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Nada
Posts:387
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Posted:05/21/2007 12:15 PM |
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Dear All:
This coming Saturday, May 26, we here in the Northeast have a remarkable
opportunity to make a global political statement about the Iraq War, and one
of the world's chief war criminals - Richard Cheney - simply by showing up
at West Point in Highland Falls, New York.
"Defendant" Cheney is the main speaker at West Point's graduation
ceremony, which starts at 8:30 a.m. Try to be there by 8.
What we need at West Point next Saturday morning is a massive FLOOD of
people on the scale of Woodstock. Come on, I'm not kidding, keep reading.
There are hundreds of thousands of people in the Northeast who detest this
war and Bush/Cheney. If even 10,000 show up at West Point, we will be
sending a stunning message to the Congress to stop this war and prosecute
Bush/Cheney. We will be letting the world know that there are huge masses
of caring, responsible human beings in this country.
Highland Falls is a tiny town at the front gate of West Point. One
approach is over small, winding Route 6/202 on the eastern cliffs of the
Hudson, with a crossing at the Bear Mountain Bridge that takes you to 9W,
then north to Highland Falls. 9W comes up along the western side of the
Hudson and down from Newburgh. Our dream is that these roads will be
PACKED, that there will be lines of cars and buses coming across the Bear
Mountain Bridge and that Highland Falls will be wall-to-wall people.
We want the television networks to put in emergency calls for helicopters
to get up the Hudson to see what is going on.
This is one week away. Please decide to do this. Please cancel
appointments, postpone shopping, bring the kids, aunts and uncles, grandma
and grandma, mom and dad, friends, people at work, husbands, wives, cousins
and anyone you can drag along.
Defendant Cheney flies around the world, snarling, intimidating,
threatening, lying, smirking at torture and death. On Saturday, May 26,
Defendant Cheney has to come here to try to prop up his failed war. He
intends to use the young, innocent faces of the West Point cadets to help
himself, knowing full well that the blood of some of them will soon be
flowing onto the floors of the combat operating rooms in Iraq.
On Saturday, this person is coming to us, he is in our territory, he is
ours. We have the opportunity and the responsibility to make sure that the
whole world knows that we, the people, are totally opposed to everything
that Defendant Cheney represents and has done to hundreds of thousands of
Iraqis and Americans.
And we can let him know how prison will feel. If he flies into West Point
in a helicopter we want him to see the thousands of people surrounding the
place, controlling the space. If he drives in, we want his motorcade
slowed by traffic and people. We want him to begin to have the feeling that
his control, his power, are slipping away. So if you don't make it into
downtown Highland Falls, you'll still be doing a great job.
We all know that a lot of talk and money goes into making us think that we
can't achieve peace and justice, that we have to sullenly comply with
conditions being imposed on us. We have an extraordinary chance next
Saturday to show otherwise.
Please recognize the power of your good will and be loyal to it.
See you Saturday.
In solidarity, Nick
For more information, see www.westpointrally. org
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hopefulstill
Posts:1
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Posted:02/25/2008 7:38 PM |
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I would like to coordinate drivers and those from the Hendersonville, NC, area who want to be there. You may email me at righton01@bellsouth.net. Need volunteer drivers first - and I presume riders will all want to chip in for fuel costs. Since there will be plenty of time to get back to this area during the day, we should not need a motel.
This article is really important and I hope you all will circulate it so that anybody going has the information.
THE ROLE OF CIVIL RESISTERS
IN AMERICA
In his demanding role as an educator, attorney, consultant, and respected expert witness on International Law, Professor Francis A. Boyle, Professor of Law at Northwestern University Law School, has been in the trenches TAKING ON THE “STATE CRIMES” OF VARIOUS U.S. ADMINISTRATIONS FOR CLOSE TO THIRTY YEARS.
CIVIL RESISTANCE has been the primary tool utilized by the activists in their legal-based, court room battles. As a result, THE CIVIL RESISTERS, he insists, HAVE BECOME THE “SHERIFFS and THE U.S. GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS COMMITTING THE CRIMES, HAVE BECOME THE OUTLAWS.”
Professor BOYLE UNDERSCORES HOW SUCCESSIVE U.S. ADMINISTRATIONS HAVE MANIPULATED THE PUBLIC IN ORDER TO JUSTIFY THEIR LAWLESS WAYS.
The Bush-Cheney Gang is one of his prime examples. He said that it is hell bent on stealing the “hydrocarbon empire from the Muslim states and people living in Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.”
Essentially, the government sells its foreign policy wrongdoings, like the war in Iraq, by posing a “Hobessian” choice to the people: It suggests that there are only two alternatives:
1. either THREATEN OR USE U.S. MILITARY FORCE in a particular situation; or,
2. ALLOW “THE ENEMIES TO PREVAIL.”
Professor Boyle insisted that THEY IGNORE A THIRD WAY:
3. DIPLOMACY, PEACEFUL RESOLUTIONS OF DISPUTES, THE APPLICATION OF THE RULES OF LAW AND THE TRADITIONS OF FAIR PLAY.
Professor Boyle labeled the CONFLICT IN IRAQ as “CRIMINAL,” and the FOREIGN POLICY OF THE BUSH-CHENEY GANG, which was FUELED, IN PART, BY THE RABID NEOCON IDEOLOGUES, “as out of control.”
