|
My
Memo to the House Judiciary Committee
Democratic Staff Regarding... A Constitution in Crisis
Issued by
The House Judiciary Committee
Democratic Staff
12/20/05
Dear
Staff:
First, let me commend you for the work you have done so far in
creating this report. It is
long overdue, and it is welcome. Regarding this report I would like to make the following observations:
You recommend that "the House should establish a bipartisan select committee with subpoena power authority to investigate the Bush Administration's abuses detailed in this Report and report to the Committee on the Judiciary on possible impeachable offenses."
It appears to me that your language can be interpreted as to
suggest that the investigation to be undertaken
should be limited to the abuses detailed in your report.
This I find totally inadequate. This administration in the conduct of the war has, in my view, committed crimes against the people of Iraq
that are not mentioned in your report which are also
unmistakably impeachable
offenses. They are also so egregious as to be considered unspeakable international crimes, including the crime against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Let me offer you the following list in no particular order. I offer this list as a starting point
perhaps to be added to by others. It would, in my view, be unconscionable and a disgrace to have the select committee investigate the abuses detailed in your report and not have them investigate the abuses on my list at the same time. It would simply be unacceptable:
-
The
strategy that opened the war, which at the time was called "Shock and
Awe," resulted in the death or dismemberment of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent Iraqi citizens, including many children. Remember that it was widely known before the war that over 50% of the Iraqi population were children under the age of 15.
The war began with this act of sheer cowardice.
-
Under international law and as a matter of basic human decency, the United States had a fiduciary responsibility
to conduct the war in such a manner as to protect and defend innocent Iraqi citizens—their lives, their homes, their records, their assets, and the infrastructure that supported them. In these matters Bush
has been supremely negligent.
-
Bush
allowed the destruction or theft of priceless artifacts,
historical documents and irreplaceable treasures...
including antiquities
from the dawn of civilization.
-
Bush
used Depleted Uranium weapons all across Iraq, poisoning the land,
Iraqi children, and even many American soldiers— with no
offers to take responsibility for what was done. The use of these weapons are international crimes.
Our returning soldiers are even denied the tests and
treatment they need to detect and treat DU poisoning.
And what about the needs of Iraqi children, their
families, their friends?
-
Bush dropped
cluster bomb weapons in populated areas that are designed to
leave behind thousands of unexploded bomblets that to
children look like toys or food packages. Many
children were subsequently killed or dismembered when they
picked one up or kicked one in the street.
Sometimes children would pick these up and bring them to their parents who were then killed
or injured by them.
Who would use such a weapon in a populated area?
-
Bush had soldiers set up automobile checkpoints where Iraqi citizens were supposed to stop. But the instructions
citizens were given were often delivered so haphazardly that many were killed when
troops opened fire before these people could figure out
what was expected of them. This did not happen once or twice. It happened over and over and over and over again. Entire families were killed. Sometimes the children who were in the back
seat of cars were splattered with their parent's brains. How many
times must the same irresponsible brutal act take place before
it is reclassified from "accident" to
"criminal negligence" or simply cold blooded murder?
-
What happened to Iraqi oil fields and other state assets? Who owns them now? Who
gave Bush authority to do anything but keep Iraqi assets
safe until a legitimate government could decide what it
wanted to do with them? Who benefited from the
reorganization that was carried out? Did Bush take assets that belong to the Iraqi people and distribute them to foreign
corporations or otherwise change their ownership? What is
his fiduciary responsibility and how responsible was Bush
in administering his duties?
-
How
were the contracts for rebuilding Iraq negotiated? How did $8.8
Billion become totally lost and unaccounted for? How much
incompetence does it take before gross incompetence
becomes a High Crime and Misdemeanor?
-
What happened in
Fallujah? Is it true that some soldiers were instructed to
shoot anything that moved? How many innocent people lost their lives in
Fallujah, in Iraq? Did the Bush Administration have a duty to count and account for the deaths of innocent Iraqi citizens?
Did he have a duty to care for the sick and wounded.
The homeless and the hungry? Were Iraqi citizens the enemy of the United States?
If not, why were they treated like enemies, like
non-persons? How many were killed by American weapons? How can we justify even one death when the war itself was
illegal? Who told Bush he had permission to incur "collateral damage" on behalf of Iraqi
citizens? At what point does "collateral
damage" — the disrespect for life — become a war crime?
