THE HANDSTAND
july 2005
World Tribunal on Iraq
.
Monday 27 June 2005
The attack on Iraq is an attack on justice, on liberty, on our safety, on our future, on us all - The Jury of Conscience
Istanbul, 27 June, 2005 - With a Jury of Conscience from 10 different countries hearing the testimonies of 54 members of the Panel of Advocates who came from across the world, including Iraq, the United States and the United Kingdom, this global civil initiative came to an end with a press conference at the Hotel Armada where the chair of the Jury of Conscience, Arundathi Roy, announced the Jury's conclusions.
The Jury defined this war as one of the most unjust in history: 'The Bush and Blair administrations 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. The Anglo-American 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 completely, resulting in a pervasive lack of human security; the physical infrastructure is in shambles; the health care delivery system is a mess; the education system has ceased to function; there is massive environmental and ecological devastation; and, the cultural and archeological heritage of the Iraqi people has been desecrated.'
-
On the basis of the preceding findings and
recalling the Charter of the United Nations and
other legal documents, the jury has established
the following charges against the Governments of
the US and the UK:
- --Planning, preparing, and waging the supreme crime of a war of aggression in contravention of
- the United Nations Charter and the Nuremberg Principles.
- --Targeting the civilian population of Iraq and civilian infrastructure.
- --Using disproportionate force and indiscriminate weapon systems.
- --Failing to safeguard the lives of civilians during military activities and during the occupation period thereafter.
- --Using deadly violence against peaceful protestors.
- --Imposing punishments without charge or trial, including collective punishment.
- --Subjecting Iraqi soldiers and civilians to torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
- --Re-writing the laws of a country that has been illegally invaded and occupied.
- --Willfully devastating the environment.
- --Actively creating conditions under which the status of Iraqi women has seriously been degraded.
- --Failing to protect humanity's rich archaeological and cultural heritage in Iraq.
- --Obstructing the right to information, including the censoring of Iraqi media.
- --Redefining torture in violation of international law, to allow use of torture and illegal detentions
- .
- The
Jury also established charges against the
Security Council of United Nations for failing to
stop war crimes and crimes against humanity among
other failures, against the Governments of the
Coalition of the Willing for collaborating in the
invasion and occupation of Iraq, against the
Governments of Other Countries for allowing the
use of military bases and air space and providing
other logistical support, against Private
Corporations for profiting from the war, against
the Major Corporate Media for disseminating
deliberate falsehoods and failing to report
atrocities.
- The
Jury also provided a number of recommendations
that include recognising 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 and the immediate and
unconditional withdrawal of the coalition forces
from Iraq.
- The
Istanbul session of the WTI lasted three days and
presented testimony on the illegality and
criminal violations in the U.S. pretexts for and
conduct of this war. The expert opinion, witness
testimony, video and image evidence addressed the
impact of war on civilians, the torture of
prisoners, the unlawful imprisonment of Iraqis
without charges or legal defence, the use of
depleted uranium weapons, the effects of the war
on Iraq's infrastructure, the destruction of
Iraqi cultural institutions and the liability of
the invaders in international law for failing to
protect these treasures of humanity.
- The
session in Istanbul was the culminating session
of commissions of inquiry and hearings held
around the world over the past two years.
Sessions on different topics related to the war
on Iraq were held in London, Mumbai, Copenhagen,
Brussels, New York, Japan, Stockholm, South
Korea, Rome, Frankfurt, Geneva, Lisbon and Spain.
- They
have compiled a definitive historical record of
evidence on the illegality of the invasion and
occupation that will be recorded in a forthcoming
book.
- Preliminary
Declaration of the Jury of Conscience World
Tribunal on Iraq
-
Istanbul
- 27th
June 2005, Istanbul
- In
February 2003, weeks before war was declared on
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 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 the people of
conscience decided to stand up. We formed the
World Tribunal on Iraq, 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, was the culmination
of a series of 20 hearings held in different
cities of the world focusing on the illegal
invasion and occupation of Iraq.
- 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
24-26th of June 2005. The principal objective of
the WTI is to tell the truth about the Iraq war
as clearly as possible, and to draw conclusions
that underscore the accountability of those
responsible and underline the significance of
justice for the Iraqi people. Saddam Hussein's
crimes against his people are not the focus of
this Tribunal. We believe it is up to the Iraqi
people to investigate these crimes in an
independent and free trial.
- I.
Overview
-
1. The reasons given by the US and UK
governments for the illegal invasion and
occupation of Iraq in March 2003 have
proven to be false. The real motive was
to control and dominate the Middle East.
Establishing hegemony over the Middle
East serves the goal of controlling the
world's largest reserves of oil and
strengthening the position of the US's
strategic ally Israel.
-
2. Blatant falsehoods about the presence
of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
and a link between Al Qaeda terrorism and
the Saddam Hussein régime 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 inhuman economic
sanctions at the end of the first Gulf
war in 1991; 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 endorsement
of a complicit UN Security Council.
-
4. In pursuit of their agenda of empire,
the Bush and Blair 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. The Anglo-American 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 completely, resulting in a
pervasive lack of human security; the
physical infrastructure is in shambles;
the health care delivery system is a
mess; the education system has ceased to
function; there is massive environmental
and ecological devastation; and, the
cultural and archeological heritage of
the Iraqi people has been desecrated.
