International War Crimes Tribunal

�� United States War Crimes Against Iraq

�� Initial Complaint

�� Charging

�� George Bush, J. Danforth Quayle, James Baker,

�� Richard Cheney, William Webster, Colin Powell,

�� Norman Schwarzkopf and Others to be named

�� With

�� Crimes Against Peace, War Crimes, Crimes Against

�� Humanity and Other Criminal Acts and High Crimes in

�� Violation of the Charter of the United Nations,

�� International Law, the Constitution of the United States

�� and Laws made in Pursuance Thereof.

�� Preliminary Statement

�� These charges have been prepared prior to the first hearing of the Commission of

�� Inquiry by its staff. They are based on direct and circumstantial evidence from public

�� and private documents; official statements and admissions by the persons charged and

�� others; eyewitness accounts; Commission investigations and witness interviews in Iraq,

�� the Middle East and elsewhere during and after the bombing; photographs and video

�� tape; expert analyses; commentary and interviews; media coverage, published reports

�� and accounts gathered between December 1990 and May l991. Commission of

�� Inquiry hearings will be held in key cities where evidence is available supporting,

�� expanding, adding, contradicting, disproving or explaining these, or similar charges

�� against the accused and others of whatever nationality. When evidence sufficient to

�� sustain convictions of the accused or others is obtained and after demanding the

�� production of documents from the U.S. government, and others, and requesting

�� testimony from the accused, offering them a full opportunity to present any defense

�� personally, or by counsel, the evidence will be presented to an International War

�� Crimes Tribunal. The Tribunal will consider the evidence gathered, seek and examine

�� whatever additional evidence it chooses and render its judgment on the charges, the

�� evidence, and the law.

�� Background

�� Since World War I, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States have

�� dominated the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf region and its oil resources. This has been

�� accomplished by military conquest and coercion, economic control and exploitation,

�� and through surrogate governments and their military forces. Thus, from 1953 to 1979

�� in the post World War II era, control over the region was exercised primarily through

�� U.S. influence and control over the Gulf sheikdoms of Saudi Arabia and through the

�� Shah of Iran. From 1953 to 1979 the Shah of Iran acted as a Pentagon/CIA surrogate

�� to police the region. After the fall of the Shah and the seizure of U.S. Embassy

�� hostages in Teheran, the U.S. provided military aid and assistance to Iraq, as did the

�� USSR, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and most of the Emirates, in its war with Iran. U.S.

�� policy during that tragic eight year war, 1980 ‑ 1988, is probably best summed up by

�� the phrase, "we hope they kill each other."

�� Throughout the seventy‑five year period from Britain's invasion of Iraq early in World

�� War I to the destruction of Iraq in 1991 by U.S. air power, the United States and the

�� United Kingdom demonstrated no concern for democratic values, human rights, social

�� justice, or political and cultural integrity in the region, nor for stopping military

�� aggression there. The U.S. supported the Shah of Iran for 25 years, selling him more

�� than $20 billion of advanced military equipment between 1972 and 1978 alone.

�� Throughout this period the Shah and his brutal secret police called SAVAK had one of

�� the worst human rights records in the world. Then in the 1980s, the U.S. supported

�� Iraq in its wrongful aggression against Iran, ignoring Iraq's own poor human rights

�� record.[l]

�� When the Iraqi government nationalized the Iraqi Petroleum Company in 1972, the

�� Nixon Administration embarked on a campaign to destabilize the Iraqi government. It

�� was in the 1970s that the U.S. first armed and then abandoned the Kurdish people,

�� costing tens of thousands of Kurdish lives. The U.S. manipulated the Kurds through

�� CIA and other agencies to attack Iraq, intending to harass Iraq while maintaining

�� Iranian supremacy at the cost of Kurdish lives without intending any benefit to the

�� Kurdish people or an autonomous Kurdistan.[2]

�� The U.S. with close oil and other economic ties to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has fully

�� supported both governments despite the total absence of democratic institutions, their

�� pervasive human rights violations and the infliction of cruel, inhuman and degrading

�� punishments such as stoning to death for adultery and amputation of a hand for

�� property offenses.

�� The U.S., sometimes alone among nations, supported Israel when it defied scores of

�� UN resolutions concerning Palestinian rights, when it invaded Lebanon in a war which

�� took tens of thousands of lives, and during its continuing occupation of southern

�� Lebanon, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza.

�� The United States itself engaged in recent aggressions in violation of international law

�� by invading Grenada in 1983, bombing Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya in 1986, financing

�� the contra in Nicaragua, UNITA in southern Africa and supporting military

�� dictatorships in Liberia, Chile, E1 Salvador, Guatemala, the Philippines, and many

�� other places.

�� The U.S. invasion of Panama in December 1989 involved the same and additional

�� violations of international law that apply to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The U.S. invasion

�� took between 1,000 and 4,000 Panamanian lives. The United States government is still

�� covering up the death toll. U.S. aggression caused massive property destruction

�� throughout Panama.[3] According to U.S. and international human rights organization

�� estimates, Kuwait's casualties from Iraq's invasion and the ensuing months of

�� occupation were in the "hundreds" ‑ between 300 and 600.[4] Reports from Kuwait

�� list 628 Palestinians killed by Kuwaiti death squads since the Sabah royal family

�� regained control over Kuwait.

