Guilty!!!!

http://www.terrelibere.it/terrediconfine/index.php?x=completa&riga=01367

7. That people throughout the world launch nonviolent actions against
US and UK corporations that directly profit from this war. Examples of
such corporations include Halliburton, Bechtel, The Carlyle Group, CACI
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31 lug 2005 - Categoria: appelli
The permanent war
Declaration of the Jury of Conscience World Tribunal on Iraq

The World Tribunal on Iraq met in Istanbul from 24-26 June 2005. The
principal objective of the WTI is to tell and disseminate the truth
about the Iraq War, underscoring the accountability of those
responsible and underlining the significance of justice for the Iraqi
people.
Declaration of the Jury of Conscience World Tribunal on Iraq

27th June 2005, Istanbul - In February 2003, weeks before an illegal
war was initiated against Iraq, millions of people protested in the
streets of the world. That call went unheeded.

??No international institution had the courage or conscience to
stand up to the threat of aggression of the US and UK governments. No
one could stop them. It is two years later now. Iraq has been invaded,
occupied, and devastated. The attack on Iraq is an attack on justice,
on liberty, on our safety, on our future, on us all. We, people of
conscience, decided to stand up.

??We formed the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI), to demand justice and
a peaceful future.

??The legitimacy of the World Tribunal on Iraq is located in the
collective conscience of humanity. This, the Istanbul session of the
WTI, is the culmination of a series of 20 hearings held in different
cities of the world focusing on the illegal invasion and occupation of
Iraq.

??The conclusions of these sessions and/or inquiries held in
Barcelona, Brussels, Copenhagen, Genoa, Hiroshima, Istanbul, Lisbon,
London, Mumbai, New York, ?stersund, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Stockholm,
Tunis, various cities in Japan and Germany are appended to this
Declaration in a separate volume.

??We, the Jury of Conscience, from 10 different countries, met in
Istanbul. We heard 54 testimonies from a Panel of Advocates and
Witnesses who came from across the world, including from Iraq, the
United States and the United Kingdom.

??The World Tribunal on Iraq met in Istanbul from 24-26 June 2005.
The principal objective of the WTI is to tell and disseminate the truth
about the Iraq War, underscoring the accountability of those
responsible and underlining the significance of justice for the Iraqi
people.

??I. OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS

??1. The invasion and occupation of Iraq was and is illegal. The
reasons given by the US and UK governments for the invasion and
occupation of Iraq in March 2003 have proven to be false. Much evidence
supports the conclusion that a major motive for the war was to control
and dominate the Middle East and its vast reserves of oil as a part of
the US drive for global hegemony.

??2. Blatant falsehoods about the presence of weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq and a link between Al Qaeda terrorism and the
Saddam Hussein r?gime were manufactured in order to create public
support for a ?preemptive? assault upon a sovereign independent
nation.

??3. Iraq has been under siege for years. The imposition of severe
inhumane economic sanctions on 6 August 1990, the establishment of
no-fly zones in the Northern and Southern parts of Iraq, and the
concomitant bombing of the country were all aimed at degrading and
weakening Iraq?s human and material resources and capacities in order
to facilitate its subsequent invasion and occupation. In this
enterprise the US and British leaderships had the benefit of a
complicit UN Security Council.

??4. In pursuit of their agenda of empire, the Bush and Blair
governments blatantly ignored the massive opposition to the war
expressed by millions of people around the world. They embarked upon
one of the most unjust, immoral, and cowardly wars in history.

??5. Established international political-legal mechanisms have
failed to prevent this attack and to hold the perpetrators accountable.
The impunity that the US government and its allies enjoy has created a
serious international crisis that questions the import and significance
of international law, of human rights covenants and of the ability of
international institutions including the United Nations to address the
crisis with any degree of authority or dignity.

??6. The US/UK occupation of Iraq of the last 27 months has led to
the destruction and devastation of the Iraqi state and society. Law and
order have broken down, resulting in a pervasive lack of human
security.

