And many other groups and people signing by the droves. Welcome to this action!

Organizations and individuals can ADD their NAMES to this statement here

CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild (NLG)

Marjorie Cohn, NLG President, marjorie@tjsl.edu

Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director, director@nlg.org

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Suggestion: get out this right away to groups and individuals who may be interested in signing!

Take a version with signature/contact spaces to your peace gatherings and be sure they are submitted.

Keep this priceless list for reference.

POST this on your own or group sites. Find TWO OPTIONS here with the same text - for sending out:

ONE: send out just this URL: http://oneheartforpeace.blogspot.com/2009/03/sign-on-here-statement-on-prosecution.html

TWO: set this up your own way into your own blog or website, or ask me to sent an email copy READY TO SET INTO YOUR SITE email: newlease7@yahoo.com with ONEHEARTFORPEACE in the Subject Heading.

THREE: copy the plain version underneath the double-lines to put into your email or attachments.
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THE VERSION BELOW COPIES EASILY INTO EMAILS AND EMAIL ATTACHMENTS.
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Organizations and individuals can ADD their NAMES to this statement here

Recently, the National Lawyers Guild and a diverse coalition of groups and individuals released the following:

Statement on Prosecution of Former High Officials

NEW YORK - February 24 -

We urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a non-partisan independent Special Counsel to immediately commence a prosecutorial investigation into the most serious alleged crimes of former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard B. Cheney, the attorneys formerly employed by the Department of Justice whose memos sought to justify torture, and other former top officials of the Bush Administration.

Our laws, and treaties that under Article VI of our Constitution are the supreme law of the land, require the prosecution of crimes that strong evidence suggests these individuals have committed. Both the former president and the former vice president have confessed to authorizing a torture procedure that is illegal under our law and treaty obligations. The former president has confessed to violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

We see no need for these prosecutions to be extraordinarily lengthy or costly, and no need to wait for the recommendations of a panel or "truth" commission when substantial evidence of the crimes is already in the public domain. We believe the most effective investigation can be conducted by a prosecutor, and we believe such an investigation should begin immediately.

Drafted by The Robert Jackson Steering Committee

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/robertjackson

Signed By:

Center for Constitutional Rights

http://www.ccrjustice.org

The National Lawyers Guild

http://www.nlg.org

After Downing Street

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

American Freedom Campaign

http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org

Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserve Colonel and US diplomat

http://www.voicesofconscience.com

Backbone Campaign

http://www.backbonecampaign.org

Brad Blog

http://www.bradblog.com

Cities for Peace

http://citiesforprogress.org

CODE PINK: Women for Peace

http://www.codepink4peace.org

Daniel Ellsberg, Truth-Telling Project

http://www.ellsberg.net

Defending Dissent Foundation

http://www.defendingdissent.org

Delaware Valley Veterans for America

http://www.delvalvets4america.org

Democrats.com

http://www.democrats.com

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

http://www.space4peace.org

Gold Star Families for Peace

http://www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com

Grandmothers Against the War

http://www.grandmothersforpeace.org/gatw

Grassroots America

http://www.grassrootsamerica4us.org

High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project

http://www.highroadforhumanrights.org

Iraq Veterans Against the War

http://ivaw.org

Justice Through Music

http://www.jtmp.org

Marcus Raskin, co-founder of Institute for Policy Studies, member of editorial board of the /Nation/, member of the special staff of the National Security Council in the Kennedy Administration

Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored

http://www.projectcensored.org

Naomi Wolf, author of /End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot/, and /Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries/

http://naomiwolf.org

National Accountability Network

Northeast Impeachment Coalition

http://www.neimpeach.org/wp

Op Ed News

http://www.opednews.com

Peace Action

http://www.peace-action.org

Peace Team

http://www.peaceteam.net

The Progressive

http://www.progressive.org

Progressive Democrats of America

http://www.pdamerica.org

Republicans for Impeachment

http://republicansforimpeachment.com

United for Peace and Justice

http://www.unitedforpeace.org

Velvet Revolution

http://www.velvetrevolution.us

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/vips

Veterans for Peace

http://www.veteransforpeace.org

Voters for Peace

http://votersforpeace.us/index2.php

War Crimes Times

http://www.warcrimestimes.org

Wisconsin Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition

http://www.impeachwi.com

World Can't Wait

http://www.worldcantwait.net

Organizations and individuals can add their names to this statement at http://prosecutebushcheney.org
CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild (NLG)

Marjorie Cohn, NLG President, marjorie@tjsl.edu

Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director, director@nlg.org

1 comment:

CN said...

Of course the list is MUCH longer now!

Here's also a relevant piece of news posted late March:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/0309/House_Judiciary_gets_files_on_US_Attorneys.html