�� The United States changed its military plans for protecting its control over oil and other

�� interests in the Arabian Peninsula in the late 1980s when it became clear that economic

�� problems in the USSR were debilitating its military capacity and Soviet forces

�� withdrew from Afghanistan. Thereafter, direct military domination within the region

�� became the U.S. strategy.

�� With the decline in U.S. oil production through 1989, experts predicted U.S. oil

�� imports from the Gulf would rise from 10% that year to 25% by the year 2000.

�� Japanese and European dependency is much greater.[5]

�� The Charges

�� 1. The United States engaged in a pattern of conduct beginning in

�� or before 1989 intended to lead Iraq into provocations justifying

�� U.S. military action against Iraq and permanent U.S. military

�� domination of the Gulf.

�� In 1989, General Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General

�� Norman Schwarzkopf, Commander in Chief of the Central Command, completely

�� revised U.S. military operations and plans for the Persian Gulf to prepare to intervene

�� in a regional conflict against Iraq. The CIA assisted and directed Kuwait in its actions.

�� At the time, Kuwait was violating OPEC oil production agreements, extracting

�� excessive amounts of oil from pools shared with Iraq and demanding repayment of

�� loans it made to Iraq during the Iran‑Iraq war. Kuwait broke off negotiations with Iraq

�� over these disputes. The U.S. intended to provoke Iraq into actions against Kuwait

�� that would justify U.S. intervention.

�� In 1989, CIA Director William Webster testified before the Congress about the

�� alarming increase in U.S. importation of Gulf oil, citing U.S. rise in use from 5% in

�� 1973 to 10% in 1989 and predicting 25% of all U.S. oil consumption would come

�� from the region by 2000.[6] In early 1990, General Schwarzkopf informed the Senate

�� Armed Services Committee of the new military strategy in the Gulf designed to protect

�� U.S. access to and control over Gulf oil in the event of regional conflicts.

�� In July 1990, General Schwarzkopf and his staff ran elaborate, computerized war

�� games pitting about 100,000 U.S. troops against Iraqi armored divisions.

�� The U.S. showed no opposition to Iraq's increasing threats against Kuwait. U.S.

�� companies sought major contracts in Iraq. The Congress approved agricultural loan

�� subsidies to Iraq of hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit U.S. farmers. However,

�� loans for food deliveries of rice, corn, wheat and other essentials bought almost

�� exclusively from the U.S. were cut off in the spring of 1990 to cause shortages. Arms

�� were sold to Iraq by U.S. manufacturers. When Saddam Hussein requested U.S.

�� Ambassador April Glaspie to explain State Department testimony in Congress about

�� lraq's threats against Kuwait, she assured him the U.S. considered the dispute a

�� regional concern, and it would not intervene. By these acts, the U.S. intended to lead

�� Iraq into a provocation justifying war.

�� On August 2, 1990, Iraq occupied Kuwait without significant resistance.

�� On August 3, 1990, without any evidence of a threat to Saudi Arabia, and King Fahd

�� believed Iraq had no intention of invading his country, President Bush vowed to defend

�� Saudi Arabia. He sent Secretary Cheney, General Powell, and General Schwarzkopf

�� almost immediately to Saudi Arabia where on August 6, General Schwarzkopf told

�� King Fahd the U.S. thought Saddam Hussein could attack Saudi Arabia in as little as

�� 48 hours. The efforts toward an Arab solution of the crisis were destroyed. Iraq never

�� attacked Saudi Arabia and waited over five months while the U.S. slowly built a force

�� of more than 500,000 soldiers and began the systematic destruction by aircraft and

�� missiles of Iraq and its military, both defenseless against U.S. and coalition technology.

�� In October 1990, General Powell referred to the new military plan developed in 1989.

�� After the war, General Schwarzkopf referred to eighteen months of planning for the

�� campaign.

�� The U.S. retains troops in Iraq as of May 1991 and throughout the region and has

�� announced its intention to maintain a permanent military presence.

�� This course of conduct constitutes a crime against peace.

�� 2. President Bush from August 2, 1990, intended and acted to

�� prevent any interference with his plan to destroy Iraq economically

�� and militarily.

�� Without consultation or communication with Congress, President Bush ordered 40,000

�� U.S. military personnel to advance the U.S. buildup in Saudi Arabia in the first week of

�� August 1990. He exacted a request from Saudi Arabia for U.S. military assistance and

�� on August 8, 1990, assured the world his acts were "wholly defensive." He waited until

�� after the November 1990 elections to announce his earlier order sending more than

�� 200,000 additional military personnel, clearly an assault force, again without advising

�� Congress. As late as January 9, 1991, he insisted he had the constitutional authority to

�� attack Iraq without Congressional approval.