??The physical infrastructure is in shambles; the health care
delivery system is in poor condition; the education system has
virtually ceased to function; there is massive environmental and
ecological devastation; and the cultural and archeological heritage of
the Iraqi people has been desecrated.

??7. The occupation has intentionally exacerbated ethnic, sectarian
and religious divisions in Iraqi society, with the aim of undermining
Iraq?s identity and integrity as a nation. This is in keeping with
the familiar imperial policy of divide and rule. Moreover, it has
facilitated rising levels of violence against women, increased gender
oppression and reinforced patriarchy.

??8. The imposition of the UN sanctions in 1990 caused untold
suffering and thousands of deaths. The situation has worsened after the
occupation. At least 100,000 civilians have been killed; 60,000 are
being held in US custody in inhumane conditions, without charges;
thousands have disappeared; and torture has become routine.

??9. The illegal privatization, deregulation, and liberalization of
the Iraqi economy by the occupation regime has coerced the country into
becoming a client economy that is controlled by the IMF and the World
Bank, both of which are integral to the Washington Consensus. The
occupying forces have also acquired control over Iraq?s oil reserves.

??10. Any law or institution created under the aegis of occupation
is devoid of both legal and moral authority. The recently concluded
election, the Constituent Assembly, the current government, and the
drafting committee for the Constitution are therefore all illegitimate.

??11. There is widespread opposition to the occupation. Political,
social, and civil resistance through peaceful means is subjected to
repression by the occupying forces. It is the occupation and its
brutality that has provoked a strong armed resistance and certain acts
of desperation. By the principles embodied in the UN Charter and in
international law, the popular national resistance to the occupation is
legitimate and justified. It deserves the support of people everywhere
who care for justice and freedom.

??II. CHARGES

??On the basis of the preceding findings and recalling the Charter
of the United Nations and other legal documents indicated in the
appendix, the jury has established the following charges.

??A. AGAINST THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE US AND THE UK

??1. Planning, preparing, and waging the supreme crime of a war of
aggression in contravention of the United Nations Charter and the
Nuremberg Principles. Evidence for this can be found in the leaked
Downing Street Memo of 23rd July, 2002, in which it was revealed:
?Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove
Saddam through military action, justified by the conjunction of
terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed
around the policy.? Intelligence was manufactured to willfully
deceive the people of the US, the UK, and their elected
representatives.

??2. Targeting the civilian population of Iraq and civilian
infrastructure by intentionally directing attacks upon civilians and
hospitals, medical centers, residential neighborhoods, electricity
stations, and water purification facilities. The complete destruction
of the city of Falluja in itself constitutes a glaring example of such
crimes.

??3. Using disproportionate force and weapon systems with
indiscriminate effects, such as cluster munitions, incendiary bombs,
depleted uranium (DU), and chemical weapons. Detailed evidence was
presented to the Tribunal by expert witnesses that leukemia had risen
sharply in children under the age of five residing in those areas that
had been targeted by DU weapons.

??4. Using DU munitions in spite of all the warnings presented by
scientists and war veterans on their devastating long-term effects on
human beings and the environment. The US Administration, claiming lack
of scientifically established proof of the harmful effects of DU,
decided to risk the lives of millions for several generations rather
than discontinue its use on account of the potential risks. This alone
displays the Administration?s wanton disregard for human life. The
Tribunal heard testimony concerning the current obstruction by the US
Administration of the efforts of Iraqi universities to collect data and
conduct research on the issue.

??5. Failing to safeguard the lives of civilians during military
activities and during the occupation period thereafter. This is
evidenced, for example, by ?shock and awe? bombing techniques and
the conduct of occupying forces at checkpoints.

??6. Actively creating conditions under which the status of Iraqi
women has seriously been degraded, contrary to the repeated claims of
the leaders of the coalition forces. Women?s freedom of movement has
severely been limited, restricting their access to the public sphere,
to education, livelihood, political and social engagement. Testimony
was provided that sexual violence and sex trafficking have increased
since the occupation of Iraq began.

