whitebeard

Thursday, October 20, 2005

First Session: October 21-22

Friday October 21, 6 pm, and Saturday October 22, 10 am in the Grand Ballroom
of the Manhattan Center, 311 W. 34th Street, New York City

Indictments

Wars of Aggression

The Commission will inquire into the following charges:

Count 1: The Iraq war was a crime of aggression.

Count 2: The conduct of the war involved the commission of "war crimes."

Count 3: The occupation of Iraq involved, and continues to involve, the commission of "war crimes", "crimes against humanity" and other illegal acts.

Torture and Indefinite Detention

The Commission will inquire into the following charges:

Count 1: The Bush administration authorized the use of torture and abuse in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law and domestic constitutional and statutory law.

Count 2: The Bush administration authorized the transfer (“rendition”) of persons held in U.S. custody to foreign countries where torture is known to be practiced.

Count 3: The Bush administration authorized the indefinite detention of persons seized in foreign combat zones and in other countries far from any combat zone and denied them the protections of the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war and the protections of the U.S. Constitution.

Count 4: The Bush administration authorized the round-up and detention in the United States of tens of thousands of immigrants on pretextual grounds and held them without charge or trial in violation of international human rights law and domestic constitutional and civil rights law.

Count 5: The Bush administration used military forces to seize and detain indefinitely without charges U.S. citizens, denying them the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts.

Count 6: The Bush administration committed murder by authorizing the CIA to kill those that the president designates, either US citizens or non-citizens, anywhere in the world.

Destruction of the Global Environment

The Commission will inquire into the following charges:

Count 1: The Bush administration has consistently denied the scientific consensus around global warming and its causes. Administration officials have misrepresented, distorted, and suppressed scientific information on the subject, especially as it would impact public opinion.

Count 2: The Bush administration has refused to take any measures to curb the emissions of greenhouse gases, guided by narrow corporate interests. It has withdrawn from any international efforts that would impose binding restrictions, however minimal. It has done this with full knowledge of the catastrophic effects of global warming and the disproportionate U.S. share of world greenhouse gas emissions.

Attacks on Global Public Health

Count 1: The Bush administration is using its political influence, aid and funding in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs to promote policies that in fact worsen the AIDS epidemic. In particular, the administration has promoted abstinence-only sex education programs, guided by a Christian fundamentalist ideological agenda, in lieu of existent comprehensive prevention programs that emphasize safe sex and the use of condoms. This has a genocidal impact in societies with a raging AIDS epidemic like countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Count 2: The Bush administration, guided by its ideological objectives, has re-instated the 'gag-rule' which has led to the complete de-funding and closing of reproductive health clinics that provide abortions. The 'gag-rule' policy restricts foreign organizations that receive US funds from using their own, non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services or even provide accurate medical counseling or referrals regarding abortion. In many areas, these clinics have also been the only source of HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs, including the supply of much-needed and life-saving condoms.

Count 3: The Bush administration has denied, attempted to suppress, and often distorted, sound science in the area of HIV prevention. It has promoted false and misleading information about the effectiveness of condoms, including on official government health websites. Ignoring the science and promoting these policies, it is putting millions of people around the world in grave risk of contracting HIV and escalating the AIDS epidemic. Political operatives in the Bush administration have attempted to de-fund medical studies on HIV-prevention research, and harassed the researchers, because they conflict with the Christian right's ideological worldview and programs.

Count 4: The Bush administration, guided by the narrow corporate interests of the big pharmaceutical companies, has attempted to use its political influence and funding in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment to severely restrict the supply of generics, the affordable life-saver for most HIV positive people in the Third World.

Here