Support Coalition to Prosecute the War Criminals

Yesterday, the National Lawyers Guild and a diverse coalition of groups and individuals released the following statement:

Statement on Prosecution of Former High Officials

NEW YORK - February 24 - We urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a non-partisan independent Special Counsel to immediately commence a prosecutorial investigation into the most serious alleged crimes of former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard B. Cheney, the attorneys formerly employed by the Department of Justice whose memos sought to justify torture, and other former top officials of the Bush Administration.

Our laws, and treaties that under Article VI of our Constitution are the supreme law of the land, require the prosecution of crimes that strong evidence suggests these individuals have committed. Both the former president and the former vice president have confessed to authorizing a torture procedure that is illegal under our law and treaty obligations. The former president has confessed to violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

We see no need for these prosecutions to be extraordinarily lengthy or costly, and no need to wait for the recommendations of a panel or "truth" commission when substantial evidence of the crimes is already in the public domain. We believe the most effective investigation can be conducted by a prosecutor, and we believe such an investigation should begin immediately.

Drafted by The Robert Jackson Steering Committee

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/robertjackson

Signed By:

Center for Constitutional Rights

http://www.ccrjustice.org

The National Lawyers Guild

http://www.nlg.org

After Downing Street

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

American Freedom Campaign

http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org

Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserve Colonel and US diplomat

http://www.voicesofconscience.com

Backbone Campaign

http://www.backbonecampaign.org

Brad Blog

http://www.bradblog.com

Cities for Peace

http://citiesforprogress.org

CODE PINK: Women for Peace

http://www.codepink4peace.org

Daniel Ellsberg, Truth-Telling Project

http://www.ellsberg.net

Defending Dissent Foundation

http://www.defendingdissent.org

Delaware Valley Veterans for America

http://www.delvalvets4america.org

Democrats.com

http://www.democrats.com

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

http://www.space4peace.org

Gold Star Families for Peace

http://www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com

Grandmothers Against the War

http://www.grandmothersforpeace.org/gatw

Grassroots America

http://www.grassrootsamerica4us.org

High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project

http://www.highroadforhumanrights.org

Iraq Veterans Against the War

http://ivaw.org

Justice Through Music

http://www.jtmp.org

Marcus Raskin, co-founder of Institute for Policy Studies, member of editorial board of the /Nation/, member of the special staff of the National Security Council in the Kennedy Administration

Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored

http://www.projectcensored.org

Naomi Wolf, author of /End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot/, and /Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries/

http://naomiwolf.org

National Accountability Network

Northeast Impeachment Coalition

http://www.neimpeach.org/wp

Op Ed News

http://www.opednews.com

Peace Action

http://www.peace-action.org

Peace Team

http://www.peaceteam.net

The Progressive

http://www.progressive.org

Progressive Democrats of America

http://www.pdamerica.org

Republicans for Impeachment

http://republicansforimpeachment.com

United for Peace and Justice

http://www.unitedforpeace.org

Velvet Revolution

http://www.velvetrevolution.us

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/vips

Veterans for Peace

http://www.veteransforpeace.org

Voters for Peace

http://votersforpeace.us/index2.php

War Crimes Times

http://www.warcrimestimes.org

Wisconsin Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition

http://www.impeachwi.com

World Can't Wait

http://www.worldcantwait.net

Organizations and individuals can add their names to this statement at http://prosecutebushcheney.org

CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild (NLG)

Marjorie Cohn, NLG President, marjorie@tjsl.edu

Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director, director@nlg.org