just as with the Nazi hunters
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Statement by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson
Chief U.S. Prosecutor
at the Nuremberg Tribunals
August 12, 1945
on War Trials Agreement; August 12, 1945
There are some things I would like to say, particularly to the American people, about the agreement we have just signed.
For the first time, four of the most powerful nations have agreed not only upon the principles of liability for war crimes of persecution, but also upon the principle of individual responsibility for the crime of attacking the international peace.
Repeatedly, nations have united in abstract declarations that the launching of aggressive war is illegal. They have condemned it by treaty. But now we have the concrete application of these abstractions in a way which ought to make clear to the world that those who lead their nations into aggressive war face individual accountability for such acts.
<snip>
"We must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which
their fallen leaders are on trial is not that they lost the
war, but that they started it. And we must not allow
ourselves to be drawn into a trial of the causes of the war,
for our position is that no grievances or policies will
justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced
and condemned as an instrument of policy."
<snip>
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson
Chief U.S. Prosecutor
at the Nuremberg Tribunals
August 12, 1945
READ THE ENTIRE STATEMENT HERE:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/jack02.htm ----------------
The Court at Nuremberg charged the Nazi War criminals with the aggressive invasion of Poland, considering it a war crime.
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/NurembergIndictments.htmlIndictments
Count One: Conspiracy to Wage Aggressive War
This count helped address the crimes committed before the war began, showing a plan to commit crimes during the war.
Count Two: Waging Aggressive War, or "Crimes Against Peace"
Including “the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression, which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements, and assurances.”
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the denial of water to Iraqi civilians = Article 14 war crime
http://www.casi.org.uk/briefings-new.htmlDenial of Water to Iraqi Cities
Water supplies to Tall Afar, Samarra and Fallujah were cut off during US attacks during the past two months, affecting up to 750,000 civilians. This appears to form part of a deliberate US policy of denying water to the residents of cities under attack. If so, it has been adopted without a public debate, and without consulting Coalition partners. It is a serious breach of international humanitarian law, and is deepening Iraqi opposition to the United States, other coalition members, and the Iraqi government.
This briefing outlines the evidence for the denial of water to Iraqi civilians, discusses stated justifications for these tactics, and analyses some of the implications. It calls for the immediate cessation of this tactic, which causes severe and undue suffering to civilians under attack.
Read the full briefing: "DENIAL OF WATER TO IRAQI CITIES"
http://www.casi.org.uk/briefings-new.html-----------------------------------
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110904A.shtml Aggressive War: Supreme International Crime
By Marjorie Cohn
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Tuesday 09 November 2004
Associate United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson was the chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal. In his report to the State Department, Justice Jackson wrote: "No political or economic situation can justify" the crime of aggression. He also said: "If certain acts in violation of treaties are crimes they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us."
Between 10,000 and 15,000 U.S. troops with warplanes and artillery have begun to invade the Iraqi city of Fallujah. To "soften up" the rebels, American forces dropped five 500-pound bombs on "insurgent targets." The Americans destroyed the Nazzal Emergency Hospital in the center of town. They stormed and occupied the Fallujah General Hospital, and have not agreed to allow doctors and ambulances go inside the main part of the city to help the wounded, in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.
The battle of Fallujah promises to be far more shocking and aweful than the bombardment of Baghdad that kicked off Operation "Iraqi Freedom" in April 2003. A senior Marine Corps surgeon warned that casualties will surpass any level seen since the Vietnam War.
There have already been 100,000 "excess" Iraqi deaths since Bush launched his first strike on Iraq 18 months ago - that is, above and beyond those killed by Saddam Hussein, sanctions, U.S. bombings, and disease, all put together, in the 15 months prior to the invasion.
A study published by the Lancet found that the risk of death by violence for Iraqi civilians is now 58 times higher than before Bush began to liberate them in April 2003.
Bush's war on Iraq is a war of aggression. "Aggression is the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations, as set out in this definition," according to General Assembly Resolution 3314, passed in the wake of Vietnam.
..more..
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U.N. Rights Boss Urges Falluja 'Abuses' Probe
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110904A.shtml GENEVA (Reuters) - Top United Nations (news - web sites) human rights official Louise Arbour called on Tuesday for investigation of alleged abuses in Falluja, Iraq (news - web sites), including disproportionate use of force and the targeting of civilians.
Those responsible for any violations -- U.S. and multinational forces, Iraqi government troops or insurgents -- should be brought to justice, the former U.N. war crimes prosecutor said in a statement.
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excellent article by former NY Congresswoman,
Torture and Accountability
by ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20050718&s=holtzman<snip>
The War Crimes Act of 1996
No less a figure than Alberto Gonzales, then-White House counsel to George W. Bush and now US Attorney General, expressed deep concern about possible prosecutions under the War Crimes Act of 1996 for American mistreatment of Afghanistan war detainees.
<snip>
In a memo to President Bush, dated January 25, 2002, Gonzales urged that the United States opt out of the Geneva Conventions for the Afghanistan war--despite Secretary of State Colin Powell's objections. One of the two reasons he gave the President was that opting out "substantially reduces the likelihood of prosecution under the War Crimes Act."
<snip>
Plainly, both Gonzales and Ashcroft were so concerned about preventing War Crimes Act prosecutions that they were willing to assume the risks--including the likelihood of severe international criticism as well as the exposure of our own captured troops to mistreatment--of opting out of Geneva.
..more..
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Memos Reveal War Crimes Warnings - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com
Could Bush administration officials be prosecuted for 'war crimes' as a result
of new measures used in the war on terror? The White House's top lawyer ...
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4999734/site/newsweek/
Crimes
First Bush Administration Found Guilty of War Crimes · Questioning the New Imperial
World Order: An International Court of Academics, Journalists, ...
www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
War Crimes (washingtonpost.com)
Soldiers found to have committed war crimes were excused with noncriminal ...
The Bush administration refused to release these records to the human rights ...
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20986-2004Dec22.html
Tom Stephens and John Philo: The War Crimes of Bush, Cheney and Co.
The War Crimes of Bush, Cheney and Co. By TOM STEPHENS and JOHN PHILO.
Dear Congressman Conyers:. We write to ask that you take the lead in efforts to ...
www.counterpunch.org/stephens05202004.html
Cluster Bombs: War Crimes of the Bush Administration.
by Paul Rockwell.
The formal war in Iraq has ended, and most of the big guns have fallen silent. ...
www.commondreams.org/views04/0126-04.htm