-
Were
hospitals bombed on purpose? Over and over
again?
-
Were
Ambulances fired upon? Over and over
again?
-
Were
hospitals denied needed supplies to treat sick and injured
citizens?
How many innocent people died because Bush denied hospitals
the supplies and services they needed?
-
When there were not enough beds,
is it true that sick and injured patients were thrown out of
Iraqi hospitals so that US soldiers could be treated there
instead? Is it true that in one case a father sat by his injured
daughter who was removed from her bed to make room for a
US soldier, and had to watch as his child slowly died
there... on the ground, in the middle of the night, outside the
hospital?
-
Is
it true that the homes of innocent citizens were violated, their inhabitants humiliated, some
beaten, robbed, some murdered on the spot by American
forces? Is it true that
husbands, sons and brothers were carted away and never heard from again without
any reasonable suspicion that they committed a crime? Just
because of their age? Is it true some were later tortured, some
killed? Is it true some are still being held without
cause?
-
Is
it true that bombs were 'mistakenly' dropped on innocent civilians and their
homes?
How many times did a 'mistake' like this take place?
How many times does it take for a 'mistake' to become
criminal negligence or murder?
-
Is
it true that adequate food and water were not provided for citizens, a clear violation of international
law?
Is it true that children got dysentery and other diseases for lack of clean water,
and others got sick and died of malnutrition? How many are sick and dying
now of cancer due to DU poisoning?
What is our responsibility for this carnage?
-
Has
Bush now recently increased the bombing of populated areas in order
to protect US troops even though the result will be the
indiscriminate deaths of innocent civilians? Would
this be an impeachable offense do you think?
-
Is
it true that the callous manner in which this war was
conducted has resulted in Americans now having to face
many more enemies than we otherwise would have had to
face, putting our homeland and our children at risk for
decades to come, and forcing us into what might turn out
to be a perpetual war? Is it possible that such
negligence and incompetence is a great threat to our
nation's security and that the danger Bush
has put our citizens in is an impeachable offense?
These
alleged High Crimes and
Misdemeanors should be investigated. Who is responsible for these crimes, this inhumanity? How much inhumanity does it take for incompetence and negligence to equate to an impeachable
offense? Who was the Commander in Chief when these things
were going on? Where was he when this was going on? What
do the words "Commander in Chief" mean?
Do not forget these people. We will not let you forget these people.
No one can sweep these crimes under the rug and then take their seat in the
White House, the House of Representatives, or the Senate and pretend
they do not have a responsibility in these matters... that
it's not their job.
The report
you put together is very good. It's just not good
enough... it's incomplete; it needs to be amended.
"The
truth... the whole truth... nothing but the truth." Isn't
that the oath people testifying before the committee will
take? Is that the oath George Bush will take when he
testifies before your committee?
Democracy,
whether it be in the United States, Afghanistan, or Iraq, is just another word for tyranny if in practice it denies
any citizen the essential attributes of liberty and justice. Liberty and justice must be guaranteed to every
person for a Democracy to offer the true blessings of freedom. Expressing the will of the majority is not enough. In freedom each citizen can tell the truth as they know it without fear. They can change their mind, their beliefs, their religion without judgment as long as they do not hurt
others or deny them the right to do the same. Each citizen is protected by an equal and just application of the rule of law. Putting a ballot into a box is not freedom or true Democracy unless and until all the rights and freedoms enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is valued and acknowledged by
a government elected of, by, and for, the People. The path to achieving such a Democracy depends on each citizen's intention to strive for it's
attainment.
If anyone wants to add to my list, please send me an email:
mark@gpln.com
Somebody please forward this to the people who are conducting this investigation and let me know who you sent it to. Thank you.
Mark A. Goldman
http://www.gpln.com/citizen.htm
References:
Articles of Impeachment
Prepared by Ramsey Clark, Former Attorney General
of the Untied States
http://www.gpln.com/impeacharticles.htm
The Real Face
of the Occupation
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121905Q.shtml
A Formula for Slaughter
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011106K.shtml
http://www.citizensforimpeachingbush.com/references_and_links.htm
http://www.gpln.com/links.htm
http://www.gpln.com/followingorders.htm
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Return to
Commentaries
|