�� While concealing his intention, President Bush continued the military build up of U.S.

�� forces unabated from August into January 1991, intending to attack and destroy Iraq.

�� He pressed the military to expedite preparation and to commence the assault before

�� military considerations were optimum. When Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael

�� J. Dugan mentioned plans to destroy the Iraqi civilian economy to the press on

�� September 16, 1990, he was removed from office.[7]

�� President Bush coerced the United Nations Security Council into an unprecedented

�� series of resolutions, finally securing authority for any nation in its absolute discretion by

�� all necessary means to enforce the resolutions. To secure votes the U.S. paid

�� multi‑billion dollar bribes, offered arms for regional wars, threatened and carried out

�� economic retaliation, forgave multi‑billion dollar loans (including a $7 billion loan to

�� Egypt for arms), offered diplomatic relations despite human rights violations and in

�� other ways corruptly exacted votes, creating the appearance of near universal

�� international approval of U.S. policies toward Iraq. A country which opposed the

�� U.S., as Yemen did, lost millions of dollars in aid, as promised, the costliest vote it ever

�� cast.

�� President Bush consistently rejected and ridiculed Iraq's efforts to negotiate a peaceful

�� resolution, beginning with Iraq's August 12, 1990, proposal, largely ignored, and

�� ending with its mid‑February 1991 peace offer which he called a "cruel hoax." For his

�� part, President Bush consistently insisted there would be no negotiation, no

�� compromise, no face saving, no reward for aggression. Simultaneously, he accused

�� Saddam Hussein of rejecting diplomatic solutions.

�� President Bush led a sophisticated campaign to demonize Saddam Hussein, calling him

�� a Hitler, repeatedly citing reports ‑ which he knew were false ‑ of the murder of

�� hundreds of incubator babies, accusing Iraq of using chemical weapons on his own

�� people and on the Iranians knowing U.S intelligence believed the reports untrue.

�� After subverting every effort for peace, President Bush began the destruction of Iraq

�� answering his own question, "Why not wait? . . . The world could wait no longer." The

�� course of conduct constitutes a crime against peace.

�� 3. President Bush ordered the destruction of facilities essential to

�� civilian life and economic productivity throughout Iraq.

�� Systematic aerial and missile bombardment of Iraq was ordered to begin at 6:30 p.m.

�� EST January 16, 1991, eighteen and one‑half hours after the deadline set on the

�� insistence of President Bush, in order to be reported on television evening news in the

�� U.S. The bombing continued for forty‑two days. It met no resistance from Iraqi aircraft

�� and no effective anti‑aircraft or anti‑missile ground fire. Iraq was defenseless.

�� The United States reports it flew 110,000 air sorties against Iraq, dropping 88,000

�� tons of bombs, nearly seven times the equivalent of the atomic bomb that destroyed

�� Hiroshima. 93% of the bombs were free falling bombs, most dropped from higher than

�� 30,000 feet. Of the remaining 7% of the bombs with electronically guided systems,

�� more than 25% missed their targets, nearly all caused damage primarily beyond any

�� identifiable target. Most of the targets were civilian facilities.

�� The intention and effort of the bombing of civilian life and facilities was to systematically

�� destroy Iraq's infrastructure leaving it in a preindustrial condition. Iraq's civilian

�� population was dependent on industrial capacities. The U.S. assault left Iraq in a near

�� apocalyptic condition as reported by the first United Nations observers after the

�� war.[8] Among the facilities targeted and destroyed were:

�� electric power generation, relay and transmission;

�� water treatment, pumping and distribution systems and reservoirs;

�� telephone and radio exchanges, relay stations, towers and transmission facilities;

�� food processing, storage and distribution facilities and markets, infant milk

�� formula and beverage plants, animal vaccination facilities and irrigation sites;

�� railroad transportation facilities, bus depots, bridges, highway overpasses,

�� highways, highway repair stations, trains, buses and other public transportation

�� vehicles, commercial and private vehicles;

�� oil wells and pumps, pipelines, refineries, oil storage tanks, gasoline filling

�� stations and fuel delivery tank cars and trucks, and kerosene storage tanks;

�� sewage treatment and disposal systems;

�� factories engaged in civilian production, e.g., textile and automobile assembly;

�� and

�� historical markers and ancient sites.

�� As a direct, intentional and foreseeable result of this destruction, tens of thousands of

�� people have died from dehydration, dysentery and diseases caused by impure water,

�� inability to obtain effective medical assistance and debilitation from hunger, shock, cold

�� and stress. More will die until potable water, sanitary living conditions, adequate food

�� supplies and other necessities are provided. There is a high risk of epidemics of

�� cholera, typhoid, hepatitis and other diseases as well as starvation and malnutrition

�� through the summer of 1991 and until food supplies are adequate and essential services

�� are restored.

�� Only the United States could have carried out this destruction of Iraq, and the war was

�� conducted almost exclusively by the United States. This conduct violated the UN

�� Charter, the Hague and Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg Charter, and the laws of

�� armed conflict.

