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THE INDICTMENT
Submitted to the Independent Commission of Inquiry to Investigate
U.S./NATO War Crimes Against the People of Yugoslavia
by Ramsey Clark
July 30, 1999
Complaint
Charging William J. Clinton, The Government Of The United States, NATO
And Others With International Crimes And Violations Of International
And Domestic Laws Causing Deaths, Destruction, Injury And Suffering.
The Charges
- Planning and Executing the Dismemberment, Segregation and
Impoverishment of Yugoslavia.
- Inflicting, Inciting and Enhancing Violence Between and Among
Muslims and Slavs.
- Disrupting Efforts to Maintain Unity, Peace and Stability in
Yugoslavia.
- Destroying the Peace Making Role of the United Nations.
- Using NATO for Military Aggression Against, and Occupation of, Non
Compliant Poor Countries.
- Killing and Injuring a Defenseless Population Throughout
Yugoslavia.
- Planning, Announcing and Executing Attacks Intended to Assassinate
The Head of Government, Other Government Leaders and Selected
Civilians.
- Destroying and Damaging Economic, Social, Cultural. Medical,
Diplomatic and Religious Resources, Properties and Facilities
Throughout Yugoslavia.
- Attacking Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Population
of Yugoslavia.
- Attacking Facilities Containing Dangerous Substances and Forces.
- Using Depleted Uranium, Cluster Bombs and Other Prohibited
Weapons.
- Waging War on the Environment.
- Imposing Sanctions Through The UN That Are A Genocidal Crime
Against Humanity.
- Creating An Illegal Ad-Hoc Criminal Tribunal To Destroy And
Demonize Serb Leadership.
- Using Controlled International Media To Create and Maintain
Support For the U.S. Assault And To Demonize Yugoslavia, Slavs, Serbs
and Muslims As Genocidal Murderers.
- Establishing The Long term Military Occupation Of Strategic parts
of Yugoslavia By NATO Forces.
- Attempting to Destroy the Sovereignty, Right to Self
Determination, Democracy and Culture of the Slavic and Other Peoples
of Yugoslavia.
- The Purpose Of The U.S. Being To Dominate, Control and Exploit
Yugoslavia, Its People and Its Resources.
- The Means Of The U.S. Being Military Force and Economic Coercion.
Complaint
This Complaint Is Presented To End The Scourge of War, Prevent Future
Violations of Fundamental Human Rights, Protect International and
National Organizations, Governments and Institutions and To Hold Those
Convicted of the Violations Alleged Accountable for Their Acts.
The Governments, Organizations and Individuals Named Herein Are :
Charged
With Crimes Against Peace, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity And
Other Offenses In Violation Of The Principles of The Nuremberg
Tribunal (Nuremberg), the Hague Regulations (Hague) and Geneva
Conventions (Geneva) and Other International and National Laws;
With Grave Violations of the Charter of the United Nations (UN
Charter), the North Atlantic Treaty (NAT), other international
treaties, International Law, the Federal Constitution and Domestic
Laws of the United States, the Basic Laws of Other Nations Including
the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, Turkey, the
Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Spain and other Governments of NATO
members and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
With Grave Violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ICESCR), the Genocide Convention, and Other International
Covenants, Conventions, Treaties, Declarations and Domestic Laws named
herein.
(A)Defendants
- President William J. Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright, Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Commanding Generals,
Admirals, U.S. personnel directly involved in designating targets,
flight crews and deck crews of the U.S. military bomber and assault
aircraft, U.S. military personnel directly involved in targeting,
preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the government of the
United States personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent
violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to
be named.
- The United Kingdom, Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Foreign
Minister, the Defense Minister and Commanding Generals, Admirals, U.K.
personnel directly involved in designating targets, flight crews and
deck crews of the U.K. military bomber and assault aircraft, U.K.
military personnel directly involved in targeting, preparing and
launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the government of the United States
personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent violence in
Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to be named.
- The Federal Republic of Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the
Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister and Commanding Generals,
Admirals, German personnel directly involved in designating targets,
flight crews and deck crews of the German military bomber and assault
aircraft, German military personnel directly involved in targeting,
preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the government of the
United States personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent
violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to
be named.