How does civil resistance work within the framework of the American judicial system?
Well, Professor Boyle cited the “People v. Jarka” case, among other LANDMARK LITIGATION, to illustrate some of his key points. In 1984, activists protested in front of the Great Lake’s Naval Station base, which is located in Illinois, on Lake Michigan.
The focus of the demonstration centered on the issues of:
1. U.S.’s violence-producing “intervention in Central America;” and,
2. our country’s buildup of “offensive nuclear weapons.”
Ronald Reagan president at the time. The defendants were arrested, when they sat in front of the naval base, locked arms, and refused to be moved.
They were CHARGED by authorities WITH TWO CRIMES:
1. “mob action; and,
2. resisting arrest.”
The defendants, in “Jarka,” elected a trial by jury.
The trial judge, the Hon. Alphonse F. Witt, permitted testimony on their behalf from eight expert witnesses on INTERNATIONAL LAW.
The expert witnesses testified to the fact that:
The actions of the Reagan administration, in Central America, were in violation of well settled legal principles established by:
1. the UN Charter;
2, the Geneva Convention;
3. the Hague Convention; and, other precedents.
THEY TESTIFIED TO THE FACT THAT A NUCLEAR WEAPON would:
1. kill potentially hundreds of thousands of people; and,
2. cause horrific harm to “combatants and noncombatants alike;” and,
3. violate the principles of “NECESSITY AND PROPORTIONALITY” under International Law.
In Illinois, a defendant has a right, under certain circumstances, to raise the Common Law defense of “NECESSITY.”
In other words, the defendants were permitted to argue to the jury that their supposed criminal conduct, [the blocking the road into the base], was justified’ in order to:
“avoid a public or private injury ‘greater’ than the injury that might reasonably result from his or her own conduct.”
Judge ALPHONSE WITT actually INSTRUCTED THE JURY THAT “THE THREAT OR USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS VIOLATED INTERNATIONAL LAW.” Needless to say, all the DEFENDANTS WERE ACQUITTED.
The “Jarka” case also SPOTLIGHTS ONE OF THE HALLMARKS OF A CIVIL RESISTANCE ACTION:
The DEFENDANTS IN IT SINCERELY BELIEVED that they “HADN’T VIOLATED” ANY CRIMINAL LAWS.
Professor Boyle put it this way:
“From their perspective, [it’s the] U.S. government officials [who are] on trial...Civil resisters disobeyed nothing--to the contrary:
THEY OBEYED INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.”
In “Jarka,” Professor Boyle served as counsel to the LAWYERS HANDLING THE PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE, and also in a companion matter of “Chicago v. Streeter.”
He praised the work of all of the trial lawyers involved in the two cases, and also the “VIGOROUS EFFORTS OF THE ‘LAWYERS COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR POLICY’ (LCNP).”
Professor Boyle also discussed cases involving the crime of Trespass. It’s A “SPECIFIC INTENT” OFFENSE and is one of the charges usually leveled at someone for participating in a civil resistance action. IN ORDER TO CONVICT, however, the government must prove that the defendant acted with an “unlawful purpose.”
Often, in order to make their point about government evildoing, a “resister” will go ON THE PROPERTY OF A FEDERAL FACILITY, LIKE THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY OR THE PENTAGON, WITHOUT PERMISSION.
“The defendant did not do so for an ‘unlawful’ purpose, but
-was instead acting for the express purpose of upholding the requirements of international law...
-in order to prevent the commission of international crimes by U.S. officials there and elsewhere.”
Professor Boyle highlighted some of the antiwar groups in the country who have utilized “Civil Resistance” over the years:
**The legendary
**Gulf War Resisters
**Anti-Apartheid Movement
**Greenpeace
**Sacred Earth
**Sanctuary Movement
**Pledge of Resistance, among others.
PROFESSOR BOYLE SAYS that:
BY THE YEAR 2004,
“NUCLEAR RESISTER” had estimated that
THERE WERE MORE THAN, “9,400 ANTIWAR-RELATED ARRESTS
IN THE U.S. ALONE.”
All of this caused Former Attorney General Ramsey to remark:
“Our jails are filling up with saints.”
*****Law Prof. Boyle calls for Civil Resistance: Today's civil resisters are the sheriffs.
The Bush Jr. administration officials are the outlaws!
Prof. Francis A. Boyle
Global Research
Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:46 EST
Esteemed Professor and Law Expert Francis A Boyle says 9/11 was allowed to happen, war on terror is facilitating the downfall of The Republic, concentration camps are in place and US citizens are the targets
Since the impeachable installation of George Bush Jr. as President by the U.S. Supreme Court's Gang of Five, the people of the world have witnessed a government in the United States that has demonstrated little if any respect for fundamental considerations of international law, human rights, or the United States Constitution.
Instead, the world has watched a comprehensive and malicious assault upon the integrity of the international and domestic legal orders by a group of men and women who are thoroughly Machiavellian and Straussian in their perception of international relations and in their conduct of both foreign affairs and American domestic policy.
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