-
6. The occupation has intentionally
exacerbated ethnic and confessionnal
divisions in Iraqi society, with the aim
of undermining Iraq's identity and
integrity as a nation. This is in keeping
with the fam liar imperial policy of
divide and rule.
-
7. The imposition of the UN sanctions in
1991 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
inhuman conditions, without charges;
thousands have disappeared; and torture
has become virtually routine.
-
8. The privatization, deregulation, and
liberalization of the Iraqi economy has
transformed the country into a client
economy that serves the Washington
Consensus. The occupying forces have also
accomplished their primary goal of
acquired control over the nation's oil.
-
9. 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.
-
10. 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 brutality of the
occupation 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.
-
1. The reasons given by the US and UK
governments for the illegal invasion and
occupation of Iraq in March 2003 have
proven to be false. The real motive was
to control and dominate the Middle East.
Establishing hegemony over the Middle
East serves the goal of controlling the
world's largest reserves of oil and
strengthening the position of the US's
strategic ally Israel.
- II.
Findings and Charges
- On the
basis of the preceding findings and recalling the
Charter of the United Nations and other legal
documents quoted 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 that: "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 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 in
violation of the Geneva
Conventions of 1949 and the
International Covenant for Civil
and Political Rights
("ICCPR"), Articles
7(1)(a), 8(2)(a)(i), and
8(2)(b)(i). The complete
destruction of the city of
Falluja in itself constitutes a
glaring example of such crimes.
-
3. Using disproportionate force
and indiscriminate weapon
systems, 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 which had
been targeted by DU weapons.
-
4. Failing to safeguard the lives
of civilians during military
activities and during the
occupation period thereafter, in
violation of the Fourth Geneva
Convention, Articles 13 and 27,
and the ICC Statute, Articles 7
(1)(a) and 8(2)(a)(i). This is
evidenced, for example, by
"shock and awe" bombing
techniques and the conduct of
occupying forces at checkpoints.
-
5. Using deadly violence against
peaceful protestors, beginning
with, among others, the April
2003 killing of more than a dozen
peaceful protestors in Falluja.
-
6. Imposing punishments without
charge or trial, including
collective punishment, on the
people of Iraq, in violation of
the International Convention on
Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR), Geneva Conventions, and
customary international law
requiring due process. Repeated
testimonies pointed to
"snatch and grab"
operations, disappearances, and
assassinations.
-
7. Subjecting Iraqi soldiers and
civilians to torture and cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment
in violation of the Geneva
Conventions, the ICCPR, other
treaties and covenants, and
customary international law.
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 Convention. Abundant
testimony was provided of
unlawful arrests and detentions,
without due process of law. Well
known and egregious examples
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.
-
8. 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 listed a number of
corporations that had profited
from such transactions.
-
9. 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, water
pollution, land degradation, and
radiological pollution.
-
10. 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 been severely
limited, restricting their access
to education, livelihood, and
social engagement. Testimony was
provided that sexual violence and
sex trafficking have increased
since the occupation of Iraq
began.
-
11. 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.
-
12. 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),
targeting international
journalists, imprisoning and
killing academics, intellectuals
and scientists.
-
13. Redefining torture in
violation of international law,
to allow use of torture and
illegal detentions, including
holding more than 500 people at
Guantánamo Bay without charging
them or allowing them any access
to legal protection, and using
"extraordinary
renditions" to send people
to torture in other countries
known to commit human rights
abuses and torture prisoners.
-
1. Planning, preparing, and
waging the supreme crime of a war
of aggression in contravention of
the United Nations Charter and
the Nuremberg Principles.
-
B. Against the Security Council of United
Nations
-
1. Failing to protect Iraq
against a 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 pretense 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
occupation, and giving official
recognition to the occupation,
thereby legitimizing an illegal
invasion and becoming a
collaborator in an illegal
occupation.
-
1. Failing to protect Iraq
against a crime of aggression.
-
C. Against the Governments of the
Coalition of the Willing
- Collaborating in
the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
-
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.
-
E. Against Private Corporations
- 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.
This 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 and the BBC.
-
2. Failing to report the
atrocities being committed
against Iraqi people by the
occupying forces.
-
1. Disseminating the deliberate
falsehoods spread by the
governments of the US and the UK
and failing to adequately
investigate this misinformation.
This 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 and the BBC.
-
A. Against the Governments of the US and
the UK
- III.
Recommendations
-
Recognising 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
recommend:
- 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, should
be considered null and void;
- 4. That
the Guantanamo 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 crimes of aggression 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; and other government officials from the
coalition of the willing;
- 6. That
we initiate a process of accountability 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 actions
against US and UK corporations that directly
profit from this war. Examples of such
corporations include Halliburton, Bechtel,
Carlyle, 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, Nestlé,
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
soldiers exercise conscience and refuse to enlist
and participate in an illegal war. Also that
countries provide conscientious objectors
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 specificity of
these recommendations will lay the groundwork
required for a world where the international
institutions will be shaped and reshaped by the
will of people and not 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.
-
Appendix: List of Legal Documents
- .
- The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
- The
Convention on the Political Rights of Women
(1952)
- The
Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959)
- The
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (1963)
- The
International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (1966)
- The
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (1979)
- The
Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(1984)
- The
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
- The
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
(1998)
- The
European Convention on Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (1950)
- The
American Convention on Human Rights (1969)
- The
Code of Conduct for the Armed Forces of the
United States of America (1963)