Indictment and Trial of Bush and Cheney

Indictment and Trial of Bush and Cheney
David Swanson

May 24, 2008
Remarks made on May 24, 2008, in Radford, Va., at the Building a New World Conference: http://www.wpaconference.org

In a December 31, 2007, editorial, the New York Times faulted the current president and vice president of the United States for kidnapping innocent people, denying justice to prisoners, torturing, murdering, circumventing U.S. and international law, spying in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and basing their actions on "imperial fantasies." If the editorial had been about Bush and Cheney robbing a liquor store or killing a small number of people or robbing a small amount of money or torturing a single child, then the writers at the New York Times would have demanded immediate prosecution and incarceration. Can you guess what they actually demanded? They demanded that we sit back and hope the next president and vice president will be better. The speech. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/62876 "The National Lawyers Guild is urging Congress to appoint a special prosecutor, independent of the Justice Department, to "investigate and prosecute high Bush officials and lawyers including John Yoo for their role in the torture of prisoners in U.S. custody."

The Guild's new 14-page paper explains how lawyers, including Yoo, Jay Bybee, David Addington, and William Haynes, counseled the White House on how to get away with war crimes. The lawyers said that the Department of Justice would not enforce federal laws against torture, maiming, assault and stalking.

Guild President Marjorie Cohn recently testified in Congress that it was "reasonably foreseeable" the lawyers' advice "would result in great physical and mental harm or death to many detainees"; more than 100 have died, many from torture. Torture, like genocide, slavery and wars of aggression, is absolutely prohibited at all times. No country can ever pass a law that would allow them.

Cohn testified that Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, Tenet, Ashcroft, and Bush are liable under the War Crimes Act and the Torture Statute.

Congress could appoint a special prosecutor or begin impeachments or use inherent contempt (that is, the Capitol Police) to compel testimony. But it will only act if forced to by us."