Campaign to account for war crimes

On Aug. 30, the International Action Center and People Judge Bush will launch an international campaign to demand that the United States and Israel be held accountable for their war crimes against the people of Lebanon and Palestine.

The kick-off for this campaign will be held in New York City, at the United Nations Church Center at 44th Street and First Avenue, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

This meeting, which will be the first in a series of public gatherings, will begin with live and videotaped testimony from eyewitnesses from Lebanon and Palestine. The campaign has already received support and endorsements from all corners of the globe.

The Aug. 30 program will include former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, representatives from the Palestinian, Lebanese, and Iranian communities, solidarity organizers, and anti-war and community activists.

Presentations will address:

* The planning and preparation for war by the U.S. and Israel, including a historical overview of the U.S. agenda in the Middle East.

* Details of U.S./Israeli violations of the Geneva Conventions, the Nuremburg Charter, numerous U.N. resolutions, and other international laws and treaties.

* A detailed expose of U.S. culpability in Israeli war crimes.

* The links between the Israeli attacks in Lebanon and Palestine and the U.S. agenda in Iran, Syria, and Iraq.

The meeting will also explore the serious domestic costs of Bush’s agenda of endless war. “Each bomb dropped on Leba non also explodes in poor and oppressed communities here,” said Larry Holmes of the Inte rnational Action Center. “The money spent to kill and maim could provide health care for all. It could rebuild cities and infrastructure, like the levees in New Orleans, rather than foster a deadly and purposeful policy of racism and neglect that still has not been addressed.”

Ramsey Clark, who helped initiate the call for the Campaign for Accountability, wrote, “Individuals in the U.S. and Israeli governments must be held accountable by prosecution for their criminal acts, and responsible leaders must be removed from office by impeachment in the U.S. and appropriate legal action in Israel.”

“The Aug. 30th meeting at the UN will mark the beginning of an international effort,” said Sara Flounders, an organizer with the Campaign for Accountability.” This will be a historic opportunity to expose, with documents, video, and eyewitness accounts, the U.S./Israeli planning and preparation for all out war against all forms of popular resistance.

“However, this will be much more than an expose of U.S./Israeli war crimes,” Floun ders said. “The real thrust of the Campaign for Accountability is to build resistance to the U.S. agenda of endless war and corporate hegemony in the Middle East.The people of the region have the right to resist U.S./Israeli invasion and occupation, and activists in the U.S. have an obligation to defend that right and to do everything within our power to demand ‘U.S. out of the Middle East!’”

For more information on the Campaign for Accountability, see www.PeopleJudgeBush.org.

The writer is a U.S. Navy veteran and an organizer with the Campaign for Accountability.