??7. Using deadly violence against peaceful protestors, including
the April 2003 killing of more than a dozen peaceful protestors in
Falluja.

??8. Imposing punishments without charge or trial, including
collective punishment, on the people of Iraq. Repeated testimonies
pointed to ?snatch and grab? operations, disappearances and
assassinations.

??9. Subjecting Iraqi soldiers and civilians to torture and cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment. Degrading treatment includes
subjecting Iraqi soldiers and civilians to acts of racial, ethnic,
religious, and gender discrimination, as well as denying Iraqi soldiers
Prisoner of War status as required by the Geneva Conventions. Abundant
testimony was provided of unlawful arrests and detentions, without due
process of law. Well known and egregious examples of torture and cruel
and inhuman treatment occurred in Abu Ghraib prison as well as in
Mosul, Camp Bucca, and Basra. The employment of mercenaries and private
contractors to carry out torture has served to undermine
accountability.

??10. Re-writing the laws of a country that has been illegally
invaded and occupied, in violation of international covenants on the
responsibilities of occupying powers, in order to amass illegal profits
(through such measures as Order 39, signed by L. Paul Bremer III for
the Coalition Provisional Authority, which allows foreign investors to
buy and takeover Iraq?s state-owned enterprises and to repatriate 100
percent of their profits and assets at any point) and to control
Iraq?s oil. Evidence was presented of a number of corporations that
had profited from such transactions.

??11. Willfully devastating the environment, contaminating it by
depleted uranium (DU) weapons, combined with the plumes from burning
oil wells, as well as huge oil spills, and destroying agricultural
lands. Deliberately disrupting the water and waste removal systems, in
a manner verging on biological-chemical warfare. Failing to prevent the
looting and dispersal of radioactive material from nuclear sites.
Extensive documentation is available on air and water pollution, land
degradation, and radioactive pollution.

??12. Failing to protect humanity?s rich archaeological and
cultural heritage in Iraq by allowing the looting of museums and
established historical sites and positioning military bases in
culturally and archeologically sensitive locations. This took place
despite prior warnings from UNESCO and Iraqi museum officials.

??13. Obstructing the right to information, including the censoring
of Iraqi media, such as newspapers (e.g., al-Hawza, al-Mashriq, and
al-Mustaqila) and radio stations (Baghdad Radio), the shutting down of
the Baghdad offices of Al Jazeera Television, targeting international
journalists, imprisoning and killing academics, intellectuals and
scientists.

??14. Redefining torture in violation of international law, to
allow use of torture and illegal detentions, including holding more
than 500 people at Guant?namo Bay without charging them or allowing
them any access to legal protection, and using ?extraordinary
renditions? to send people to be tortured in other countries known to
commit human rights abuses and torture prisoners.

??15. Committing a crime against peace by violating the will of the
global anti-war movement. In an unprecedented display of public
conscience millions of people across the world stood in opposition to
the imminent attack on Iraq. The attack rendered them effectively
voiceless. This amounts to a declaration by the US government and its
allies to millions of people that their voices can be ignored,
suppressed and silenced with complete impunity.

??16. Engaging in policies to wage permanent war on sovereign
nations. Syria and Iran have already been declared as potential
targets. In declaring a ?global war on terror,? the US government
has given itself the exclusive right to use aggressive military force
against any target of its choosing. Ethnic and religious hostilities
are being fueled in different parts of the world. The US occupation of
Iraq has further emboldened the Israeli occupation in Palestine and
increased the repression of the Palestinian people. The focus on state
security and the escalation of militarization has caused a serious
deterioration of human security and civil rights across the world.

??B. AGAINST THE SECURITY COUNCIL OF THE UNITED NATIONS

??1. Failing to protect the Iraqi people against the crime of
aggression.

??2. Imposing harsh economic sanctions on Iraq, despite knowledge
that sanctions were directly contributing to the massive loss of
civilian lives and harming innocent civilians.