- The Government of every NATO country that participated directly in
the assaults on Yugoslavia with aircraft, missiles, or personnel and
Commanding Generals, Admirals, NATO personnel directly involved in
designating targets, flight crews and deck crews of the NATO military
bomber and assault aircraft, NATO military personnel directly involved
in targeting, preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the
government of the United States personnel causing, condoning or
failing to prevent violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO
occupation and Others to be named.
- The Governments of Turkey, Hungary, Italy and others who permitted
the use of airbases on their territory to be used by U.S., or other
military aircraft and missiles for direct assault on Yugoslavia.
- The North American Treaty Organization (NATO), Secretary General
Javier Solano, Supreme Commander, General Wesley K. Clark
- For Condemnation: Each NATO member that voted to authorize
military assaults on Yugoslavia.
B. The Charges
- Planning And Executing the Dismemberment, Segregation and
Impoverishment of Yugoslavia.
The United States, Germany, NATO and other defendants engaged in a
course of conduct beginning in, or before 1981 intended to break the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into many parts, segregate different
ethnic, religious and other groups among and within newly balkanized
borders, weaken the Slav, Serb, Muslim and other populations by
causing and prolonging internal violence and by direct assaults by the
United States and certain NATO members. As a consequence Yugoslavia
which had 25 million people in an integrated society and economy is
now comprised of many small nations, the largest of which is Serbia.
Defendants intend to divide Yugoslavia until all parts of Yugoslavia
have fewer than 5 million people, each to be overwhelmingly of a
single ethnic origin and religion, to have severely impaired economies
largely dominated by foreign interests, in which two groups, Orthodox
Christian Serbs and Muslims suffer severest casualties, most extensive
property damage, a vast reduction of productivity now down by 3/4s, or
more, and a generation of impoverishment. U.N. Charter; Declaration on
the Inadmissibility of Intervention In The Domestic Affairs Of States
And The Protection Of Their Independence and Sovereignty (Non
Intervention Decl.), 1965 USGA Res. 2131.
- Inflicting, Inciting and Enhancing Violence Between Muslims and
Slavs.
The United States and other defendants engaged in a course of conduct
beginning in or before 1981, to cause Muslims and Orthodox Christian
Slavs to engage in protracted fratricidal violence, in wars of
attrition, similar to conflicts in Afghanistan and Chechnya between
Muslims and Russian Slavs, which caused death, destruction and
division in Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere between the groups and
dangerous frictions and enmity between two major enemies of the U.S.,
Slavic peoples and Muslims, in other regions, weakening both. Tactics
included both providing and depriving select Muslim groups of arms to
attack others, or adequately defend themselves in Bosnia; motivating,
training and supplying KLA with arms to attack Yugoslavia police and
military to seize control of Kosovo during NATO occupation and attack
Serbs and others; preventing outside efforts to prevent and control
the violence; committing, causing and condoning violence against
persons displaced by U.S. and NATO bombing campaigns, and by KLA and
Yugoslav police and military ground actions; causing and supporting
clashes between Yugoslavia military/police/civilian groups and
KLA/Kosovar paramilitary/civilian groups; condoning and failing to
prevent assaults on displaced persons returning to and persons who
remained in Kosovo, both before and after the NATO/U.S. occupation of
Kosovo. In 1999, the U.S. caused the largest numbers of deaths,
injuries and destruction by aerial and missile assaults against all
elements in the population and its life support systems. U.N. Charter,
Art. 2; Non Intervention Decl.; Resolution on the Definition of
Aggression (Res. on Aggression), 1997 UNGA Res. 3314.
- Preventing and Disrupting Efforts to Maintain Unity, Peace and
Stability in Yugoslavia.
From the beginning of its efforts to implement its plans for
dismemberment and destruction of Yugoslavia, the U.S. acted to prevent
any interference, negotiation, or other efforts within Yugoslavia, or
by other nations, leaders, or individuals to prevent the
accomplishment of its intended purposes. Its techniques included
political, military and economic threats and control of highly
publicized peace negotiations much like those at Dayton, Ohio, during
the Bosnia struggle, at Rambouillet, France, in 1988 which created an
appearance of earnest peace negotiations, but offered Yugoslavia only
two choices, agree to foreign military occupation, or expect a
devastating military assault. U.N. Charter; Non Intervention
Declaration; Resolution on Aggression; Pact of Paris 1928, Art I and
II .
- Destroying the Peace Making Role of the United Nations.