�� 4. The United States intentionally bombed and destroyed civilian

�� life, commercial and business districts, schools, hospitals,

�� mosques, churches, shelters, residential areas, historical sites,

�� private vehicles and civilian government offices.

�� The destruction of civilian facilities left the entire civilian population without heat,

�� cooking fuel, refrigeration, potable water, telephones, power for radio or TV

�� reception, public transportation and fuel for private automobiles. It also limited food

�� supplies, closed schools, created massive unemployment, severely limited economic

�� activity and caused hospitals and medical services to shut down. In addition, residential

�� areas of every major city and most towns and villages were targeted and destroyed.

�� Isolated Bedouin camps were attacked by U.S. aircraft. In addition to deaths and

�� injuries, the aerial assault destroyed 10 ‑ 20,000 homes, apartments and other

�� dwellings. Commercial centers with shops, retail stores, offices, hotels, restaurants and

�� other public accommodations were targeted and thousands were destroyed. Scores of

�� schools, hospitals, mosques and churches were damaged or destroyed. Thousands of

�� civilian vehicles on highways, roads and parked on streets and in garages were targeted

�� and destroyed. These included public buses, private vans and mini‑buses, trucks,

�� tractor trailers, lorries, taxi cabs and private cars. The purpose of this bombing was to

�� terrorize the entire country, kill people, destroy property, prevent movement,

�� demoralize the people and force the overthrow of the government.

�� As a result of the bombing of facilities essential to civilian life, residential and other

�� civilian buildings and areas, at least 125,000 men, women and children were killed. The

�� Red Crescent Society of Jordan estimated 113,000 civilian dead, 60% children, the

�� week before the end of the war.

�� The conduct violated the UN Charter, the Hague and Geneva Conventions, the

�� Nuremberg Charter, and the laws of armed conflict.

�� 5. The United States intentionally bombed indiscriminately

�� throughout Iraq.

�� In aerial attacks, including strafing, over cities, towns, the countryside and highways,

�� U.S. aircraft bombed and strafed indiscriminately. In every city and town bombs fell by

�� chance far from any conceivable target, whether a civilian facility, military installation or

�� military target. In the countryside random attacks were made on travelers, villagers,

�� even Bedouins. The purpose of the attacks was to destroy life, property and terrorize

�� the civilian population. On the highways, civilian vehicles including public buses taxicabs

�� and passenger cars were bombed and strafed at random to frighten civilians from flight,

�� from seeking food or medical care, finding relatives or other uses of highways. The

�� effect was summary execution and corporal punishment indiscriminately of men,

�� women and children, young and old, rich and poor, all nationalities including the large

�� immigrant populations even Americans, all ethnic groups, including many Kurds and

�� Assyrians, all religions including Shia and Sunni Moslems, Chaldeans and other

�� Christians, and Jews. U.S. deliberate indifference to civilian and military casualties in

�� Iraq, or their nature, is exemplified by General Colin Powell's response to a press

�� inquiry about the number dead from the air and ground campaigns: "It's really not a

�� number I'm terribly interested in."[9]

�� The conduct violates Protocol I Additional, Article 51.4 to the Geneva Conventions of

�� 1977.

�� 6. The United States intentionally bombed and destroyed Iraqi

�� military personnel, used excessive force, killed soldiers seeking to

�� surrender and in disorganized individual flight, often unarmed and

�� far from any combat zones and randomly and wantonly killed Iraqi

�� soldiers and destroyed materiel after the cease fire.

�� In the first hours of the aerial and missile bombardment, the United States destroyed

�� most military communications and began the systematic killing of soldiers who were

�� incapable of defense or escape and the destruction of military equipment. Over a

�� period of forty‑two days, U.S bombing killed tens of thousands of defenseless soldiers,

�� cut off most of their food, water and other supplies and left them in desperate and

�� helpless disarray. Without significant risk to its own personnel, the U.S. led in the killing

�� of at least 100,000 Iraqi soldiers at a cost of 148 U.S. combat casualties, according to

�� the U.S. government. When it was determined that the civilian economy and the

�� military were sufficiently destroyed, the U.S. ground forces moved into Kuwait and

�� Iraq attacking disoriented disorganized, fleeing Iraqi forces wherever they could be

�� found, killing thousands more and destroying any equipment found. The slaughter

�� continued after the cease fire. For example, on March 2, 1991, U.S. 24th Division

�� Forces engaged in a four‑hour assault against Iraqis just west of Basra. More than 750

�� vehicles were destroyed, thousands were killed without U.S. casualties. A U.S.

�� commander said, "We really waxed them." It was called a "Turkey Shoot." One

�� Apache helicopter crew member yelled "Say hello to Allah" as he launched a

�� laser‑guided Hellfire missile.[10]

�� The intention was not to remove Iraq's presence from Kuwait. It was to destroy Iraq.

�� In the process there was great destruction of property in Kuwait. The disproportion in

�� death and destruction inflicted on a defenseless enemy exceeded 1,000 to one.

