February 18, 2005

No to U.S. Imperialist Wars
• Actions Against Military Recruiting Increasing Nationwide
• More Soldiers Resist Orders to Commit Crimes
• Government Escalates Attacks on Veterans' Benefits
• Chicago: School Board Rejects Will of the People and Votes for Naval Academy

Buildling the Bulwark Against Reaction
• Broad Opposition to Gonzales Continues
• Americans Overwhelming Reject Torture
• Senate Confirms Gonzales
CCR In Germrany
• Gonzales Added to War Crimes Charges Against Top U.S. Officials
• Center for Constitutional Rights Blasts Ruling of German Prosecutor

Actions Against Military Recruiting Increasing Nationwide

When Boston College student Joe Previtera decided to protest the war in Iraq, he headed to the one place that keeps the war machine well stocked with fuel-his local recruiting office. In a clever display of street theater, Previtera put on a black hood and cape, stood on a cardboard box, and attached stereo wires to his hands. The message was clear enough. The recruiters say money for college but the reality of war says Abu Ghraib.

No one signed up that day but Previtera was arrested by Boston police and subsequently charged with two felonies having to do with "making false bomb threats" (charges were later dropped). In his act of grass roots pedagogy, Previtera joined a growing number of activists across the country that are focusing their attention on military recruiting as one of the most important fronts in the struggle against militarism and war. While many people continue to generate fearful predictions about an impending draft, others have realized that the so-called volunteer army is already a form of conscription for those young people with limited economic and educational opportunities.

At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, a group of over fifty people staged an act of civil disobedience outside a recruiting office near campus. Four students and a university employee entered the office and delivered their press release, refusing to leave until the recruiting station was turned into a financial aid office. The four protestors were arrested and charged with trespassing.

In their press release, the Madison group called recruitment "a predatory practice" and argued: "The war in Iraq has seen hundreds of thousands of soldiers sent to fight in a needless conflict. A large proportion of these soldiers were recruited from the most disempowered segments of American society-the poor, people of color, high school students. Recruitment often takes the place of financial aid or a decent job, and it is grossly unfair."

For a two week period following the protest in late November, 2004, a local Madison television station conducted a survey on its website. To the question "Are Military Recruiting Methods Unfair or `Predatory,'" over nine hundred respondents voted 58% NO, 32% YES, and 10% DON'T KNOW. Evidently counter-recruitment activists still have much work to do. Organizers of the original protest promised they would revisit the recruiting station in the near future.

In Vermont, activists converged on a local National Guard recruitment office. Among the fifty states, Vermont has one of the highest percentages of its population in the Guard and many have been deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. Organizer Leo Schiff called military recruiting "deceitful and deadly." In a local newspaper in Montpelier, one letter writer made the interesting observation that the U.S. Constitution may actually prohibit the use of Guard troops in foreign conflicts since Article I, Section 8 grants Congress the power "to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions" but not the power to deploy the Guard overseas.

One of the more dramatic protests targeting a recruitment station took place in late November of 2004 in Philadelphia. Increasingly frustrated by the lack of response from the Office of Housing and Urban Development to the needs of local homeless families, members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) moved out of the Bushville Tent City they had established and staged a sit-in at the city's main Army recruiting station. Carrying signs that read, "Bring the Money Home" and "Billions for War, Still Nothing for the Poor," they briefly took over the office and issued a list of demands including affordable housing and domestic violence shelters. Several homeless families stated that they had relatives fighting in Iraq. The sit-in ended peacefully when fire and police officials arrived, and the homeless families returned to their encampment. "Operation Bring the Money Home" will continue into the new year (more information available at http://www.kwru.org/updates/2004/11-30-04.htm).

On January 20, 2005, the day of the presidential inauguration, hundreds of students walked out of local Seattle schools to protest the war in Iraq. At Seattle Central Community College, an ethnically diverse group of working class students surrounded an Army recruiters' table and began to tear up enlistment literature, eventually forcing the recruiters to leave campus. Counter-recruitment actions at community colleges may be the wave of the future given the Pentagon's increased interest in recruiting there. According to a study done by the Rand Corporation: "The greatest enlistment potential exists among two-year [college]students and two-year dropouts" ("The Enlistment Potential of College Students" in Asch and Kilburn, Recruiting Youth in the College Market, 2003).

