US to Overhaul Government Contract Procurements

On the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama said he will soon announce a plan to end the war in Iraq.

War Criminal

Is George W. Bush a war criminal for deliberately violating the Geneva Conventions? Can he be prosecuted when he leaves office on January 20, 2009? The answers are found in Michael Haas’s George W. Bush, War Criminal? The Bush Administration’s Liability for 269 War Crimes, which documents 269 war crimes and assesses the culpability of Bush and his administration.

The author, Michael Haas, has written more than thirty books, most recently International Human Rights: A Comprehensive Introduction (2008). A well-known political scientist, he played a key role in stopping American funding of the Khmer Rouge. His book exposing Singapore’s many human rights violations is banned in that authoritarian country.

The Foreword to the book is written by former Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz.

The following chapters delineate 269 war crimes:

1) A President Without a Good Lawyer
President George W. Bush is ambitious but not a lawyer, so he relies on legal advice. The attorneys on which he has relied have been widely criticized as lacking the competence and wisdom to provide sound advice. Bush has preferred to “kick ass” (in his words) rather than listen to the legal fine points.

2) Crimes of Aggression
The concept of “just war” developed from the writings of Saint Augustine and others into international agreements prohibiting aggressive war. The primary war crime is to wage war without UN approval. There are five other crimes against peace, including propaganda for war, all violated by Bush.

3) Crimes Committed in the Conduct of War
Abraham Lincoln promulgated a code of warfare that served as a basis for the Red Cross Convention, the Hague Conventions, and the Geneva Conventions. Nevertheless, Bush and his commanding generals have allowed 36 violations of these and other international agreements.

4) Crimes Committed in the Treatment of Prisoners
Although General Tommy Franks ordered troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to follow the Geneva Conventions whenever they encountered enemy personnel, he was quickly countermanded by Bush. The “gloves came off,” and thousands were improperly treated. Some 175 war crimes have been committed, many captured on film, within American-run prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantánamo—and in secret prisons.

5) Crimes Committed in the Postwar Occupations
Whereas the postwar military occupation of Afghanistan was brief, the expected scenario for postwar Iraq did not materialize. Iraq was governed by L. Paul Bremer, who claimed direct authority from President Bush in proclaiming “I am the law,” and another 52 war crimes have been committed.

6) Tribunals for War Crimes Prosecution
American and international law provides the basis for lawsuits, but sitting presidents cannot be brought to court on criminal offenses. Some cases have already been filed in Europe. This chapter will indicate which tribunals have been and could be used for trials as well as the statutory and treaty basis. Penalties under the law are identified.

7) The Bush Administrations’ War Crimes Liability
President Bush is directly responsible for some but not every war crime identified in the analysis, so an assessment is made of his culpability for each specific violation as well as members of his Cabinet, top military brass, field commanders, and field personnel. The ramifications of both suing and not suing Bush are complex. Arguments pro and con are reviewed. A truth commission is proposed.

Listen to the interview done by Democracy Now with Mr. Miller of the investigative website ProPublica.

Listen to interview here: (Real Audio Player)

Read the report:  Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience (PDF), Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction

T. CHRISTIAN MILLER: For me, the most interesting thing or the interesting conclusions in the report is that, going forward, today—it’s been five years since the invasion of Iraq—the US government still doesn’t have in place the tools that it needs to undertake a big nation-building effort abroad. We just simply don’t have the capacity, the technical knowledge, the organizational skills to be able to do something like that. And that’s important, because that’s what President-elect Barack Obama is planning for Afghanistan.

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush will face charges of attacking a head of state. The journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, failed to appear at his Wednesday court hearing. Zaidi’s brother says he was too badly injured from abuse by Iraqi jailers to make it to court. Iraqis continue to support al-Zaidi in street protests. In Fallujah, US troops reportedly opened fire above the heads of a group of students rallying for Zaidi’s release. The students pelted the US troops with shoes and rocks. One protester was treated for gunshot wounds. In Baghdad, a resident said Bush should be put on trial, not Zaidi.

Baghdad resident:“Bush must be brought to trial, not Muntadar. Bush killed a million Iraqi civilians and displaced four million outside Iraq, as well as destroyed the country. Besides that, thousands of detainees are held in custody. He must be brought to trial, but not the persecuted man Muntadar.”

The passions over Zaidi’s shoe-throwing action have spilled over into the Iraqi parliament. On Wednesday, Iraqi lawmakers held a raucous session over how to respond to Zaidi’s ongoing imprisonment. The session had been called to address the status of forces agreement with the US, but a group of lawmakers called for an emergency session on Zaidi’s case.

This guy is really brave and most certainly was tortured.

The BBC is reporting that Mr. Muntadar al-Zaidi is being tortured.

Muntadar al-Zaidi has allegedly suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC.

Mr Zaidi threw his shoes at Mr Bush at a news conference, calling him “a dog”.

A spokesperson for the Iraqi military says the journalist is in good health and said the allegations were untrue.

It is unclear whether the reporter may have been injured when he was wrestled to the floor at the news conference, or at a later point.

The head of Iraq’s journalists’ union has asked the government for clemency towards the journalist who is still in custody.

A spokesman for Iraq’s High Judicial Council said that Mr Zaidi, accompanied by defence and prosecution lawyers, had been brought before the investigating judge, Reuters news agency reported.

Abdul Satar Birqadr said Mr Zaidi had been charged with aggression against a president.

“He admits the action he carried out,” the news agency quoted Mr Birqadr as saying.

Earlier, Dargham al-Zaidi told the BBC’s Caroline Wyatt in Baghdad he believed his brother had been taken to a US military hospital in the Iraqi capital.

AP

The New York Times has obtained an internal governmental report detailing the failure of US reconstruction efforts in Iraq. The report highlights Defense Secretary Donald Rumseld’s failure to grasp the costs of the reconstruction. In 2003, Rumsfeld was presented with several rebuilding plans. When he was told it would cost billions of dollars, Rumsfeld said, “My friend, if you think we’re going to spend a billion dollars of our money over there, you are sadly mistaken.” Since then, over $117 billion has been spent on reconstruction efforts. But the report found that the rebuilding has not done much more than restore what was destroyed during the invasion and the looting that followed. The report also quotes former Secretary of State Colin Powell, saying that in the months after the 2003 invasion, the Pentagon “kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces.” Powell said the number would sometimes jump 20,000 in a week.