�� General Thomas Kelly commented on February 23, 1991, that by the time the ground

�� war begins "there won't be many of them left." General Norman Schwarzkopf placed

�� Iraqi military casualties at over 100,000. The intention was to destroy all military

�� facilities and equipment wherever located and to so decimate the military age male

�� population that Iraq could not raise a substantial force for half a generation.

�� The conduct violated the Charter of the United Nations, the Hague and Geneva

�� Conventions, the Nuremberg Charter, and the laws of armed conflict.

�� 7. The United States used prohibited weapons capable of mass

�� destruction and inflicting indiscriminate death and unnecessary

�� suffering against both military and civilian targets.

�� Among the known illegal weapons and illegal uses of weapons employed by the United

�� States are the following:

�� fuel air explosives capable of widespread incineration and death;

�� napalm;

�� cluster and anti‑personnel fragmentation bombs; and

�� "superbombs," 2.5 ton devices, intended for assassination of government

�� leaders.

�� Fuel air explosives were used against troops‑in‑place, civilian areas, oil fields and

�� fleeing civilians and soldiers on two stretches of highway between Kuwait and Iraq.

�� Included in fuel air weapons used was the BLU‑82, a 15,000‑pound device capable of

�� incinerating everything within hundreds of yards.

�� One seven mile stretch called the "Highway of Death" was littered with hundreds of

�� vehicles and thousands of dead. All were fleeing to Iraq for their lives. Thousands were

�� civilians of all ages, including Kuwaitis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Jordanians and other

�� nationalities. Another 60‑mile stretch of road to the east was strewn with the remnants

�� of tanks, armored cars, trucks, ambulances and thousands of bodies following an

�� attack on convoys on the night of February 25, 1991. The press reported that no

�� survivors are known or likely. One flatbed truck contained nine bodies, their hair and

�� clothes were burned off, skin incinerated by heat so intense it melted the windshield

�� onto the dashboard.

�� Napalm was used against civilians, military personnel and to start fires. Oil well fires in

�� both Iraq and Kuwait were intentionally started by U.S. aircraft dropping napalm and

�� other heat intensive devices.

�� Cluster and anti‑personnel fragmentation bombs were used in Basra and other cities,

�� and towns, against the convoys described above and against military units. The

�� CBU‑75 carries 1,800 bomblets called Sadeyes. One type of Sadeyes can explode

�� before hitting the ground, on impact, or be timed to explode at different times after

�� impact. Each bomblet contains 600 razor sharp steel fragments lethal up to 40 feet.

�� The 1,800 bomblets from one CBU‑75 can cover an area equal to 157 football fields

�� with deadly shrapnel. "Superbombs" were dropped on hardened shelters, at least two

�� in the last days of the assault, with the intention of assassinating President Saddam

�� Hussein. One was misdirected. It was not the first time the Pentagon targeted a head of

�� state. In April 1986, the U.S. attempted to assassinate Col. Muammar Qaddafi by

�� laser directed bombs in its attack on Tripoli, Libya.

�� Illegal weapons killed thousands of civilians and soldiers.

�� The conduct violated the Hague and Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg Charter and

�� the laws of armed conflict.

�� 8. The United States intentionally attacked installations in Iraq

�� containing dangerous substances and forces.

�� Despite the fact that Iraq used no nuclear or chemical weapons and in the face of UN

�� resolutions limiting the authorized means of removing Iraqi forces from Kuwait, the

�� U.S. intentionally bombed alleged nuclear sites, chemical plants, dams and other

�� dangerous forces. The U.S. knew such attacks could cause the release of dangerous

�� forces from such installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian

�� population. While some civilians were killed in such attacks, there are no reported

�� cases of consequent severe losses presumably because lethal nuclear materials and

�� dangerous chemical and biological warfare substances were not present at the sites

�� bombed.

�� The conduct violates Protocol I Additional, Article 56, to the Geneva Convention,

�� 1977.

�� 9. President Bush ordered U.S. forces to invade Panama, resulting

�� in the deaths of 1,000 to 4,000 Panamanians and the destruction of

�� thousands of private dwellings, public buildings, and commercial

�� structures.

�� On December 20, 1989, President Bush ordered a military assault on Panama using

�� aircraft, artillery, helicopter gunships and experimenting with new weapons, including

�� the Stealth bomber. The attack was a surprise assault targeting civilian and

�� non‑combatant government structures. In the E1 Chorillo district of Panama City alone,

�� hundreds of civilians were killed and between 15,000 and 30,000 made homeless.

�� U.S. soldiers buried dead Panamanians in mass graves, often without identification. The

�� head of state, Manuel Noriega, who was systematically demonized by the U.S.

�� government and press, ultimately surrendered to U.S. forces and was brought to

�� Miami, Florida, on extra‑territorial U.S. criminal charges.

�� The U.S. invasion of Panama violated all the international laws Iraq violated when it

�� invaded Kuwait and more. Many more Panamanians were killed by U.S. forces than

�� Iraq killed Kuwaitis.