??3. Allowing the United States and United Kingdom to carry out
illegal bombings in the no-fly zones, using false pretenses of
enforcing UN resolutions, and at no point allowing discussion in the
Security Council of this violation, and thereby being complicit and
responsible for loss of civilian life and destruction of Iraqi
infrastructure.

??4. Allowing the United States to dominate the United Nations and
hold itself above any accountability by other member nations.

??5. Failure to stop war crimes and crimes against humanity by the
United States and its coalition partners in Iraq.

??6. Failure to hold the United States and its coalition partners
accountable for violations of international law during the invasion and
occupation, giving official sanction to the occupation and therefore,
both by acts of commission and acts of omission becoming a collaborator
in an illegal occupation.

??C. AGAINST THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE COALITION of the Willing
Collaborating in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, thus sharing
responsibility in the crimes committed.

??D. AGAINST THE GOVERNMENTS OF OTHER COUNTRIES

??Allowing the use of military bases and air space, and providing
other logistical support, for the invasion and occupation, and hence
being complicit in the crimes committed.

??E. AGAINST THE PRIVATE CORPORATIONS which have won contracts for
the reconstruction of Iraq and which have sued for and received
?reparation awards? from the illegal occupation regime. Profiting
from the war with complicity in the crimes described above, of invasion
and occupation.

??F. AGAINST THE MAJOR CORPORATE MEDIA

??1. Disseminating the deliberate falsehoods spread by the
governments of the US and the UK and failing to adequately investigate
this misinformation, even in the face of abundant evidence to the
contrary. Among the corporate media houses that bear special
responsibility for promoting the lies about Iraq?s weapons of mass
destruction, we name the New York Times, in particular their reporter
Judith Miller, whose main source was on the payroll of the CIA. We also
name Fox News, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, the BBC and ITN. This list also
includes but is not limited to, The Express, The Sun, The Observer and
Washington Post.

??2. Failing to report the atrocities being committed against Iraqi
people by the occupying forces, neglecting the duty to give privilege
and dignity to voices of suffering and marginalizing the global voices
for peace and justice.

??3. Failing to report fairly on the ongoing occupation; silencing
and discrediting dissenting voices and failing to adequately report on
the full national costs and consequences of the invasion and occupation
of Iraq; disseminating the propaganda of the occupation regime that
seeks to justify the continuation of its presence in Iraq on false
grounds.

??4. Inciting an ideological climate of fear, racism, xenophobia
and Islamophobia which is then used to justify and legitimize violence
perpetrated by the armies of the occupying regime.

??5. Disseminating an ideology that glorifies masculinity and
combat, while normalizing war as a policy choice.

??6. Complicity in the waging of an aggressive war and perpetuating
a regime of occupation that is widely regarded as guilty of war crimes
and crimes against humanity.

??7. Enabling, through the validation and dissemination of
disinformation, the fraudulent misappropriation of human and financial
resources for an illegal war waged on false pretexts.

??8. Promoting corporate-military perspectives on ?security?
which are counter-productive to the fundamental concerns and priorities
of the global population and have seriously endangered civilian
populations.

??III. RECOMMENDATIONS

??Recognizing the right of the Iraqi people to resist the illegal
occupation of their country and to develop independent institutions,
and affirming that the right to resist the occupation is the right to
wage a struggle for self-determination, freedom, and independence as
derived from the Charter of the United Nations, we the Jury of
Conscience declare our solidarity with the people of Iraq.

??WE RACCOMEND:

??1. The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Coalition
forces from Iraq.

??2. That Coalition governments make war reparations and pay
compensation to Iraq for the humanitarian, economic, ecological, and
cultural devastation they have caused by their illegal invasion and
occupation.

??3. That all laws, contracts, treaties, and institutions
established under occupation, which the Iraqi people deem inimical to
their interests, be considered null and void.

