Understanding the Demands Strategy

By Patrick O'Connell
South Bay Mobilization to Stop the War

Anyone willing to realistically assess the slaughter the US has just launched on the sovereign nation of Iraq should understand that this is an illegal war. Even those who are currently supporting the troops may know in the back of their minds that what we are doing is wrong. Our job is to force into the public consciousness the fact that this war is not only wrong, it is illegal on many grounds.

The most sensible way to make this argument is to demand that those responsible be prosecuted for the crimes they are committing now and have been committing over the past 12 years. This invasion is not a new war, it is the final episode of a slaughter that has been knowingly and willingly carried out against the people of Iraq over 12 agonizing years. This slaughter began with the first Gulf War in 1991, was carried on through the sanctions imposed upon the people of Iraq and is concluding with the final invasion begun on Thursday, March 19, 2003.

The goal of this campaign is to raise the awareness of the criminal nature of this war in the public consciousness, in the US and then throughout the world. It began when we made the initial demand on the US Attorney to prosecute the criminals responsible for the crimes outlined in the Demands on Monday, March 24, 2003 in San Jose, California. On that day, the US government and everyone responsible for planning, allowing and participating in these crimes, were put on notice that the people of the world will not rest until they are all brought to justice.

Crimes

Of the crimes we list, the crime of genocide is the most legally relevant. The US Congress made genocide a crime within the US when it passed the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987. In this law, genocide is defined as:

"1091. Genocide

"(a) Basic Offense-Whoever, whether in time of peace or in time of war, ...with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such-

"(1) kills members of that group;

"(2) causes serious bodily injury to members of that group;

"(3) causes the permanent impairment of the mental faculties of members of the group through drugs torture or similar techniques;

"(4) subjects the group to conditions of life that are intended to cause the physical destruction of that group in whole or in part shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).

"(b) Punishment for basic offense-The punishment for an offense under section (a) is-

"(1) in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(1), a fine of not more than $1,000,000 and imprisonment for life;

"(2) a fine of not more than $1,000,000 or imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both, in any other case.

"(c) Incitement Offense-Whoever in a circumstance described in subsection (d) directly and publicly incites another to violate subsection (a) shall be fined not more than $500,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."

The crimes we list focus on the deliberate targeting of the civilian infrastructure in Iraq during the first Gulf War, with full knowledge of the rampant disease and death that would result, as well as the sanctions that had the same effect, and the current plans being carried out as I am writing this to target this same infrastructure in the "Shock and Awe" campaign.

It is quite obvious that targeting the electrical grid, and water and water purification systems, and then refusing to let Iraq have the chemicals and equipment needed to repair these facilities would, in fact, subject the Iraqi people "to conditions of life that were intended to bring about their physical destruction, in whole or in part." And the most heinous aspect of this action is that it was knowingly carried out with full knowledge that massive suffering and death of innocent children would be the result. Our government knew exactly what they were doing. When 60 Minutes confronted Secretary of State Madeline Albright with the fact that over 500,000 innocent children had died as a result of the sanctions, she said that was a price "we are willing to pay."

It is hard to imagine such evil. What is also clear is that they knew what was happening to the children of Iraq. Recently declassified defense documents are proof that they knew what the consequences of their actions would be. When you carry out a program with full knowledge of its consequences, that implies intent. It makes no difference if they have not declared their intent was to murder innocent Iraqi men, women and children. The fact that they knew that this would be the result of their bombing the civilian infrastructure and the sanctions imposed after the war. Added to this is the unprecedented bombardment of Iraq through "Shock & Awe," the goal of which is to have the same impact upon the people of Iraq as the dropping of nuclear bombs had on the people of Japan.

Every one of the congresspeople who voted to give their war powers responsibilities to President Select Bush are guilty of section (c) the Incitement Offense.