Puerto Ricans Fight to Eliminate ROTC

In related actions, students and faculty at the University of Puerto Rico (Mayagüez and Río Piedras campuses) have sustained a three- year long struggle to demilitarize their institutions of higher learning. Born out of the successful struggle by the community of Vieques to remove the U.S. Navy bombing range, the Frente Universitario por la Desmilitarización y la Educación (FUDE) or the University Front for Demilitarization and Education has led the fight to oust ROTC programs. They have used sit-ins and hunger strikes to block the construction of an Air Force ROTC building and temporarily took over an Army ROTC office where they painted murals with counter-recruitment themes on several walls.

One of the faculty leaders is mathematics professor Hector Rosario who, as an untenured faculty member, risked his career by participating in a fast at the end of last summer. Because of his activism he was suspended from teaching and will not receive any salary until university officials consider his case this March.

With at least 23 Puerto Ricans from the island killed in Iraq so far and thousands more in the armed forces, the issues of recruitment and war are controversial. But Rosario and his students will not be deterred. As he wrote in a press release last February: "Students claim these buildings that were meant for education of a country not for the military training of its citizens that will eventually participate in the massacre of children. Not in our name. Not with our resources. Not anymore."

Marscal adds that on January 26 and 27 there was a very successful anti-military recruitment conference at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez campus. More than 500 students participated. He explained that military recruitment offices have been picketed once a month for more than a year. Murals have been painted both in the University by students and in front of the university by town people condemning military recruitment. Posters have been put up not only in Mayagüez but throughout Puerto Rico which say "US Army : A Useless Way to Die."

Organizing efforts at the campus continue to grow.

By Jorge Mariscal, a veteran and organizer against military recruitment as well as a professor of Chicano Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Visit his blog at: jorgemariscal.blogspot.com

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More Soldiers Resist Orders to Commit Crimes

U.S. Army Sergeant Kevin Benderman, stationed with the 2-7 Infantry Battalion at Ft. Stewart, Georgia, recently refused an order to return to Iraq, saying he would not engage in committing more crimes. In explaining his refusal, Benderman said, "I have both a professional and a moral obligation to call into question why we are still in Iraq after accomplishing the mission _ in President Bush's words _ of deposing Saddam, and why U.S. military personnel are increasingly killing non-combatants. On my last deployment in Iraq elements of my unit were instructed by a Captain to fire on children throwing rocks at us." Benderman said that under no circumstances will he participate further in the war against Iraq.

Benderman faces severe penalties for his action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. On January 19, he was charged under Article 85 and Article 87 — desertion with the intent to avoid hazardous duty and missing his unit's deployment. Benderman is surprised at the desertion charge given that he has not gone anywhere. He requested a General Courts Martial so as to have an opportunity to present his views and defend his actions as just and legal under military standards and the Geneva conventions, which require soldiers to refuse illegal orders.

Benderman has emphasized that, "The people that we are fighting now, are for the most part people like you and me, people that are defending themselves against a superior military force and fighting to keep that which is rightfully theirs." Benderman added that the Iraqi people have the right to choose their own form of government and that he "did not join the Army to kill women, children and old men."

In a letter to President Bush dated November 20, 2004, Benderman wrote, "If you truly had respect for the military and the people that serve, then you would not continue to kill them in your war...I want to fulfill my contract that says I joined the Army to protect my country against all enemies foreign and domestic, and as far as I am concerned you are a domestic enemy of the United States."

Benderman's wife Monica, 22, said, "We have no other choice." She added, "This is what we have to do. I have always told my children that the right thing is the most important thing, and doing it is the only thing that allows you to keep your integrity, regardless of the consequences." Benderman and his family have received wide support from other military families as well as organizations and individuals across the country.

Benderman is also not the only one from his unit resisting. An additional seventeen soldiers in 2-7 Infantry Battalion have gone AWOL (absent without leave) for the same reason. News sources also report that Specialist J.R. Burt and Specialist David Beals, also of 2-7, attempted suicide rather than deploy to Iraq.

Army sources, who remained anonymous because they feared retaliation, stated that both Burt and Beals are being harassed and mistreated on the Psychiatric Ward of Winn Army Hospital by unit commanders. As well, a civilian, Dr. Capp, in apparent violation of state law, is reported as telling the two soldiers of the harsh punishments they may expect should they refuse deployment. SFC Johnson, 2-7 platoon sergeant for Spec. Beals reportedly told him recently, "when I get you to Iraq, I'm going to get you killed," in the presence of several witnesses who say this incident was a catalyst in Beals' attempted suicide.

