WASHINGTON - 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://afterdowningstreet.org/robertjackson

Signed By:

Progressive Democrats of America http://pdamerica.org

Center for Constitutional Rights http://ccrjustice.org

The National Lawyers Guild http://nlg.org

American Freedom Campaign Action Fund http://americanfreedomcampaign.org

High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project http://www.highroadforhumanrights.org

After Downing Street http://afterdowningstreet.org

Democrats.com http://democrats.com

Gold Star Families for Peace http://cindysheehansoapbox.com

Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserve Colonel and US diplomat http://voicesofconscience.com

Delaware Valley Veterans for America http://delvalvets4america.org

Voters for Peace http://votersforpeace.us

Wisconsin Impeachment / Bring Our Troops Home Coalition http://impeachwi.com

Backbone Campaign http://backbonecampaign.org

CODE PINK: Women for Peace http://codepink4peace.org

Velvet Revolution http://velvetrevolution.us

Justice Through Music http://jtmp.org

Brad Blog http://bradblog.com

Cities for Peace http://citiesforpeace.org

National Accountability Network

Northeast Impeachment Coalition http://neimpeach.org

Republicans for Impeachment http://republicansforimpeachment.com

Op Ed News http://opednews.com

Marcus Raskin, cofounder of Institute for Policy Studies, member of editorial board of The Nation, member of the special staff of the National Security Council in Kennedy Administration

The Progressive http://progressive.org

Peace Team http://peaceteam.net

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) http://afterdowningstreet.org/vips

Defending Dissent Foundation http://defendingdissent.org

Grassroots America http://grassrootsamerica4us.org

Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored http://projectcensored.org

Peace Action http://peace-action.org

Grandmothers Against the War http://grandmothersagainstthewar.org

World Can't Wait http://worldcantwait.net

United for Peace and Justice http://unitedforpeace.org

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space http://space4peace.org

War Crimes Times http://warcrimestimes.org

Veterans for Peace 099 http://veteransforpeace.org

Veterans for Peace 26 http://veteransforpeace.org

Veterans for Peace http://veteransforpeace.org

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

Iraq Veterans Against the War http://ivaw.org

Daniel Ellsberg, Truth-Telling Project http://ellsberg.net

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