The BRussells Tribunal
People vs Total War Incorporated
Saterday 17 April 2004
Consistent with the tradition of the 1967 Russell
Tribunal on the
Vietnam
War and the work of the People's permanent tribunal
and other similar
tribunals such as the one held in Brussels in 1991,
The BRussells
Tribunal
met on 14-17 April 2004. This Tribunal is the opening
session of the
World
Tribunal on Iraq, a series of hearings scheduled to
conclude in
Istanbul in
2005.
The BRussels Tribunal focused on the programs and
policies proposed by
'The
Project for the New American Century' (PNAC), a
predominantly
neo-conservative 'think-thank' that has advocated
global US Hegemony,
primarily through the threat or use of military power.
The objective of the Tribunal, working as a commission
of inquiry, was
to
establish whether there was a link between PNAC's
proposals and the
foreign
and military strategy of the current US government,
and the subsequent
invasion and occupation of Iraq. The Commission also
examined the
impact of
policies and programs advocated by PNAC on the
stability and security
of
international relations.
To establish its findings and shape its report the
Commission heard
testimony from specialists on international affairs
and witnesses
knowledgeable about the current conditions in Iraq.
The Commission also
relied on PNAC's reports and official US government
documents, as well
as
written analyses.
The Commission came to the following conclusions:
1. The PNAC program consists of three main components:
a. To establish US hegemony in the new century,
relying primarily on
military and technological superiority;
b. To prevent the emergence of any competing global or
regional powers
by
imposing what is sometimes termed a 'Pax Americana';
c. To exercise pre-emptive action against all
perceived threats to
American
'interests' and security.
2. A significant number of signatories to PNAC's 1997
founding
Statement of
Principles became senior members of the current US
administration,
including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul
Wolfowitz. The adoption
of
those principles by this administration is evidenced
by official White
House documents such as 'The National Security
Strategy' of September
2002.
These principles have been put into action through the
2003 invasion of
Iraq.
3. According to a clear majority of States and a large
consensus of
legal
experts, the invasion of Iraq constitutes an act of
aggression, a
breach of
one of the most fundamental norms of the international
legal order.
This
demonstrates that the implementation of policies
emanating from PNAC
and
endorsed by the current administration runs counter to
the principles
of
the UN Charter and undermines the United Nations
itself, which bears
the
primary responsibility for the maintenance of
international peace and
security.
4. The invasion of Iraq has resulted in more than 10
000 civilian
deaths.
With each passing day of occupation, the number of
victims grows, as do
the
gross violations of humanitarian law and human rights,
such as
arbitrary
detention, ill-treatment and deprivation in regard to
basis needs. The
situation of the Iraqi people has clearly deteriorated
and the promises
of
democracy and freedom have proved to be illusory. The
constant use of
the
words 'democracy', 'freedom' and 'human rights' in
such a context
amounts
to a complete perversion of those terms.
5. Far from bringing stability and peace in Iraq and
the region, the
invasion and occupation have created instability and
chaos. Moreover,
the
deliberate destruction of Iraq has effectively
promoted the Israeli
government's policies of further annihilation of the
rights of the
Palestinian people. The Tribunal noted that PNAC
itself called
explicitly
in 2002 for the US administration to align itself with
the views of the
Israeli government. These developments increase
hostility between the
peoples of the region and the West, contrary to the
proclaimed
objectives
of making the world a safer place.
6. There is evidence of a consistent US Strategy, as
envisioned by the
PNAC
report entitled 'Rebuilding America's Defences', to
establish global
domination by military means. Contrary to claims that
this domination
would
be a 'benevolent hegemony', it is more likely to lead
to a state
permanent
war. PNAC policies are based on brutal unilateralism
and disregard for
legality. As such, the ideas of PNAC constitute an
intellectual crime.
The
war in Iraq is only one element of a global agenda
which is linked with
logics of the dominant economic system, inspired by
neo-conservative
ideology and supported by religious fundamentalism.
7. Due to the growing resistance encountered by the
occupying powers in
Iraq and other unanticipated difficulties, the US and
UK have made
cynical
requests for the involvement of the UN in Iraq,
thereby pre-empting the
sovereign rights of the Iraqi people to determine
their future. The UN
should avoid complicity with -let alone legitimise in
any way- the
illegal
invasion and occupation of Iraq. Any such action would
further
discredit
this world body. The UN should restore its legitimacy
through ensuring
the
complete withdrawal of all occupying forces and
assisting the Iraqi
people
in recovering their full sovereignty. Any involvement
of the EU, either
through NATO or the UN, should be based on the same
principles.
8. Finally, the Tribunal calls upon the peoples of the
world to demand
that
their governments
a. Deny military, political, financial or any other
support to the
occupying powers; and
b. Oppose the illegal implementation by occupation
forces or their
surrogates of any plans for the wholesale
privatisation of the Iraqi
economy.
The Tribunal also expresses its solidarity with the
Iraqi people and
its
support for their attempts at recovering their full
sovereignty.
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