The Army refuses to provide statistics on the number of soldiers going AWOL, demanding Conscientious Objector status or finding themselves forced to attempt or committing suicide, all as means to refuse deployment to Iraq and reject the role of war criminals. It is likely that Benderman's unit is becoming more typical of the stands against deployment to Iraq.

Public support for the bold actions of Sergeant Benderman has been overwhelming. "The response I've gotten so far has been 99 percent positive," said Benderman. "I've gotten positive reaction from active duty soldiers. Other members of the unit quietly supported me," reports the Hinesville Coastal Courier. Benderman's congressional representative, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has written a letter to his Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Todd Wood expressing her concern for Benderman's rights and suggesting that Wood designate him as non-deployable to Iraq.

Benderman is scheduled for an Article 32 hearing on February 7. At this hearing, they decide whether to go forward with a court martial, reduce the charges, impose non-judicial punishment or add charges.

Benderman, 40, is a combat veteran. He enlisted in the Army in 1987, and received an honorable discharge after the Persian Gulf War in 1991. He re-entered the Army in June 2000 and was sent to Iraq in 2003. He has a flawless military record and a list of meritorious awards. He was scheduled to leave the "all-volunteer" military in October, but had been pushed back to May 2006 because of Army "stop-loss" orders. Benderman faces a possible court martial and prison time.

Letters of support, signed petitions or contributions to Benderman's legal defense fund should be sent to: Kevin Benderman, P.O. Box 2322, Hinesville, GA 31310.

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Government Escalates Attacks on Veterans' Benefits

As Bush demands another $80 billion for war in Iraq, to add to the more than $400 billion Pentagon budget and the current estimated cost of the war against Afghanistan and Iraq war at more than $250 billion, the administration is also planning to slash a large array of benefits and services for veterans.

On January 25, the Bush administration requested an additional $80 billion for the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the Associated Press, "Aides said about three-fourths of the $80 billion was expected to be for the Army, which is bearing the brunt of the fighting in Iraq. It also was expected to include money for building a U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which has been estimated to cost $1.5 billion." But these "costs" are expected to continue to rapidly escalate: "Last September, the nonpartisan budget office projected the 10-year costs of the wars at $1.4 trillion, assuming current levels of operations, and $1 trillion if the wars were gradually phased down."

The Associated Press reports that a recently-leaked White House Budget Office memo includes cuts to veterans' health care benefits by over $900 million and veteran's housing programs by $50 million in 2005 alone. Bush's 2005 budget would, among other things, increase prescription drug co-pays from $7 to $15 for many veterans. In 2002, the co-pay went from $2 to $7. This co-pay increase would have the biggest impact on "near-poor" veterans whose incomes are just high enough to require that they pay the new premium.

In addition, in the last two years, Bush ordered the closing of several VA hospitals in different parts of the country, pushing waiting lists for medical services for veterans as high as six months for about 230,000 vets. These closings followed in the wake of the 2003 cuts of $15 billion from VA spending over the next ten years.

The National Priorities Project (NPP) states that, "The Bush Administration's proposed spending on discretionary veterans benefits for fiscal year 2005 amounts to $29.8 billion, $3.8 billion below the amount needed."

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on January 25, Pentagon official David Chu attempted to justify this latest round of benefit cuts by describing funding for programs like veterans' education and job training, health care, pensions, VA housing and the like as "hurtful" to national security.

Veterans groups and many others are already in action to oppose the cuts. The vets have consistently called for expanded VA hospital usage, larger retiree, disability, and survivor benefits, equitable pay for service members and better access to health care and health insurance for retirees and survivors.

Government funding for veterans over the last four years has not matched inflation or kept pace with growing needs. The situation for veterans is so bad that the number of military retirees turning to the military's supplemental health insurance program, Tricare, has increased by 10 percent over the last five years. The Pentagon is also attacking new enlistees by increasing financial sign-up bribes to secure recruits while reducing various long-term benefits on the other hand, such as payments for college tuition. Moreover, the Pentagon is considering changing existing benefit plans to cause older service members to retire early and thus have smaller pensions and fewer benefits.

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Chicago: Senn High School

School Board Rejects Will of the People and Votes for Naval Academy

After months of sustained, massive, and broad objections, protests, and rallies involving thousands of people opposing establishment of a Naval Academy in Senn High school, all six mayor-appointed millionaire members of the Chicago Board of Education voted to support the Navy. In doing so they rejected the will of students, parents and teachers of Senn High who repeatedly opposed having the military in their public school. The Board also directly opposed community residents, religious leaders, many University students and activists from across Chicago who vigorously denounced military recruitment and militarizing the public schools.