�� President Bush violated the Charter of the United Nations, the Hague and Geneva

�� Conventions, committed crimes against peace, war crimes and violated the

�� U.S.Constitution and numerous U.S. criminal statutes in ordering and directing the

�� assault on Panama.

�� 10. President Bush obstructed justice and corrupted United

�� Nations functions as a means of securing power to commit crimes

�� against peace and war crimes.

�� President Bush caused the United Nations to completely bypass Chapter VI provisions

�� of its Charter for the Pacific Settlement of Disputes. This was done in order to obtain

�� Security Council resolutions authorizing the use of all necessary means, in the absolute

�� discretion of any nation, to fulfill UN resolutions directed against Iraq and which were

�� used to destroy Iraq. To obtain Security Council votes, the U.S. corruptly paid

�� member nations billions of dollars, provided them arms to conduct regional wars,

�� forgave billions in debts, withdrew opposition to a World Bank loan, agreed to

�� diplomatic relations despite human rights violations and threatened economic and

�� political reprisals. A nation which voted against the United States, Yemen, was

�� immediately punished by the loss of millions of dollars in aid. The U.S. paid the UN

�� $187 million to reduce the amount of dues it owed to the UN to avoid criticism of its

�� coercive activities. The United Nations, created to end the scourge of war, became an

�� instrument of war and condoned war crimes.

�� The conduct violates the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution and laws

�� of the United States.

�� 11. President Bush usurped the Constitutional power of Congress

�� as a means of securing power to commit crimes against peace, war

�� crimes, and other high crimes.

�� President Bush intentionally usurped Congressional power, ignored its authority, and

�� failed and refused to consult with the Congress. He deliberately misled, deceived,

�� concealed and made false representations to the Congress to prevent its free

�� deliberation and informed exercise of legislature power. President Bush individually

�� ordered a naval blockade against Iraq, itself an act of war. He switched U.S. forces

�� from a wholly defensive position and capability to an offensive capacity for aggression

�� against Iraq without consultation with and contrary to assurances given to the

�� Congress. He secured legislation approving enforcement of UN resolutions vesting

�� absolute discretion in any nation, providing no guidelines and requiring no reporting to

�� the UN, knowing he intended to destroy the ammed forces and civilian economy of

�� Iraq. Those acts were undertaken to enable him to commit crimes against peace and

�� war crimes.

�� The conduct violates the Constitution and laws of the United States, all committed to

�� engage in the other impeachable offenses set forth in this Complaint.

�� 12. The United States waged war on the environment.

�� Pollution from the detonation of 88,000 tons of bombs, innumerable missiles, rockets,

�� artillery and small arms with the combustion and fires they caused and by 110,000 air

�� sorties at a rate of nearly two per minute for six weeks has caused enormous injury to

�� life and the ecology. Attacks by U.S. aircraft caused much if not all of the worst oil

�� spills in the Gulf. Aircraft and helicopters dropping napalm and fuel‑air explosives on oil

�� wells, storage tanks and refineries caused oil fires throughout Iraq and many, if not

�� most, of the oil well fires in Iraq and Kuwait. The intentional destruction of municipal

�� water systems, waste material treatment and sewage disposal systems constitutes a

�� direct and continuing assault on life and health throughout Iraq.

�� The conduct violated the UN Charter, the Hague and Geneva Conventions, the laws of

�� ammed conflict and constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity.

�� 13. President Bush encouraged and aided Shiite Muslims and

�� Kurds to rebel against the government of Iraq causing fratricidal

�� violence, emigration, exposure, hunger and sickness and

�� thousands of deaths. After the rebellion failed, the U.S. invaded

�� and occupied parts of Iraq without authority in order to increase

�� division and hostility within Iraq.

�� Without authority from the Congress or the UN, President Bush continued his

�� imperious military actions after the cease fire. He encouraged and aided rebellion

�� against Iraq, failed to protect the warring parties, encouraged migration of whole

�� populations, placing them in jeopardy from the elements, hunger, and disease. After

�� much suffering and many deaths, President Bush then without authority used U.S.

�� military forces to distribute aid at and near the Turkish border, ignoring the often

�� greater suffering among refugees in Iran. He then arbitrarily set up bantustan‑like

�� settlements for Kurds in Iraq and demanded Iraq pay for U.S. costs. When Kurds

�� chose to return to their homes in Iraq, he moved U.S. troops further into northern Iraq

�� against the will of the government and without authority.

�� The conduct violated the Charter of the United Nations, international law, the

�� Constitution and laws of the United States, and the laws of Iraq.

�� 14. President Bush intentionally deprived the Iraqi people of

�� essential medicines, potable water, food, and other necessities.