The United States acted and coerced other nations to act to block the
United Nations from performing its duties under the U.N. Charter to
prevent conflict, control violence and maintain peace in Yugoslavia in
violation of the Charter of the U.N. and threatening its viability as
a international institution capable of maintaining peace and ending
the scourge of war. U.N. Charter; Non Intervention Decl.; Resolution
on Aggression, Pact of Paris 1928, Art I and II.
- Using NATO for Military Aggression Against and Occupation of Non-
Compliant Poor Countries.
The United States acted and coerced other nations to act to cause NATO
to authorize direct military assaults on Yugoslavia in violation of
the U.N. Charter and the North Atlantic Treaty relying overwhelmingly
on U.S. weaponry and military technology and to cause NATO members to
provide and finance the majority of the military forces to occupy
Kosovo for the foreseeable future thereby employing the wealth and
power of the rich former colonial powers of Europe against the poor
and defenseless people of Yugoslavia. United Nations Charter; North
Atlantic Treaty 1949, Art.I.
- Killing and Injuring a Defenseless Population Throughout
Yugoslavia.
Beginning on, or before March 24, 1999, the United States, without a
declaration of war by the Congress, aided and abetted by certain NATO
members, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Spain and the
Netherlands, as well as Hungary, Croatia, Italy and others, commenced
a war of missile and aerial bombing assaults, often indiscriminate in
its targeting, against the populations of Yugoslavia intentionally
killing and injuring many thousands of Serbs, Kosovars, Romas,
Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, foreign nationals
throughout Yugoslavia with malice aforethought. Hague, Art. 22 and 23;
Geneva 1949, Art. 19;
Nuremberg, Principle VI a, b and c; U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 8,
cl.II.
- Planning, Announcing and Executing Attacks Intended to Assassinate
The Head of Government, Other Government Leaders and Selected
Civilians.
The United States planned, announced and carried out missile and
aerial bombardment attacks intended to assassinate the Head of
Government of Yugoslavia, members of his family, other government
leaders and selected civilians to destroy existing government
leadership and terrorize it and its closest personal support into
submission. U.N. Charter, Art. 2, Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons
(Protected Persons Convention); U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10; U.S.
Presidential Executive Order 12333 (Ex.Order 12333); Geneva
Conventions 1977, Protocol I Additional (Geneva 1977), Art. 48, 51.
- Destroying and Damaging Economic, Social, Cultural, Medical,
Diplomatic and Religious Resources, Properties and Facilities
Throughout Yugoslavia.
Beginning on, or before March 24, 1999, the United States, aided and
abetted by certain NATO members, including United Kingdom, Germany,
Turkey, Spain and the Netherlands and others including Croatia,
Hungary and Italy, commenced a systematic missile and aerial bombing
assault on resources, properties and economic, social, cultural,
medical, diplomatic and religious facilities intentionally destroying
and damaging them throughout Yugoslavia to crush the productive,
economic, social, cultural, diplomatic and religious viability of the
whole society. Hague, Art. 22 and 23; Geneva 1949, Art. 19; Geneva
1977, Protocol I, Additional, Art. 48, 52, 53; U.N. Charter, Art. 2;
Protected Persons Convention; U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10; Exec.
Order 12333; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 51; ICESCR.
- Attacking Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Population
of Yugoslavia.
Beginning on or before March 24, 1999, the United States, aided and
abetted by others, for the specific purpose of depriving the
population of Yugoslavia of food, water, electric power, food
production, medicines, medical care and other essentials to their
survival, engaged in the systematic destruction and damage by missiles
and aerial bombardment of food production and storage facilities,
drinking water and irrigation works for agriculture, fertilizer,
insecticide, pharmaceutical, hospitals and health care facilities,
among other objects essential to human survival. Hague 1907, Art. 22
and 23; Geneva 1949, Art. 19; Nuremberg 1970, Principles Via, b and c;
Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 54.
- AttackingFacilities Containing Dangerous Substances and Forces.
The United States attacked chemical plants and storage facilities,
petroleum and natural gas refining, processing and storage facilities,
fertilizer plants and other facilities and locations for the specific
purpose of releasing and scattering toxic, radioactive and other
dangerous substances and forces into the atmosphere, soil, ground
water and food chain to poison the environment and injure the
population. Nuremberg Principle VI, Hague, Art. 22 and 23, Protocol
for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or
Other Gases, Geneva 1925 (Poisonous Substances Protocol); Geneva 1977,
Protocol I Additional, Art. 48, 51, 56.
