"PRELIMINARY FINDINGS
ON INDICTMENTS ISSUED BY THE
INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY
ON CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY COMMITTED
BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION"
The following is a summary of our findings for each of the five indictments:
Wars of Aggression
The evidence is overwhelming that the Bush Administration authorized and is conducting
a war of aggression against Iraq in violation of international law, including The Nuremberg
Principles, Geneva Conventions of 1949, the United Nations Charter, and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. In doing so, the Bush Administration has committed war crimes
and crimes against humanity.
Torture, Rendition, Illegal Detention and Murder Indictment
There was substantial evidence submitted through testimony and documents that the
Bush Administration committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in conducting its “War
Against Terror.” It did this by developing and implementing policies and practices that violated
international law and international human rights to force information from detainees and to
1 (The indictments were served on both Counsel to the President Harriet Miers and Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales on January 10, 2006. At that time the administration was invited to
submit evidence. It did not do so. We forwarded the second request to them on January 30,
2006 by overnight mail.)
punish those whom it believes may be “enemy combatants.” It has engaged in a systematic
process of denials and specious reconfigurations of international and domestic law to justify its
actions.
Global Warming
The testimony of scientists and the scientific reports and other documents submitted
during the inquiry support a conclusion that the Bush Administration has committed crimes
against humanity by its environmental policies and practices. These policies and practices
appear to support corporate interests while denying the overwhelming evidence that greenhouse
gas emissions are irreversibly damaging the world environment and causing present day injury to
people throughout the world.
Global Health including HIV/AIDS and Family Planning
The jurists are still receiving and reviewing voluminous documentation concerning this
indictment. The jurists, therefore, have not reached a preliminary determination on this
indictment and will publish its findings in its final report.
Hurricane Katrina
The evidence of the Bush Administration’s conscious and deliberate failings in
preventing the foreseeable devastation, including death toll, caused by Hurricane Katrina,
particularly in New Orleans, and its failure to respond efficiently and appropriately after the
Hurricane was overwhelming. Its failures constitute crimes against humanity. The record is
replete with evidence that the systemic historical racial and class based discrimination suffered
by many of those who lost so much as a result of Hurricane Katrina was made worse as a result
of the Bush Administration’s conduct."
(continued)
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