�� A major component of the assault on Iraq was the systematic deprivation of essential

�� human needs and services. To break the will of the people, destroy their economic

�� capability, reduce their numbers and weaken their health, the United States:

�� imposed and enforced embargoes preventing the shipment of needed medicines,

� ��water purifiers, infant milk formula, food and other supplies;

�� individually, without congressional authority, ordered a U.S. naval blockade of

�� Iraq, an act of war, to deprive the Iraqi people of needed supplies;

�� froze funds of Iraq and forced other nations to do so, depriving Iraq of the

�� ability to purchase needed medicines, food and other supplies;

�� controlled information about the urgent need for such supplies to prevent

�� sickness, death and threatened epidemic, endangering the whole society;

�� prevented international organizations, governments and relief agencies from

�� providing needed supplies and obtaining information concerning needs;

�� failed to assist or meet urgent needs of huge refugee populations including

�� Egyptians, Indians, Pakistanis, Yemenis, Sudanese, Jordanians, Palestinians, Sri

�� Lankans, Filipinos, and interfered with efforts of others to do so;

�� consistently diverted attention from health and epidemic threats within Iraq

�� caused by the U.S. even after advertising the plight of Kurdish people on the

�� Turkish border;

�� deliberately bombed the electrical grids causing the closure of hospitals and

�� laboratories, loss of medicine and essential fluids and blood; and

�� deliberately bombed food storage, fertilizer, and seed storage facilities.

�� As a result of these acts, thousands of people died, many more suffered illness and

�� permanent injury. As a single illustration, Iraq consumed infant milk formula at a rate of

�� 2,500 tons per month during the first seven months of 1990. From November 1, 1990,

�� to February 7, 1991, Iraq was able to import only 17 tons. Its own productive

�� capacity was destroyed. Many Iraqis believed that President Bush intended that their

�� infants die because he targeted their food supply. The Red Crescent Society of Iraq

�� estimated 3,000 infant deaths as of February 7, 1991, resulting from infant milk formula

�� and infant medication shortages.

�� This conduct violates the Hague and Geneva Conventions, the Universal Declaration of

�� Human Rights and other covenants and constitutes a crime against humanity.

�� 15. The United States continued its assault on Iraq after the cease

�� fire, invading and occupying areas at will.

�� The United States has acted with dictatorial authority over Iraq and its external

�� relations since the end of the military conflict. It has shot and killed Iraqi military

�� personnel, destroyed aircraft and materiel at will, occupied vast areas of Iraq in the

�� north and south and consistently threatened use of force against Iraq.

�� This conduct violates the sovereignty of a nation, exceeds authority in UN resolutions,

�� is unauthorized by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and constitutes war

�� crimes.

�� 16. The United States has violated and condoned violations of

�� human rights, civil liberties and the U.S. Bill of Rights in the

�� United States, in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to achieve

�� its purpose of military domination.

�� Among the many violations committed or condoned by the U.S. government are the

�� following:

�� illegal surveillance, arrest, interrogation and harassment of Arab‑American,

�� Iraqi‑American, and U.S. resident Arabs;

�� illegal detention, interrogation and treatment of Iraqi prisoners of war;

�� aiding and condoning Kuwaiti summary executions, assaults, torture and illegal

�� detention of Palestinians and other residents in Kuwait after the U.S. occupation;

�� and

�� unwarranted, discriminatory, and excessive prosecution and punishment of U.S.

�� military personnel who refused to serve in the Gulf, sought conscientious

�� objector status or protested U.S. policies.

�� Persons were killed, assaulted, tortured, illegally detained and prosecuted, harassed

�� and humiliated as a result of these policies.

�� The conduct violates the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of

�� Human Rights , the Hague and Geneva Conventions and the Constitution and laws of

�� the United States.

�� 17. The United States, having destroyed Iraq's economic base,

�� demands reparations which will permanently impoverish Iraq and

�� threaten its people with famine and epidemic.

�� Having destroyed lives, property and essential civilian facilities in Iraq which the U.S.

�� concedes will require $50 billion to replace (estimated at $200 billion by Iraq, killed at

�� least 125,000 people by bombing and many thousands more by sickness and hunger,

�� the U.S. now seeks to control Iraq economically even as its people face famine and

�� epidemic.[l1] Damages, including casualties in Iraq, systematically inflicted by the U.S.

�� exceed all damages, casualties and costs of all other parties to the conflict combined

�� many times over. Reparations under these conditions are an exaction of tribute for the

�� conqueror from a desperately needy country. The United States seeks to force Iraq to

�� pay for damage to Kuwait largely caused by the U.S. and even to pay U.S. costs for

�� its violations of Iraqi sovereignty in occupying northern Iraq to further manipulate the

�� Kurdish population there. Such reparations are a neocolonial means of expropriating

�� Iraq's oil, natural resources, and human labor.

�� The conduct violates the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution and laws

�� of the United States.

�� 18. President Bush systematically manipulated, controlled,

�� directed, misinformed and restricted press and media coverage to

�� obtain constant support in the media for his military and political

�� goals.

�� The Bush Administration achieved a five‑month‑long commercial for militarism and

�� individual weapons systems. The American people were seduced into the celebration

�� of a slaughter by controlled propaganda demonizing Iraq, assuring the world no harm

�� would come to Iraqi civilians, deliberately spreading false stories of atrocities including

�� chemical warfare threats, deaths of incubator babies and threats to the entire region by

�� a new Hitler.

