050820 - International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration

Dear friends and signers of the NION statements,
We are very excited to announce that we will be sponsoring an International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush
Administration.

As the charter for the commission states, "When the possibility of far-reaching war crimes and crimes against humanity exists, people of conscience have a solemn responsibility to inquire into the nature and scope of these acts and to determine if they do in fact rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity."
(see ttp://www.nion.us/Commission/call-charter.htm)
We intend to fulfill that responsibility with your help.

The commission will meet in New York in October and will consider evidence on four specific issues:
1) Wars of Aggression, with particular reference to the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
2) Torture and Indefinite Detention, with particular reference to the abandonment of international standards concerning the treatment of prisoners of war and the use of torture.
3) Destruction of the Global Environment, with particular reference to systematic policies contributing to the catastrophic effects of global
warming.
4) Attacks on Global Public Health and Reproductive Rights, with particular reference to the genocidal effects of forcing international agencies to promote "abstinence only" in the midst of a global AIDS
epidemic.

The commission's impact will flow from its rigor in the presentation of evid ence, and the stature of its participants. Our goal is to continue to build
the impact of the Not In Our Name statements and the World Tribunal on Iraq by holding a court of inquiry that will both frame and fuel a discussion that is urgently needed in this country: Is the administration of George W. Bush guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity?
With your help we intend to prove it before a panel of distinguished legal experts and voices of conscience. We are currently pulling together attorneys and well-known experts in the various fields to draw up
indictments. The proceedings will be streamed live on the internet and will be available to the entire world.

We need to make a down payment on a major venue this week if this is to happen on the scale that is demanded. We urge you to go to our web site an
make a generous contribution to make this happen
(http://www.nion.us/NSOC/sign.htm). We are suggesting a minimum contribution of $100 because the costs are enormous, but all contributions are welcome
and deeply appreciated.

As we say in the second Not In Our Name statement: "No election, whether fair or fraudulent, can legitimize criminal wars on foreign countries, torture, the wholesale violation of human rights, and the end of science and reason." Let us now act to make good on our commitment.

Thanking you for your continuing support,

Tony Alessandrini
Brian Drolet
Larry Everest
Clark Kissinger
Barbara Olshansky
Emna Zghal

The commission working group
(you may contact us at commission@nion.us)

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