Iraq Veterans Against the War Calls for Prosecution of Bush Administration Officials for War Crimes

New York, NY – At its seventh annual national convention in Austin, Texas, IVAW called for the prosecution of senior Bush administration officials for allegedly conspiring to manipulate intelligence in order to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

 

IVAW alleges that Bush administration officials conspired to create the perception that Saddam Hussein presented an imminent threat to the United States in order to bypass an uncooperative U.N. Security Council and secure a congressional Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq.  The growing body of evidence, including testimony from British officials in the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry, indicates that Bush officials could be charged with criminal offenses against the United States and violations of international law for making false claims to national self-defense.

 

Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution vests the power to authorize use of military force in the Legislative Branch, not the Executive.  In order to do so responsibly the Congress must be provided with accurate and objective intelligence.  Bush officials’ alleged distortion of the intelligence picture created a climate of fear and uncertainty in which the constitutional power of Congress was subverted.  

 

IVAW further alleges that the Bush administration’s alterations to Iraqi laws were made for the intended benefit of U.S. multinational corporations and are illegal under international law.  Efforts to pressure Iraqi officials to open up the country’s oil industry to foreign investment exacerbated the insurgency and undermined the U.S. military’s ostensible mission there.

 

IVAW finally asserts that senior Bush officials are responsible for the illegal treatment of Iraqi and Afghan officials in U.S. custody and that this treatment was detrimental to the security of American citizens.

 

Tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of deaths have resulted from the Bush administration’s disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq.  Millions of Iraqis have been internally displaced and hundreds of thousands are forced to subsist as refugees in neighboring countries.  Thousands of American men and women have lost their lives and tens of thousands suffer from wounds sustained while fighting there.  Families and communities across the United States are now suffering from veteran suicides, homelessness, substance abuse and domestic violence.  The long-term cost of this war, including the provision of VA support for our returning veterans, is estimated to run into the trillions.  

 

It is time for America to hold the officials responsible for this war to account for their decisions.  On behalf of the Iraqis and Americans who have sacrificed everything to restore stability to Iraq, IVAW calls for justice. 

  

###

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) is a national membership organization consisting of veterans and active duty service members who have served in the US military since September 11, 2001.  IVAW currently has over 1,600 in 50 states as well as Canada, Europe, Iraq and Afghanistan.  To learn more about IVAW visit us at www.ivaw.org.

 

Resolution in Support of the Prosecution of Senior Bush Administration Officials for War Crimes

   

Alleging the Bush administration’s premeditated manipulation of intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq;

 

Understanding that the manufactured public perception of an imminent threat to the United States led to military action that would otherwise have been considered illegal under constitutional and international law; 

 

Affirming that Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution vests the power to authorize hostilities in the Legislative branch, not the Executive, and recognizing that in order to do so responsibly the former must be provided accurate and objective intelligence;

 

Acknowledging the tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of deaths that have resulted from the U.S. invasion of Iraq;

 

Alleging the Bush administration’s illegal authorization of torture and coercive interrogation against detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan;

 

Alleging the Bush administration’s self-interested alterations to Iraqi economic, financial and other laws as illegal under international law, which the United States as occupying power is bound to adhere to;

 

Alleging the Bush administration’s support of U.S. oil companies’ efforts to gain control over Iraqi oil fields while the country remained under military occupation;

 

Understanding how these alleged acts fueled the insurgency and resulted in increased casualties on all sides; 

 

Recognizing further how these alleged acts contributed to terrorist recruitment into Al Qaeda, to the detriment of the security of American citizens; 

 

Interpreting the U.S. Attorney General’s declination to prosecute former Bush administration officials for these alleged crimes as due to a lack of political resolve stemming from insufficient sustained public pressure;

 

Understanding that prosecution of these officials is vital and necessary in order to prevent future, more egregious violations of the Constitution and international law, which Bush administration officials allegedly subverted;

 

IVAW hereby declares its support for the prosecution of senior Bush administration officials as a matter of justice, accountability and the rule of law. 

 

 

Background Sources

 

Kwiatkowski, Karen. “The New Pentagon Papers.” Salon; 10 March 2004.

 

“The secret Downing Street memo.” The Sunday Times; 1 May 2005.

 

Senate Report 109-330: “The Use by the Intelligence Community of Information Provided by the Iraqi National Congress.” Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 109th Congress; 8 September 2006.

 

Senate Report 109-331: “Postwar Findings About Iraq’s WMD Programs and Links to Terrorism and How They Compare with Prewar Assessments.” Senate  

 Select Committee on Intelligence, 109th Congress; 8 September 2006.  

 

“Review of the Pre-Iraqi War Activities of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.” Department of Defense Deputy Inspector General for intelligence; 2007.

 

Senate Report 110-345: “Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq by U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated by Intelligence Information.” Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 110th Congress; 5 June 2008.

 

Prados, John. “PR Push for War Preceded Intelligence Findings.” National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 254; 22 August 2008: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB254/index.htm 

    

Stein, Jeff. “CIA Piles on Suskind’s Book.” Spytalk Blog; CQ Politics; 22 August 2008: http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?tag=forged%20letter&blog_id=25&IncludeBlogs=25 (Accessed 9 August 2010) 

 

“Chilcot inquiry: Iraq invasion had no ‘legal basis in international law'”. Telegraph; 26 January 2010: 

    

Article 1, Section 8, U.S. Constitution: “The Congress shall have the Power To…declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water….” 

    

Iraq Body Count: http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ (Accessed 5 July 2010); Murphy, Dan. “Iraq Casualty Figures Open Up New Battleground.” Christian Science Monitor; 13 October 2006. 

 

“Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody.” Senate Committee on Armed Services, 110th Congress; 20 November 2008.

        

Klein, Naomi. “Baghdad Year Zero.” Harper’s; September 2004. 

    

Palast, Greg. “Secret US Plans for Iraq’s Oil.” BBC Newsnight; 17 March 2005. 

 

Muttitt, Greg.  “Crude Designs: The Rip-Off of Iraq’s Oil Wealth.” PLATFORM; 2005. 

 

Gallu, Joshua.  “Will Iraq’s Oil Blessing Become a Curse?” Spiegel; 22 December 2006.

 

Hiatt, Steven. “A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption.” Berrett-Koehler Publishers; San Francisco: 2007. 

    

“In Their Own Words: Reading the Iraqi Insurgency.” International Crisis Group; 15 February 2006. 

    

Lawrence, Bruce. “Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden.” Verso, 2005