�� The press received virtually all its information from or by permission of the Pentagon.

�� Efforts were made to prevent any adverse information or opposition views from being

�� heard. CNN's limited presence in Baghdad was described as Iraqi propaganda.

�� Independent observers, eyewitnesses' photos, and video tapes with information about

�� the effects of the U.S. bombing were excluded from the media. Television network

�� ownership, advertizers, newspaper ownership, elite columnists and commentators

�� intimidated and instructed reporters and selected interviewees. They formed a

�� near‑single voice of praise for U.S. militarism, often exceeding the Pentagon in

�� bellicosity.

�� The American people and their democratic institutions were deprived of information

�� essential to sound judgment and were regimented, despite profound concem, to

�� support a major neocolonial intervention and war of aggression. The principal purpose

�� of the First Amendment to the United States was to assure the press and the people

�� the right to criticize their government with impunity. This purpose has been effectively

�� destroyed in relation to U.S. military aggression since the press was denied access to

�� assaults on Grenada, Libya, Panama and, now on a much greater scale, against Iraq.

�� This conduct violates the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and

�� is part of a pattern of conduct intended to create support for conduct constituting

�� crimes against peace and war crimes.

�� 19. The United States has by force secured a permanent military

�� presence in the Gulf, the control of its oil resources and

�� geopolitical domination of the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf region.

�� The U.S. has committed the acts described in this complaint to create a permanent

�� U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf, to dominate its oil resources until depleted

�� and to maintain geopolitical domination over the region.

�� The conduct violates the Charter of the United Nations, international law, and the

�� Constitution and laws of the United States.

�� Scope of the Inquiry

�� The Commission of Inquiry will focus on U.S. criminal conduct because of its

�� destruction of Iraq, killing at least 125,000 persons directly by its bombing while

�� proclaiming its own combat losses as 148, because it destroyed the economic base of

�� Iraq and because its acts are still inflicting consequential deaths that may reach

�� hundreds of thousands. The Commission of Inquiry will seek and accept evidence of

�� criminal acts by any person or government, related to the Gulf conflict, because it

�� believes international law must be applied uniformly. It believes that "victors' justice" is

�� not law, but the extension of war by force of the prevailing party. The U.S. Senate,

�� European Community foreign ministers, and the western press, even former

�� Nuremberg prosecutors, have overwhelmingly called for war crimes trials for Saddam

�� Hussein and the Iraqi leadership alone. Even Mrs. Barbara Bush has said she would

�� like to see Saddam Hussein hanged, albeit without mentioning a trial. Comprehensive

�� efforts to gather and evaluate evidence, objectively judge all the conduct that

�� constitutes crimes against peace and war crimes and to present these facts for

�� judgment to the court of world opinion requires that at least one major effort focus on

�� the United States. The Commission of Inquiry believes its focus on U.S. criminal acts is

�� important, proper, and the only way to bring the whole truth, a balanced perspective

�� and impartiality in application of legal process to this great human tragedy.

�� Ramsey Clark

�� May 9, 1991

�� Final Judgement: International War Crimes Tribunal

�� The Basis in International Law

�� Testimony and Evidence

�� International Law

�� Notes

�� 1.Covert Operations: The Persian Gulf and the New World

�� Order (Washington, DC: Christic Institute, 1991).

�� 2.Rhodri Jeffreys‑Jones, The CIA and American Democracy (New

�� Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), p. 206.

�� 3.Independent Commission of Inquiry on the U.S. Invasion of

�� Panama, The U.S. Invasion of Panama: The Truth Behind

�� Operation Just Cause(Boston: South End Press, 1990).

�� 4.Amnesty International Reports, 1991, pp. 122‑124.

�� 5.Congressional Record, June 12, 1990, S8605.

�� 6."Saddam's Oil Plot." London Observer, October 21, 1990.

�� 7.Rick Atkinson, "U.S. to Rely on Air Strikes if War Erupts,"

�� Washington Post, September 16, 1990: Al + . Eric Schmitt,

�� "Ousted General Gets A Break," New York Times, November 7,

�� 1991: Al9.

�� 8.Joint WHO / UNICEF Team Report: A Visit to Iraq (New

�� York: United Nations, 1991). A report to the Secretary General,

�� dated March 20, 1991 by representatives of the U.N. Secretariat,

�� UNICEF, UNDP, UNDRO, UNHCR, FAO and WHO.

�� 9.Patrick E. Tyler, "Powell Says U.S. Will Stay In Iraq," New York

�� Times, March 23, 1991: Al + .

�� 10.Patrick J. Sloyan, "Massive Battle After Cease Fire," New York

�� Newsday, May 8, 1991: A4+.

�� 11."U.S. Prepares UN Draft on Claims Against Iraq," New York

�� Times, November 1, 1990.

�� Final Judgement: International War Crimes Tribunal

�� The Basis in International Law

�� Testimony and Evidence

�� International Law

Index

WWW URL: http://deoxy.org/warcrim2.htm

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