Protests have already included the largest student walkout in Chicago since the Vietnam War. Despite the appointed Board's decision, everyone is continuing their efforts to keep the military out of the public schools!

Students and teachers alike brought out that the aim of the military is to enlist more youth, particularly poor and minority youth, for imperialist wars and aggression. Many rejected the creation of a military atmosphere in the schools, right at the time that dissent and opposition to war is being repressed. All demanded funding for education, not the military.

Few people felt it was an accident that Senn was chosen for the Navy. It is one of the city's foremost general high schools, with a very diverse, and poor, student body. It is also unified in its respect for the languages and culture of all and the right of all to education.

The military school is supposed to open in Fall 2005 and occupy an entire wing of Senn's building. If it goes through, it will take half of the school's science labs, a third of its classrooms, and displace several important programs.

Opposition to the naval academy has been so intense and broad that over a month ago more than 1,000 community residents signed a petition opposing the military academy. Over the last five months hundreds have packed "consultation" hearings and vigorously expressed their opposition as well. A day before the unpopular and undemocratic Board vote, more than 150 teachers, students, parents, and community leaders bore the bitter cold and attended an evening vigil and march on the Board of Education's headquarters to protest the Senn conversion. In addition, fifty professors of education wrote Mayor Daley, who heads the Chicago Schools, a joint letter objecting to the naval academy.

The December 15, 2004, decision to "Approve the Establishment of the Chicago Naval Academy High School" (Resolution 04-1215-EX3) was taken by all six school board members behind closed doors and with no public discussion. That same day, "Nearly half the students of Senn High School [700 students] walked out of the school, didn't go to school, or took part in a field trip to the school board meeting on December 15. By lunch, the school was half empty…. More than 200 traveled the 12 miles to the Loop for the Board of Education meeting," according to Substance, a local alternative newspaper dealing with issues of education.

The school board feared the legitimate demands of the people so much that hundreds of students were not permitted on the fifth floor in the Board chambers. "Instead, they were shunted to the 19th floor `holding room,' which quickly overflowed. A second `holding room' — without chairs — was opened, while nervous security guards watched the growing number of young citizens wishing to take part in a public meeting of the public board that had a great say over their fates," continued Substance.

Collective actions against the military takeover of Senn High School continue. "It's not over!", states the "Save Senn" website (http://savesenn.org). "In the wake of the Board vote to install a Naval Academy at Senn, there is even more work to be done to protect the future of our students and our school. The Save Senn coalition is actively working to resist the military takeover of our school, insist on community involvement in school decisions, and counter aggressive military recruitment of our students." A meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 14th, 6 pm, at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Greenview and Elmdale.

The expansion of the military into Senn will increase an already huge military presence in Chicago's public schools. In fact, officials who run the military programs in Chicago have been bragging for nearly three years that it is the "nation's largest." Nearly half the city's high schools have a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) program.

As an indication of the difficulties the military faces in its recruitment, the New York Times recently reported that, "For the first time in nearly a decade, the Marine Corps in January [2005] missed its monthly recruiting goal, in what military officials said was the latest troubling indicator of the Iraq war's impact on the armed services." The enlistment and retention crisis is no longer restricted to the Army and its various branches. And reflective of a rapidly growing nationwide trend, the Baltimore Sun reported recently that applications for the Class of 2009 have declined by 20% at the Annapolis Naval Academy in Maryland, the first drop in four years at the military college. The military recruitment crisis continues to deepen as youth take their stand against war and reject the blackmail of continually increasing bonuses and deceptive recruiting and retention tactics.

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Broad Opposition to Gonzales Continues

Broad opposition to Senate confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as the next Attorney General continues across the country. Two representative examples are those by Peace Action and FaithfulAmerica, representing many similar actions by anti-war, civil rights, labor, religious and other organizations.

Peace Action, one of the largest membership based peace groups, with more than 100,000 members, organized a National Call-in Day to Congress. They utilized a broad e-mail and phone campaign to urge members and supporters to call their Senators and demand that they vote against the Gonzales nomination. Peace Action emphasized that support for Gonzales "is tantamount to condoning torture." Their call said in part, "As White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales forged legal opinions on torture and detainment that sought to permit the president of the United States to do an end-run around international law, U.S. law, good military conduct and common decency ... Mr. Gonzales' role as architect of the Bush administration's policies on detention and torture makes him unfit for the role of Attorney General of the United States." United for Peace and Justice, one of the larger anti-war coalitions, organized a similar campaign and urged all concerned to join the March 19 actions to End the Occupation of Iraq as a show of continued opposition to Bush and Gonzales.

