For Immediate Release
Portland Peaceful Response Coalition
Event: Friday rally and peace march marks six years of Iraq war, calls for
prosecution of Bush Administration officials for war crimes.
Date: Friday, March 20, 2009
Time: 5:00 PM at Pioneer Courthouse Square
Place: Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Yamhill & Broadway, downtown Portland
Contacts: PPRC
(503) 344-5078
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.pprc-news.org
Friday rally and peace march marks six years of Iraq war, calls for
prosecution of Bush Administration officials for war crimes.
This week's 5:00 PM Friday rally and peace march at Pioneer Courthouse
Square marks six years of Iraq war, and calls for prosecution of Bush
Administration officials and other key supporters of the Iraq war for mass
murder of tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. "The most conservative
estimate of civilian casualties in Iraq is approaching 100,000, and we can
be certain that the actual number is more probably approaching 600,000,"
said William Seaman, a volunteer with Portland Peaceful Response Coalition.
"If we are to take even the most modest steps to ensure that this staggering
crime of aggression is not repeated in the future by our country, we must
bring those responsible to justice."
Iraq Body Count, which relies on information "drawn from cross-checked media
reports, hospital, morgue, NGO and official figures", now puts the total
number of Iraqi civilians killed by the war and occupation at between 91,129
and 99,508. A Brookings Institution report put the total at 116,561
(towards the end of 2008), a World Health Organization study but the number
at 151,000, and the John Hopkins School of Public Health survey put the
total at 650,000 (towards the middle of 2006). This latter study indicates
that the casualties could run as high as one million Iraqi civilian deaths.
The number of serious injuries is many times that number, and over two
million Iraqis have been made refugees.
"The people of the United States are faced with an urgent moral imperative
to investigate the conduct of Condoleza Rice, David Addington, Donald
Rumsfeld, Douglas Feith, Dick Cheney, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, John Yoo,
Alberto Gonzalez, George Tenet, Jay Bybee, Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove, George
Bush and many other operatives of the Bush administration who played key
roles in engineering the United States aggression, the war and occupation in
Iraq, or implemented the torture or other criminal policies," said Seaman.
"It is an important first step to initiate a Congressional investigation,
but unless that includes or leads to a criminal investigation, we will have
failed in our obligation to the people of Iraq, to ourselves as Americans,
to our damaged democracy, to the United States Constitution, to the moral
and legal foundation of our society."
A poll earlier this year indicated that 62 percent of Americans favor a
criminal investigation or an independent panel to explore charges of torture
by the Bush Administration. Senator Patrick Leahy has been trying to
initiate an investigation into torture and warrantless wiretaps under Bush,
and Representative John Conyers has introduced legislation to set up an
investigative panel in Congress. "We support the efforts by Senator Leahy
and Representative Conyers, but they do not go nearly far enough," said
Seaman. "We have to build support for those and more aggressive efforts in
Congress by calling our representatives, but we also have to support efforts
abroad to encourage other countries to enforce international law and bring
these suspected war criminals to account."
Both Spain and Italy have outstanding warrants for American citizens who
were carrying out aspects of the Bush Administration's "war on terror", and
lawyers for the Center for Constitutional Rights have cooperated with
colleagues in Germany to persuade that government to bring Donald Rumsfeld
to book for his role. Even Canadians have made an effort on this front,
petitioning their government to block the entry of George Bush into their
country, arguing that the former US President should be either barred or
detained for condoning the use of torture.
According to Gail Davidson of Lawyers Against the War, they have "demanded,
first of all, that the Canadian government bar Bush from Canada as a person
suspected of torture and other war crimes and crimes against humanity, ...
[a]nd secondly, ... advised the Canadian government that if they do let Mr.
Bush into Canada, once he crosses the border, that triggers Canadian legal
responsibility to investigate Mr. Bush for torture and, if there are
grounds, then to either prosecute him in Canada or to extradite him to
another country that is willing and able to do so."
"We salute our neighbors to the north for showing the moral fortitude to
make this effort on behalf of international law and human rights," said
Seaman. "And in case there's any doubt that our intentions are bipartisan,
we want to be very clear that every Democrat in Congress who played a roll
in facilitating or driving our country into this criminal war ought to be
subject to precisely the same investigation and, if appropriate, criminal
prosecution."
March 19th was the sixth anniversary of the US attack on Iraq. The peace
marchers today are calling for a rapid withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and
Afghanistan and a radical shift in priorities for government spending.
“As millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes due to the
devastation wrought by the financial sector and their lackeys in Congress,
we continue to pump billions of taxpayer dollars into these wars and
occupations,” said Seaman. “Let’s slash the military budget and put that
money into rebuilding our country’s infrastructure, teaching our young men
and women trades instead of training them to kill, and let’s pay the
reparations we owe to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan so they too can
rebuild the lives that have been shattered by the US policies of the past
thirty years.”
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