- Using Depleted Uranium, Cluster Bombs and Other Prohibited
Weapons.
The United States used prohibited weapons capable of mass destruction
and inflicting indiscriminate death and suffering against the
population of all Yugoslavia. Despite knowledge of its deadly long
term effect on life and warnings of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, the U.S. attacked Yugoslavia with depleted uranium
missiles, bombs and bullets spreading radioactive matter into the
atmosphere, soil, ground water, food chain and solid objects hit by
depleted uranium missiles, bombs and bullets placing the Yugoslav
population at risk of death, genetic damage, cancers, tumors, leukemia
and other injuries for generations. Cluster bombs were used
extensively spraying deadly razor sharp metal shards over wide areas
against hospitals, churches, mosques, schools, apartment developments
and other heavily populated places inflicting death, injury and
property damage. The use of other illegal weapons is under continuing
investigation. Hague, Art. 22 and 23, Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 51, 54,
55, POONA Indictment for the Subversion of Science and technology 1978
(POONA Indictment).
- Waging War on the Environment.
The United States aerial and missile assault intentionally created a
widespread, long term and severe environmental disaster in Yugoslavia.
Air pollution from overflights alone multiplied normal impurities in
the atmosphere. Thousands of tons of explosives unleashed enormous
quantities of chemicals into the air, raised clouds of dust and debris
from places hit and started fires that often raged for days. Chemical,
petrochemical, oil and gas refinery, storage and transmission
facilities purposely targeted in the vicinity of Belgrade, Novi Sad,
Nis and other major cities exposed huge populations to dangerous and
noxious pollution. Depleted uranium scattered across Kosovo and the
remainder of Serbia will threaten life for generations. Hague, Art. 22
and 23; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 51, 54, 55; Stockholm Declaration of the
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1972; Principles I,
II, (U.N. Conf. on Human Environment), et al.
- Imposing Sanctions Through The UN That Are A Genocidal Crime
Against Humanity To Achieve Impoverishment And Debilitation Of The
People Of Yugoslavia.
The United States began an economic attack on Yugoslavia designed to
break it up politically and tear it down economically before 1989. It
caused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to use its strongest
shock therapy to attack Yugoslav productivity, add to its foreign debt
burden and expose national wealth to foreign capital by forcing
removal of trade barriers and privatizing vital public industry,
commerce, utilities and facilities. In May 1991 U.S. Secretary of
State Baker stopped all U.S. aid programs to all six Yugoslav
Republics and vetoed future IMF credits, creating an enormous economic
incentive and powerful political argument for political opposition to
Belgrade to separate other Republics from Serbia. The U.S. forced U.N.
sanctions against Yugoslavia, but relieved Republics which seceded
from Yugoslavia of sanctions. Such sanctions devastated the entire
economy of Yugoslavia to the degree that a normal growth rate free of
U.S. coercion would require 30 years to return Yugoslavia to its 1989
levels of productivity. Per capita production value for all six
Republics of Yugoslavia in 1989 was $6220. Today for Serbia and
Montenegro, the remaining Republics of Yugoslavia, it is $1510. Ninety
percent of all trade was among the six republics before the break-up.
All former republics have suffered economically, but Yugoslavia now,
with barely 40% of its 1990 population, including Kosovo, has had a
far greater decline economically than the favored northern Republics
of Slovenia and Croatia which are today more overwhelmingly Roman
Catholic than before their secession. The sanctions against Yugoslavia
continue and Serbia, excluding Kosovo, is barred from receiving any
planned reparations and aid to rebuild from bomb damage and economic
attrition. The sanctions have had a far more damaging effect on life,
health, the economy and the quality of life in Yugoslavia than the
military assault, increasing death rates, lowering life expectation,
reducing nutrition and health care and driving production down. As in
Iraq, and elsewhere, the sanctions are an economic crime, a crime
against humanity and genocide. Nuremberg, Principle VI c, Crimes
Against Humanity; Genocide Convention; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 54, 55.
- Creating An Illegal Ad-Hoc Criminal Tribunal To Destroy And
Demonize Serb Leadership.
