Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: eims2000 who wrote (11249)	4/9/2003 4:51:25 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

my post really got to you, obviously. Which means there is a bunch of truth in it, I suspect.

To: eims2000 who wrote (11249)	5/16/2003 1:06:18 AM
From: Spytrdr	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

Lawsuit against US General Franks filed in Brussels Brussels, May 14, IRNA -- Nineteen victims of war crimes committed by American troops during the recent war against Iraq filed charges before the federal prosecutor in Brussels Wednesday. The Belgian lawyer of the plaintiffs, Jan Fermon, told a press conference this afternoon that 17 of the victims are Iraqi citizens and two Jordanians -- the father and wife of the al-Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayoub who was killed by an American missile in Baghdad. The complaint, he said, is directed against US soldiers who are not identified at this stage -- and two top US military officers, General Tommy Franks and Commander Brian McCoy who led the military operations in Baghdad. The lawsuit says that the top US military brass ordered war crimes or did not prevent others from committing them or for providing protection to the perpetrators. He said five types of incidents are included in the lawsuit, bombing of civilian targets, aggression against the press, use of cluster ammunition against civilian targets, aggression against medical personnel, looting of cultural goods and institutions. Fermon said the complaint was filed on the basis of the Geneva convention and the Belgian law of 1993 on 'universal jurisdiction' that allows Belgian courts to accept cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes regardless of the place of the crime or the nationality of the accused. Fermon, however, noted that law has been changed recently under which the federal prosecutor has the possibility to dismiss the case if the victims and the accused are not in Belgium or to refer the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or forward it to the courts of the country of origin of the accused. Speaking at the jam-packed press conference at the International Press Center, he explained that the US is not a signatory to the ICC, and moreover if the case is referred to the US court impartiality cannot be guaranteed. Fermon said he hoped that a Belgian prosecutor would be appointed to investigate his case. Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the US State Department demanded the intervention of the Belgian government to prevent the judiciary from investigating the case. US Congressman Gary Ackerman of New York has introduced a bill to forbid all collaboration with any state trying to exercise universal jurisdiction, and in particular with Belgium. Dr. Colette Moulaert and Dr. Geert van Moorters who were on a humanitarian mission for the NGO -- medical aid for the Third World -- and stayed throughout the war in Baghdad related their 'shocking experiences' to the press. The two doctors have documented the victims' testimonies . "I personally saw tens of children with amputation or wounds that would lead to amputation," Moorters said. NK/AH/RR End