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The National Lawyers Guild (NLG)condemns Geoge Bush's propsed preemptive strike and escalation of the ongoing war against Iraq as violating the Constitution of the United States and the United Nations Charter. The Guild will seek to provide legal support for individuals and groups practicing non-violent civil disobedience regarding the "necessity" defense, which is conduct that an actor believes to be necessary to avoid harm to himself or to another. Such behavior may be justifiable, provided that the harm sought to be avoided by such conduct is greater than the harm which the law defining the offense seeks to prevent. "The Guild commits its legal resources to support those who engage in acts of civil disobedience against such unauthorized military action," says Guild President Bruce Nestor. The Guild is preparing a legal brief and supporting material related to the necessity defense and military action agasint Iraq, and will distribute those materials nationally. Immediately after the attack of 9-11-01, a realtively small group of individuals in the US government--primarily President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and his Deputy Paul Wolfoqitz--began to develop pretexts for intensified military attacks against Iraq. No credible evidence connects Iraq to the crime of 9-11. One year later, those officials formally promulgated a doctrine under which the US will "act preemptively" without the legally required authorization of the United Nations and the international community, or any legitimate claim of self-defense or defense of others, to bomb and invade Iraq. (National security Strategy, Section V.) Ongoing unilateral military attacks by the US against Iraq, consisting of bombing raids in the "no fly zones" are not authorized by any resolution of the UN Security Council. These bombing raids, as well as any escalated attacks, violate Article 1, section 4 and Articles 41 and 42 of the UN Charter and other provisions of international law, which as ratified treaties are also part of the "supremem LAW of the Land." (Constitution of the United States Article VI, Section 2).
The forthcoming air attacks and invasion of Iraq will kill innocent civilians, threaten international peace and security, undermine the rule of law, and create a backlash against the people of the US. Under well-accepted general principles of criminal law applicable in every US jurisdiction, otherwise technically illegal acts may be justified by the necessity of preventing a greater wrong or danger--a form of self-defense or defense of others. IN this case there is ample legal necessity and justification for non-violent resistance to these illegal and immensely destructive, murderous actions by the top officials of the US government.
NLG President Bruce Nestor says that "The basic question raised by continuing and intensifying US aggression against Iraq is moral: whether US government officials are authorized to decide that the 'price is worth it' for millions of people whose lives will be shaped, and inmany cases destroyed by the criminal actions of a handful of US leaers who hold themselves above the law."
For more information
Contact:
Bruce D. Nestor,
bdnestor@visi.com
Heidi Boghosian
director@nlg.org
www.nlg.org |
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