The United States acting through defendant Madeleine Albright coerced
the U.N. Security Council to create ad hoc criminal tribunals for
Yugoslavia and Rwanda in violation of the U.N. Charter to destroy and
demonize enemy leaders in those two countries and threaten leaders
elsewhere. The U.N. Charter does not authorize creation of criminal
tribunals. The U.S. strongly opposes the International Criminal
Tribunal treaty approved by 120 nations at Rome in July 1998 and in
the process of ratification by nations now, because it does not intend
to subject its leaders, or military forces to the jurisdiction of an
independent international Court and the rule of international law. By
targeting individual enemies in ad hoc courts and charging them with
genocide, it achieves their isolation internationally, pressures their
own countries to remove them from power, corrupts and politicizes
justice and uses the appearance of neutral international law to
adjudicate and punish enemies as war criminals and establish itself as
an innocent champion of justice. U.N. Charter, Statute of the
International Court of Justice (Statute ICJ); UDHR; ICCPR.
- Using Controlled International Media To Create Support For U.S.
Assaults Anywhere And To Demonize Yugoslavia, Slavs, Serbs and Muslims
As Genocidal Murderers.
The United States defendants have systematically controlled, directed,
manipulated, misinformed and restricted press and media coverage
concerning Yugoslavia and the U.S. assaults on it to gain public
support for the massive bombardment of a defenseless Yugoslavia,
including Kosovo, as had been done in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, the
Sudan and elsewhere. The international media has supported and
celebrated U.S. political goals of further fragmentation of Yugoslavia
and other areas, segregating each region; demonizing selected
government officials, other leaders, generals, military officers and
soldiers as genocidal murderers; controlling other nations by the
threat of popularly supported missile and air assaults and crippling
economic sanctions and stimulating acceptance and support from the
U.S. public for future operations against other nations and to
increase military budgets to support an expanding global role for U.S.
military presence and control.
- Establishing The Long term Military Occupation Of Strategic Parts
of Yugoslavia By NATO Forces.
The United States has coerced defendant NATO members and others to
provide and support military occupation forces for the occupation of
Kosovo, as it did in Bosnia, in order to physically control key parts
of Yugoslavia to enforce permanent separation and segregation of
States and peoples, to further injure the populations, to create
barriers to immigration from Asia Minor, Arab states in the Middle
East, North Africa, and former southern republics of the USSR, and
elsewhere; to provide a buffer between Europe and the regions
described by controlling the territory of divided, segregated and
impoverished Slavs, Serbs, Orthodox Christian, Kosovars, and others;
to exploit the resources of the region; and to prepare and condition
NATO members for future participation against other nations. U.N.
Charter; NAT, Art. I; Non Intervention Decl.
- Attempting to Destroy the Sovereignty, Right to Self
Determination, Democracy and Culture of the Slavic, Muslim, Christian
and Other Peoples of Yugoslavia.
The United States has attempted to destroy the Sovereignty of
Yugoslavia, the rights of its people to self determination, the
democratic institutions it has developed and its culture which defines
the heritage, values and traditions of its people. The United States
overthrew the democratically elected Mossadegh administration in Iran
in 1953 which it replaced with the Shah of Iran who ruled absolutely
for 25 years; the democratically elected Arbeny government of
Guatemala which was followed by forty years of brutal governments; the
democratically elected Lumumba government of the Congo in 1962, which
was followed by violent dictators to this day; the democratically
elected Allende government of Chile which promised health, education,
social and economic justice which was replaced by a reign of terror
and military dictatorship under General Pinochet now sought by Spain
and other nations for human rights violations; popularly elected
leaders in Vietnam, Pakistan, the Philippines, Panama, Haiti and
elsewhere were replaced by U.S. surrogates. The U.S. has opposed,
assaulted and blockaded Cuba and all its people for forty years. The
U.N. General Assembly voted 155 to 2 to condemn the U.S. for its
blockade of Cuba in December 1998. The U.S. has maintained repressive
governments on five continents in too many countries to name; all
seeking to destroy the cultures that define the people, their history,
character, values, arts, literature, music, with commercially
exploitive products having no substantive worth and one overriding
purpose B profits from the poor. A goal of U.S. policy is to entrench
the belief that only one system works, capitalism, that only one
culture has value, that of the U.S. and western European, and that
history will end with the globalization of U.S. culture. UDHR; ICCPR;
ICESCR.
- The Purpose of the U.S. Being To Dominate, Control and Exploit
Yugoslavia, Its People and Its resources.