The group Faithful America, part of the National Council of Churches and active during the elections and in opposing election fraud, organized a campaign titled "Time for the Truth — Help Alberto Gonzales Remember!" They called on all to stand up and "do justice!" They made reference to Gonzales' testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee claiming he "did not recall" his role in crafting the infamous August 2002 memo, issued by his Office of Legal Counsel, that supported use of torture. They are demanding "straight answers" on the government's use of torture and disregard for the Geneva conventions. They close their appeal saying "If we believe that torture is immoral, that our nation is called to be a standard bearer—if we believe our national policies must be in solidarity with our neighbors around the world, then we MUST speak up so that the faithful voices of our nation are heard in Washington and around the world."

In addition, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) added Gonzales to the list of top U.S. officials being charged with war crimes. CCR has made the charges in Germany as U.S. courts refuse to investigate these crimes. German law is universal, meaning charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by anyone, anywhere can be brought to the top government prosecutor and must be investigated.

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Senate Confirms Gonzales

On February 3, the Senate confirmed Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General, despite widespread and growing opposition across the country. The vote was 60-36. All 54 Republicans voting voted in favor (one did not vote, Senator Burns of Montana; three Democrats also did not vote). The Democrats who voted for Gonzales were Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Ken Salazar of Colorado, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Bush's support for Lieberman was directly expressed after his State of the Union speech, where Bush went out of his way to embrace Lieberman. Lieberman was Gore's vice-presidential candidate in 2000.

Activists across the country are already reporting that they will continue to oppose Gonzales and the Bush administration he serves as representative of torture, executive dictate and elimination of rule of law.

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Americans Overwhelming Reject Torture

A poll conducted in mid-January by USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup found that Americans overwhelmingly reject use of torture. Particpants also defined torture as it is commonly defined in international and U.S. law — to include leaving prisoners naked and chained in uncomfortable positions for hours, depriving prisoners of sleep, "waterboarding" and so on.

According to USA Today, Donald Niederman, 77, a World War II veteran from New Jersey who was among those surveyed, said respect for human life must be a priority in interrogations. Another respondent, Tammy Mameda, the daughter of a Vietnam War veteran, said she does not believe that "because it's done in the name of war, it's OK." Mameda, 45, of Rocky Ford, Colorado said she cried when she saw the Abu Ghraib photos. "I don't know how to explain it to my children," she said.

The article also brought out that, "Most Americans surveyed also said they believe the abuse and sexual humiliation of Iraqi detainees by U.S. Army reservists at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison have damaged the USA's reputation as a protector of civil liberties - and made it more likely that U.S. soldiers captured by America's enemies will be tortured."

The article continued, "Attorney General-designate Alberto Gonzales — who as White House counsel was a key player in developing the admini- stration's legal strategy against terrorism — says the war on terrorism is a unique conflict that has rendered the internationally accepted Geneva Conventions' limits on questioning prisoners `obsolete.'"

The article spoke to the fact that government documents released in recent weeks in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union have again revealed tactics such as leaving prisoners in hot or cold rooms, having female interrogators touch male Muslim captives during religious periods that prohibit such contact, and depriving prisoners of sleep.

It said further that "FBI policies and the U.S. Army's field manual on intelligence say using force to obtain information is a poor technique that yields questionable results." The article concludes, "Americans' uneasiness with such tactics is clear: In USA Today's poll, 79% said chaining naked prisoners in cold rooms was wrong; 85% were against female interrogators touching male Muslim captives during religious observances, and 48% opposed depriving captives of sleep."

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Gonzales Added to War Crimes Charges Against Top U.S. Officials

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on January 31 filed war crimes charges against Alberto Gonzales. The charges were brought in Germany, added to complaints already filed November 30, Ten top U.S. officials were charged for the torture of prisoners at the U.S. Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The ten included Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former CIA head George Tenet, Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, in charge of military bases in Iraq at the time and Jay Bybee, a Justice Department official who signed the infamous August 2002 memo approving torture. The others charged are, Major-General Walter Wojdakowski, Brig.-General Janis Karpinski, Lt.-Colonel Jerry L. Phillabaum, Colonel Thomas M. Pappas, Lt.-Colonel Stephen L. Jordan, Major-General Geoffrey Miller, and Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone.