??4. That the Guant?namo Bay prison and all other offshore US
military prisons be closed immediately, that the names of the prisoners
be disclosed, that they receive POW status, and receive due process.

??5. That there be an exhaustive investigation of those responsible
for the crime of aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity in
Iraq, beginning with George W. Bush, President of the United States of
America, Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, those in key
decision-making positions in these countries and in the Coalition of
the Willing, those in the military chain-of-command who master-minded
the strategy for and carried out this criminal war, starting from the
very top and going down; as well as personalities in Iraq who helped
prepare this illegal invasion and supported the occupiers.

??We list some of the most obvious names to be included in such
investigation:

??Prime ministers of the Coalition of the Willing, such as
Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, Jose Maria Anzar of Spain, Silvio
Berlusconi of Italy, Jos? Manuel Dur?o Barroso and Santana Lopes of
Portugal, Roh Moo Hyun of South Korea, Anders Fogh Rasmussen of
Denmark.

??Public officials such as *** Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Paul
Wolfowitz, Colin L. Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Richard Perle, Douglas
Feith, Alberto Gonzales, L. Paul Bremer from the US, and Jack Straw,
Geoffrey Hoon, John Reid, Adam Ingram from the UK.

??Military commanders beginning with: Gen. Richard Myers, Gen.
Tommy Franks, Gen. John P. Abizaid, Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, Gen.
Thomas Metz, Gen. John R. Vines, Gen. George Casey from the US; Gen.
Mike Jackson, Gen. John Kiszely, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, Gen. Peter
Wall, Rear Admiral David Snelson, Gen. Robin Brims, Air Vice-Marshal
Glenn Torpy from the UK; and chiefs of staff and commanding officers of
all coalition countries with troops in Iraq.

??Iraqi collaborators such as Ahmed Chalabi, Iyad Allawi, Abdul
Aziz Al Hakim, Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan, among others.

??6. That a process of accountability is initiated to hold those
morally and personally responsible for their participation in this
illegal war, such as journalists who deliberately lied, corporate media
outlets that promoted racial, ethnic and religious hatred, and CEOs of
multinational corporations that profited from this war;

??7. That people throughout the world launch nonviolent actions
against US and UK corporations that directly profit from this war.
Examples of such corporations include Halliburton, Bechtel, The Carlyle
Group, CACI

??Inc., Titan Corporation, Kellog, Brown and Root (subsidiary of
Halliburton), DynCorp, Boeing, ExxonMobil, Texaco, British Petroleum.
The following companies have sued Iraq and received ?reparation
awards?: Toys R Us, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Shell, Nestl?, Pepsi,
Phillip Morris, Sheraton, Mobil. Such actions may take the form of
direct actions such as shutting down their offices, consumer boycotts,
and pressure on shareholders to divest.

??8. That young people and soldiers act on conscientious objection
and refuse to enlist and participate in an illegal war. Also, that
countries provide conscientious objectors with political asylum.

??9. That the international campaign for dismantling all US
military bases abroad be reinforced.

??10. That people around the world resist and reject any effort by
any of their governments to provide material, logistical, or moral
support to the occupation of Iraq.

??We, the Jury of Conscience, hope that the scope and specificity
of these recommendations will lay the groundwork for a world in which
international institutions will be shaped and reshaped by the will of
people and not by fear and self-interest, where journalists and
intellectuals will not remain mute, where the will of the people of the
world will be central, and human security will prevail over state
security and corporate profits.

??Arundhati Roy, India, Spokesperson of the Jury of Conscience;
Ahmet ?zt?rk, Turkey; Ay_e Erzan, Turkey; Chandra Muzaffar,
Malaysia; David Krieger, USA; Eve Ensler, USA; Fran?ois Houtart,
Belgium; Jae-Bok Kim, South Korea; Taty Almeida, Argentina; Mehmet
Tarhan, Turkey; Miguel Angel De Los Santos Cruz, Mexico; Murat Belge,
Turkey; Rela Mazali, Israel; Salaam Al Jobourie, Iraq.

.