Final Judgment:
International War Crimes Tribunal
The members of the International War Crimes Tribunal, meeting in New York, have carefully considered the Initial Complaint of the Commission of Inquiry dated May 6, 1991 against President George H. W. Bush, Vice President J. Danforth Quayle, Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Commander of the Allied Forces in the Persian Gulf, and others named in the Complaint charging them with nineteen separate crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in violation of the Charter of the United Nations, the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the First Protocol thereto, and other international agreements and customary international law:
having the right and obligation as citizens of the world to sit in judgment regarding violations of international humanitarian law;
having heard the testimony from various Commissions of Inquiry hearings held within their own countries and/or elsewhere during the past year and having received reports from numerous other Commission hearings which recite the evidence there gathered;
having been provided with documentary evidence, eyewitness statements, photos, videotapes, special reports, expert analyses and summaries of evidence available to the Commission; having access to all evidence, knowledge, and expert opinion in the Commission files or available to the Commission;
having been provided by the Commission, or elsewhere obtained, various books, articles, and other written materials on various aspects of events and conditions in the Persian Gulf and military and arms establishments;
having considered newspaper coverage, magazine and periodical reports, special publications, T.V., radio, and other media coverage and public statements by the accused, other public officials and other public materials;
having heard the presentations of the Commission of Inquiry in public hearing on February 29, 1992, the testimony and evidence there presented; and having met, considered and deliberated with each other and with Commission staff and having considered all the evidence that is relevant to the nineteen charges of criminal conduct alleged in the Initial Complaint make the following findings.
Findings
The members of the International War Crimes Tribunal finds each of the named accused Guilty on the basis of the evidence against them and that each of the nineteen crimes alleged in the Initial Complaint, attached hereto, has been established to have been committed beyond a reasonable doubt.
The members believe that it is imperative if there is ever to be peace that power be accountable for its criminal acts and we condemn in the strongest possible terms those found guilty of the charges herein. We urge the Commission of Inquiry and all people to act on recommendations developed by the Commission to hold power accountable and to secure social justice on which lasting peace must be based.
Recommendations
The Members urge the immediate revocation of all embargoes, sanctions and penalties against Iraq because they constitute a continuing crime against humanity.
The Members urge public action to prevent new aggressions by the United States threatened against Iraq, Libya, Cuba, Haiti, North Korea, Pakistan and other countries and the Palestine people; fullest condemnation of any threat or use of military technology against life, both civilian and military, as was used by the United States against the people of Iraq.
The Members urge that the power of the United Nations Security Council, which was blatantly manipulated by the U.S. to authorize illegal military action and sanctions, be vested in the General Assembly; that all permanent members be removed and that the right of veto be eliminated as undemocratic and contrary to the basic principles of the U.N. Charter.
The Members urge the Commission to provide for the permanent preservation of the reports, evidence, and materials gathered to make them available to others, and to seek ways to provide the widest possible distribution of the truth about the U.S. assault on Iraq.
Charges of Other Countries
In accordance with the last paragraph of the Initial Complaint designated Scope of Inquiry, the Commission has gathered substantial evidence of criminal acts by governments and individual officials in addition to those formally presented here. Formal charges have been drafted by some Commissions of Inquiry against other governments in addition to the United States. Those charges have not been acted upon here. The Commission of Inquiry or any of its national components may choose to pursue such other charges at some future time. The Members urge all involved to exert their utmost effort to prevent recurrences of violations by other governments that were not considered here.
Done in New York this 29th day of February, 1992.
- (signed)
- Olga Mejia, Panama
- President of the National Human Rights Commission in Panama, a non-governmental body representing peasants' organizations, urban trade unions, women's groups and others.
- Sheik Mohamed Rashid, Pakistan
- Former deputy prime minister. Long-term political prisoner during the struggle against British colonialism and activist for workers' and peasants' rights.
- Dr. Haluk Gerger, Turkey
- Founding member of Turkish Human Rights Association and professor of political science. Dismissed from Ankara University by military government.
- Susumu Ozaki, Japan
- Former judge and pro-labor attorney imprisoned 1934-1938 for violating Security Law under militarist government for opposing Japan's invasion of China.
- Michael Ratner, USA
- Attorney, former director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, past president of the National Lawyers Guild.
- Lord Tony Gifford, Britain
- Human rights lawyer practicing in England and Jamaica. Investigated human rights abuses in British-occupied Ireland.
- Rene Dumont, France
- Argonomist, ecologist, specialist in agriculture of developing countries, author. His 45th book, This War Dishonors Us, appears in 1992.
- Bassam Haddadin, Jordan
- Member of Parliament, Second Secretary for the Jordanian Democratic Peoples Party. Member of Parliamentary Committee on Palestine.
- Dr. Sherif Hetata, Egypt
- Medical Doctor, author, member of the Central Committee of the Arab Progressive Unionist Party. Political prisoner 14 years in 1950s and 1960s.
- Deborah Jackson, USA
- First vice president of the American Association of Jurists, former director of National Conference of Black Lawyers.
- Opato Matarmah, Menominee Nation of North America
- Involved in defense of human rights of indigenous peoples since 1981. Represented the International Indian Treaty Council at the Commission of Human Rights at the U.N.
- Laura Albizu, Campos Meneses, Puerto Rico
- Past President of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and current Secretary for Foreign Relations. Honorary president of Peace Council.
- Aisha Nyerere, Tanzania
- Resident Magistrate of the High Court in Arusha, Tanzania. Researched the impact of the Gulf war on East Africa.
- Peter Leibovtich, Canada
- President of United Steel Workers of America, USWA, Local 8782 and of the Executive Council of the Ontario Federation of Labor.
- John Philpot, Quebec
- Attorney, member of Board of Directors of Quebec Movement for Sovereignty. Organizing Secretary for the American Association of Jurist in Canada.
- John Jones, USA
- Community leader in the state of New Jersey. Vietnam veteran who became leader of movement against U.S. attack on Iraq.
- Gloria La Riva, USA
- Founding member of the Farmworkers Emergency Relief Committee and Emergency Committee to Stop the U.S. War in the Middle East in San Francisco.
- Key Martin, USA
- Member of Executive Committee of Local 3 of the Newspaper Guild in New York. Jailed in 1967 for taking message of Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Vietnam to active duty Gls.
- Dr. Alfred Mechtersheimer, Germany
- Former member of the Bundestag from the Green Party. Former Lieutenant Colonel in the Bundeswher; current peace researcher.
- Abderrazak Kilani, Tunisia
- Tunisian Bar Association. Former President, Association of Young Lawyers; founding member, National Committee to Lift the Embargo from Iraq.
- Tan Sri Ahmad Noordin bin Zakaria, Malaysia
- Former Auditor General of Malaysia. Known throughout his country for battling corruption in government.
- P. S. Poti, India
- Former Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court. In 1989 elected president of the All-lndia Lawyers Union.