The charges were filed in Germany as German law outlawing war crimes and crimes against humanity is universal, meaning those charged do not have to live in Germany and the crime need not have been committed in Germany. Charges against war crimes committed anywhere by anyone can be brought. The law also requires the prosecutor is to investigate the case and take action, although he can conclude that the U.S. is pursuing the case and on this basis drop the charges.

According to the German Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), shortly after the initial charges were filed, Rumsfeld told the German government that he would not be coming to Germany in February to participate in the Munich Security Conference unless Germany quashed the legal action.

We reprint below the summary statement by CCR concerning the new filing against Alberto Gonzales. The full letter sent to the German prosecutor and Scott Horton's views are available at CCR's website, www.ccr-ny.org.

* * *

CCR filed new documents on January 31, 2005, with the German Federal Prosecutor looking into war crimes charges against high-ranking U.S. officials including Donald Rumsfeld: one includes new evidence that the Fay investigation into Abu Ghraib protected Administration officials _ it is a comprehensive and shocking opinion by Scott Horton, an expert on international law and the Chair of the International Law Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. The second is a letter that details how Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee confirms his role as complicit in the torture and abuse of detainees in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in Iraq.

In a declaration filed with the prosecutor in Karlsruhe, Germany, Scott Horton, who was asked to consider whether or not the U.S. would conduct a genuine investigation up the chain of command for war crimes, unequivocally states that "…no such criminal investigation or prosecution would occur in the near future in the United States for the reason that the criminal investigative and prosecutorial functions are currently controlled by individuals who are involved in the conspiracy to commit war crimes."

One of the legal issues before the prosecutor is whether the German investigation should be dismissed or deferred so that the U.S. authorities have a chance to conduct their own investigation. The obvious answer from Horton's affidavit is no. The impossibility of an independent and far-reaching domestic investigation of high-ranking U.S. officials coupled with the United States' refusal to join the International Criminal Court make the German court a court of last resort.

Horton also reveals that a study he undertook of Major General George R. Fay's investigation of the Abu Ghraib abuses (The Fay Report, spring 2004) was in fact designed to cover up the role of high-ranking officials. He reports that "certain senior officials whose conduct in this affair bears close scrutiny, were explicitly `protected' or `shielded' by withholding information from investigators or by providing security classifications that made such investigation possible…in each case, the fact that these individuals possessed information on Rumsfeld's involvement was essential to the decision to shield them."

Horton cited appeals by leaders of the legal profession in the United States and by the American Bar Association for investigation and action on obvious war crimes, and noted that the Justice Department had failed to act. With the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales now looming, he states "any serious criminal investigation and prosecution would certainly involve Gonzales."

CCR Vice President Peter Weiss said Gonzales's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee "demonstrates his involvement in setting policy where torture and inhumane treatment was authorized at the highest levels of the Bush Administration." Weiss pointed to Gonzales' claim that the prohibition on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment does not protect aliens in U.S. custody overseas, stating "this makes clear that Gonzales and the Bush Administration continue to believe that non-citizens held outside the U.S. can be treated inhumanely." [...]

The German Prosecutor was asked on November 30, 2004, by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) to investigate the role of ten high-ranking U.S. officials, including Donald Rumsfeld, in the abuse of detainees in Iraq. Under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, which is part of German law, suspected war criminals may be prosecuted irrespective of where they are located. In addition, at least three of the defendants, LTG Ricardo Sanchez, MG Walter Wojdakowski and Colonel Thomas Pappas, are stationed in Germany, providing the Prosecutor with another basis to investigate. Plaintiffs in this case are represented by German attorney Wolfgang Kaleck, and include three Iraqi citizens who were abused at U.S.-run detention facilities in Iraq including Abu Ghraib, and the following organizations who joined the complaint: the Federation Internationale des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), Lawyers Against the War (LAW) and the International Legal Resources Center (ILRC).

The new letter to the prosecutor also cites the recent documents unearthed by CCR and the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act, a report of the International Committee of the Red Cross, a confidential report by Colonel Stuart A. Herrington of the U.S. Army and numerous other reports that confirm the widespread character of the abuses and the knowledge of high-ranking U.S. officials.

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Center for Constitutional Rights Blasts Ruling of German Prosecutor

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has expressed dismay at the erroneous ruling by German courts, concluding that the United States is not unwilling to prosecute Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other high-ranking officials for the abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in Iraq.

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