In addition, we are calling for the prosecution of the criminals who have carried out these and other acts for crimes against the peace, crimes against humanity, war crimes and violating the Charter of the United Nations. The U.S. Attorney may claim that these are international treaties and do not fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Attorney. In reality, our treaties are the highest law of the land, according to the Constitution of the United States. So, they do have an obligation to prosecute criminals that break international law. It is our duty to see that they do it.

Building a Movement

I believe that this is the perfect action to maintain the momentum the anti-war movement has built up throughout the world. Without a focus, the movement will fall apart. It is clear that most governments have neither the will nor the power to stand up to the US. But, with the backing of the millions that have joined together over the past three months to stop this war, they will have the authority to take this stand and confront the criminal nation that the United States has now become.

People all over the US can bring the Demands to the US Attorney in their communities. After the initial submission, this action can be repeated over and over and over until the demand is met. Offices can be occupied, buildings can be closed down, citizens' arrests can be made (especially useful during the upcoming presidential campaign!), all with the goal of demanding that our country prosecute criminals that have carried out the most heinous crimes - crimes against innocent children. As we build a resistance movement that is growing every day and demanding the US follow its own laws, they will eventually need to respond.

As our movement grows, we can add to the list of criminals we are demanding be prosecuted. If we believe these crimes (genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the peace) have been committed, then it follows that those responsible are criminals. The list of criminals can expand or be tailored to meet the needs of certain communities.

We need to understand that it is not a good idea to expect any justice immediately. What we are doing with this campaign is exposing the fact that this twelve-year war against the people of Iraq is in fact genocide and if our laws mean anything, then the criminals responsible need to be prosecuted. Our audience is the people of the US. Once they become aware, it is up to them decide if they want to allow these crimes to be carried out in their name. By taking persistent, creative action, we will force them to either accept these crimes or join with us to see that they are prosecuted. This is what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called "creative tension". Most of the time, people don't really have to choose sides, so business (genocide) is allowed to go on as usual.

No matter how powerful this administration appears to be, with its blatant disdain for the will of the UN Security Council, breaking numerous treaties and implementing the Patriot Act and setting up the Department of Homeland Security, this power is very tenuous. Even the smallest, least powerful countries in the Security Council refused to bow to relentless threats and bribery. And there are many in the administration that do not support the drive toward global dominance that are at the heart of the administration's policy.

Daniel Ellsberg is a very important example to remember. He was a defense analyst and played an important role in developing military policy in Vietnam in the early sixties. He was an extreme hawk. He wanted to win. But when he was sent to Vietnam to investigate inconsistencies in the reports he was receiving about how the war was going, he began to understand how a great deal of what had been told to the American people had been lies used to justify the war. This shocked him. And when her returned home, he was given a copy of a secret history of America's involvement in the war in Vietnam (over 7,000 pages long), that documented many of the conclusions he had already come to. He knew that he had to do something. He went to a War Resisters League Rally and heard a speaker tell the crowd that he would be going to jail for 2 years as an act of resistance to the draft. He decided that he had to do what he could - he copied and released the secret history of the war in Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers, to the New York Times and other newspapers. When the people read the lies they had been told to justify this war, the public opinion shifted and the war came to an end within two years. In a recent speech, Ellsberg tells us that there are many people in the government, just like him, that have this administrations version of the Pentagon Papers to release to the public. Our job is to raise the lawlessness of this policy up in so many places in so many creative ways, that these "Ellsbergs" will step forward and provide us with the new Pentagon Papers that will bring this administration down!

Political, Not Legal Strategy

It's important to understand that this strategy is a POLITICAL ONE, NOT A LEGAL ONE. This means that we are using the courts to expose the lawlessness of this administration, not that we believe that the legal system is our solution. Though we KNOW that our case is right and just, we can't afford to get caught up in the legal process. We can use the legal system to point out the injustice and contradictions of our government as we build a movement that will eventually be powerful enough to eventually exact some justice in a people's tribunal. But that is a few years down the road. We can use this campaign to confront the administration so forcefully that they will be unable to continue their war for complete domination of the world.