The long term purpose of all the acts complained of is to dominate,
control and exploit the poor nations of the world and the poor people
of the U.S. and other rich countries to further enrich and empower
concentrations of wealth and neutralize the whole population of poor,
overwhelmingly darker skinned people with fear, powerlessness,
poverty, bread and circus.
- The Means of the U.S. Being Military Power and Economic Coercion.
The United States with a near monopoly on nuclear weapons, military
aircraft, missiles, advanced armored vehicles, firepower, equipment,
and highly sophisticated technology continuously expands its physical
power to destroy, expending more on its military power than the rest
of the UN Security Council combined. This year U.S. military
expenditures will be near 300 billion dollars. The demonized Peoples
Republic of China will spend 34 billion dollars, acquiring far less in
destructive power for each dollar. The U.S. sells more destructive
arms to other governments and groups seeking to overthrow governments
than the rest of the arms selling countries combined. Often the
intention is that they kill each other, a preferred means of achieving
domination. The U.S. does not sell arms it cannot destroy without
incurring significant casualties. The U.S. uses its enormous economic
power to coerce foreign governments to comply with its wishes, without
regard to the interests of the people of those foreign countries. The
threat of economic sanctions alone coerces countries to meet U.S.
demands contrary to their sovereignty and self interest.
ReliefSought
- Freedom for all Balkan peoples to form a federation of their
choice to provide political, civil, social, economic and cultural
independence and viability for all the peoples of the region.
- Comprehensive efforts to create mutual respect, common interests
and bonds of friendship among and between Muslims, Slavs and all
national, ethnic and religious groups in the Balkans.
- Strict prohibition on all forms of foreign interference with or
disruption of efforts to establish unity, peace and stability in the
Balkans.
- Restoration of peace making functions of the U.N. and reform of
the UN to make it effective.
- The abolition of NATO.
- Full accountability by individuals and governments for criminal
and other wrongful military assaults and economic injustice, including
sanctions inflicted on all the people of Yugoslavia, their lives,
resources, properties and environment to include criminal prosecutions
an reparations sufficient to place all the population in the condition
it would be in had it not suffered the wrongs inflicted on it,
together with resources with which to build a better future of the
peoples choice.
- Abolition Of the illegal ad hoc international criminal tribunal
for Yugoslavia and reliance on a legal international tribunal of
worldwide non discriminatory jurisdiction capable of equal justice
under the law.
- Providing adequate media access to inform the world of the human
destructiveness of the use of high technology weapons by the U.S.
against poor and defenseless people and the practice of genocide by
sanctions.
- Removing all foreign troops from the Balkans at the earliest
feasible moment and U.S. troops from NATO countries and elsewhere
immediately.
A broader range of relief and reform may be found in Chapter 12 of The
Fire This Time. It is drawn from the experiences and recommendations
of the Commission of Inquiry and the International War Crimes Tribunal
which heard evidence in 20 countries concerning the assault on Iraq in
1991, the continuing assaults on Iraq thereafter and the genocidal
sanctions which continue to this day.
Scope of the Inquiry
The Commission of Inquiry will focus on U.S. criminal conduct, aided
and abetted by NATO, because of the dominant U.S. role in the military
and other wrongful acts against Yugoslavia, without its incurring a
single casualty while causing thousands of deaths in Yugoslavia, the
peril of continuing U.S. conduct to all the people of Yugoslavia and
the risk of aerial and missile strikes against other nations in view
of the recidivist record of the U.S. The Commission of Inquiry will
seek and accept evidence of criminal acts by any person or government,
related to the conflict, because it believes international law must be
applied uniformly. It believes that a "victors? justice" is not law,
but the extension of war by force of the prevailing party. U.S.
propaganda and international media coverage has demonized Yugoslavia,
its leadership, Serbs and Muslims to fit its purposes, but rarely
noticed the criminal destruction of Yugoslavia by U.S. acts as set
forth in this complaint. Comprehensive efforts to gather and evaluate
evidence, objectively judge all the conduct that constitutes crimes
against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity and to present
these facts for judgment to the court of world opinion requires that
any serious fair effort focus on the United States. The Commission of
Inquiry believes its focus on U.S. criminal acts is important, proper,
and the only way to bring the whole truth, a balanced perspective and
impartiality in application of legal process to this great human
tragedy.
Ramsey Clark
July 30, 1999
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@iacenter.org
http://www.iacenter.org
phone: 212 633-6646 fax: 212 633-2889
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