February, 24 2009, 07:59am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Laura Bonham, PDA Communications Coordinator
Laura@pdamerica.org, (435) 336-2123
Tim Carpenter, PDA Executive Director
Tim@pdamerica.org, (413)-320-2015
Groups Request Special Prosecutor for Bush, Cheney
Statement on Prosecution of Former High Officials
WASHINGTON
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
https://afterdowningstreet.org/robertjackson
Signed By:
Progressive Democrats of America
https://pdamerica.org
Center for Constitutional Rights
https://ccrjustice.org
The National Lawyers Guild
https://nlg.org
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund
https://americanfreedomcampaign.org
High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project
https://www.highroadforhumanrights.org
After Downing Street
https://afterdowningstreet.org
Democrats.com
https://democrats.com
Gold Star Families for Peace
https://cindysheehansoapbox.com
Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserve Colonel and US diplomat
https://voicesofconscience.com
Delaware Valley Veterans for America
https://delvalvets4america.org
Voters for Peace
https://votersforpeace.us
Wisconsin Impeachment / Bring Our Troops Home Coalition
https://impeachwi.com
Backbone Campaign
https://backbonecampaign.org
CODE PINK: Women for Peace
https://codepink4peace.org
Velvet Revolution
https://velvetrevolution.us
Justice Through Music
https://jtmp.org
Brad Blog
https://bradblog.com
Cities for Peace
https://citiesforpeace.org
National Accountability Network
Northeast Impeachment Coalition
https://neimpeach.org
Republicans for Impeachment
https://republicansforimpeachment.com
Op Ed News
https://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
https://progressive.org
Peace Team
https://peaceteam.net
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
https://afterdowningstreet.org/vips
Defending Dissent Foundation
https://defendingdissent.org
Grassroots America
https://grassrootsamerica4us.org
Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored
https://projectcensored.org
Peace Action
https://peace-action.org
Grandmothers Against the War
https://grandmothersagainstthewar.org
World Can't Wait
https://worldcantwait.net
United for Peace and Justice
https://unitedforpeace.org
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
https://space4peace.org
War Crimes Times
https://warcrimestimes.org
Veterans for Peace 099
https://veteransforpeace.org
Veterans for Peace 26
https://veteransforpeace.org
Veterans for Peace
https://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
https://ivaw.org
Daniel Ellsberg, Truth-Telling Project
https://ellsberg.net
Organizations and individuals can add their names to this statement at https://prosecutebushcheney.org
Progressive Democrats of America was founded in 2004 to transform the Democratic Party and U.S. politics by working inside and outside of the party by working to elect empowered progressives and by building the progressive movement in solidarity with with peace, justice, civil rights, environmental, and other reform efforts. For more information about PDA, please see PDAmerica.org.
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