We can also use the courts in another way, through our defense if they choose to arrest us while we confront them with the truth about the crimes being carried out in our names. Any act that we take to resist or halt these crimes can be defended as lawful resistance. This is a crime prevention defense, in which we show we had "a reasonable belief that a public offense is taking place and that we took reasonable action to terminate or prevent it." We have the right and duty to use whatever force is necessary to prevent the crime now taking place in Iraq, with other countries soon to follow. So, we don't say that our resistance is civil disobedience, but that we are actually using our right to lawfully resist this crime. We are not breaking any law but are doing our best to force the government to follow its own laws. Again, this is not a legal defense, it is a political defense. This means that we use the courts to advance the struggle, understanding that we will probably not receive justice because it is pretty much nonexistent, even though we know we have truth and justice on our side.

Escalation

There are many questions as to where do we go after we have taken the first step of presenting our demand to the U.S. attorney of our region. As in any growing movement, the key to keeping up momentum is creativity. Each area needs to analyze what is the most effective action to take in their area. There is no rule book or "right thing" to do here. The main things to look for are targets in your communities where there is a direct link to the genocide and other crimes listed in the Demands. This could be anything: local congressional representatives, corporations that are directly involved with providing the military machinery or the infrastructure necessary to wage this war, maintaining the focus on your U.S. attorney or whatever. It will take some investigation, but once you have found it, it's real important to keep the pressure on once you've started. Again, it's a matter of creativity.

This also means escalating our resistance until our demands are met. The key to nonviolent resistance is persistence. This does not mean constant, dull repetition of our actions. It means constantly confronting and exposing this genocide to our community in new creative ways until it is forced to do something about it. At times, this means constantly escalating our tactics of resistance, to force change. And at times it means organizing and taking part in community building activities. Remember, we're talking about building a movement, which is a process that takes place over time.

For our organizing work to be effective, we must work on many different levels at the same time. This means raising humanitarian aid so that the devastation of the war is kept to a minimum. It means taking the Demand to community groups and building support and endorsers for the demand from leading organizations in your community. It means turning out to support the work of local groups that are raising the issue of how the funding being used for war could be better used in our communities (housing , education, affordable medical, etc.).

Carrying on the Dialogue about the Legitimacy of War

As Robert Muller, who was one of the founders of the United Nations, recently pointed out that the people of the world have joined together to question the very legitimacy of war these past few months. What's most incredible is that this has happened before the war against Iraq was even launched. This is an unpresidented event in human history.

This campaign is a very direct way to ensure that this dialogue continues and expands, until one day war itself will become illegitimate. One important way of ensure this happens is for the people of the world to join together to enforce the current laws and bring war criminals in their own countries to justice. At the heart of this strategy is the fundamental understanding that we, the people, are responsible bringing the crime of war to an end. We, the people, do have the power. It is now time for us to take this power and create a future for the children of the world where war is no longer waged against them.

What YOU Can Do

If you live in the South SF Bay Area, join our campaign. We need your creativity, skills and active involvement to make this campaign a success. Call the South Bay Mobilization to Stop the War at 408-998-8504 or email Patrick O'Connell at patoc@pacbell.net. We are looking for folks who are interested in lawful resistance and lawyers who would help with our defense, as well as folks who would work on the media, community outreach and other similar functions. It takes a community of committed people working together for this campaign to work.

If you would like to initiate a Crimes Campaign in your community, please let us know and we can get your contact info up on our website, so others in your area can join you. We have Word docs of the Demands and our documentation available on our website at www.southbaymobilization.org/actions/demands/documentation.htm.

We would like to build a very strong case and need more documentation. If you have any articles, reports or books to suggest, please email them to us immediately. And if you are a lawyer and would like to provide legal support and advice, that would be very welcomed as well.