Friday, February 29, 2008
The La Riva/Puryear Party for Socialism and Liberation presidential campaign expresses its strong support for the proposal to the Brattleboro, Vt. Annual Town Meeting to indict President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney for gross violations of international and U.S. law. We salute the courageous residents of Brattleboro who have initiated this action.
That Bush and Cheney are guilty of multiple illegal acts is beyond doubt. These range from attempts to overturn basic democratic rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights to numerous violations of international treaties that the U.S. government has signed.
The deadliest crime of the Bush-Cheney regime—a government of, by and for the military-industrial complex, oil companies and big banks—is the illegal and unjust war against Iraq, a sovereign state that never posed a danger to the United States.
The Nuremberg Tribunal, which tried the leaders of Nazi Germany following World War II, found the Nazi high command guilty of Crimes Against Peace. In 1950, the tribunal—organized and led by the United States—defined Crimes against Peace (in Principle 6, a.) as:
"(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
"(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i)."
The Nuremberg Principles were ratified by the U.N. General Assembly, including the United States, giving them the force of law inside the United States.
A war of aggression is defined as any war not waged in self-defense. Robert Jackson, the lead prosecutor in the Nuremberg Tribunals said, "to initiate a war of aggression ... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."
It is an irrefutable fact that Iraq never threatened nor had the capacity to threaten the United States—the most powerful military state in history. Not only is the current war and colonial occupation a crime against peace, but so too was the 1991 war waged under Bush I, and the eight years of bombing and blockade carried out by the Clinton administration. There is no doubt that the Bush administration entered into a conspiracy with the governments of the United Kingdom and other countries to carry out the war.
Now, as we approach the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the toll of this criminal war is truly horrendous. More than one million Iraqis have died, in addition to more than a million killled in by bombing and sanctions between 1990 and 2003. At least 4.5 million Iraqis have been displaced. On the U.S. side, 4,000 soldiers have been killed and more than 60,000 have been wounded, injured or have suffered severe illness. The toll continues to rise every day. The cost of in resources will amount to trillions of dollars.
Bush, Cheney and their collaborators—Rumsfeld, Powell, Wolfowitz, Rice and the rest—should be indicted, tried and brought to justice for their murderous acts.
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The PARTY for SOCIALISM and LIBERATION
The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is a newly formed working class party of leaders and activists from many different struggles, founded to promote the movement for revolutionary change and to fight for socialism--a system where the wealth of society belongs to those who produce it, the working class, and is used in a planned and sustainable way for the benefit of all.
The PSL is proud to announce that our party is fielding a slate of candidates 2008 U.S. presidential elections: Gloria La Riva for President and Eugene Puryear for Vice President. In various cities across the country, the party will also run local candidates, including Iraq war veteran Michael Prysner, who is running for Congress in Florida.
www.VotePSL.org
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GET INVOLVED
Become a volunteer in PSL's 2008 campaign. A vote for La Riva and Puryear is a vote for socialism and liberation, and against capitalist war, racism, bigotry and exploitation. Become an advocate for people's rights and revolutionary change!
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