Not In Our Name Statement of Conscience

Not In Our Name Statement of Conscience

Scope of Bush Crimes Shocking

Over the last two months, teams from the Bush Crimes Commission have fanned out across the country, speaking to audiences on 16 campuses, including Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford, M.I.T., U. of Chicago, and U.C.L.A.* We now have plans for major events in the fall, that will, with your help, continue to spread the testimony from the Commission and its findings.

In city after city, students, faculty, and community members were all moved by first-hand accounts of the crimes being committed in our name. Some of the key witnesses who testified had themselves been participants or eye-witnesses to these events who could no longer be silent. These included Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, former commander of all prison facilities in Iraq; Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan; Ray McGovern, the former CIA analyst who recently took on Donald Rumsfeld at a public program in Atlanta; Ann Wright, former U.S. diplomat in Kabul; Daniel Ellsberg; and many more.**

These programs gave students a sense of the scope of the shocking crimes being committed by this regime, and called them to action: to change the terms of debate on their campus and society as a whole. For once people grasp the enormity of these crimes, they cannot but feel an obligation to make them stop and to ensure that they never happen again.

Most came to these programs because they already held grave concerns for what the Bush regime is doing. But hearing the full scale and scope of crimes that shock the conscience of humanity caused audience members on campus after campus to tell us that this was the most powerful program they have ever been to. These are crimes against humanity, and they must be branded as such and those responsible must be held accountable.

Over this summer, we want to complete the set of DVDs that document the core evidence presented before the Commission. They will be something you can use in classrooms, at meetings and house parties, and for broadcast on local television. They will be a powerful weapon as we go into a tumultuous fall.

All this costs money. The spring tour cost over $18,000. The fall programs, which will include major forums in key cities, will cost at least $50,000 beyond the money raised in each locality.
$50 from each person receiving this mailing will ensure the completion of the DVD series right now, and prepare the printing of the Commission’s final verdict. So please give generously. You may contribute on line at www.nion.us/NSOC/sign.htm or make your check payable to Not In Our Name and mail to Not In Our Name, 305 West Broadway #199, New York, NY 10013.

Finally, we invite you to start participating in our new web site: www.bushcommision.org. Our redesigned site is interactive, and if you create a user account, you can post your comments on the work of the Commission (look for the “add new comment” at the bottom of most pages).

When we first set out last year to prosecute this administration for crimes against humanity, many were skeptical that the charges could be made to “stick.” Now, after the massacre at Haditha, international condemnation of Guantánamo, further destruction of the environment, sabotage of international programs to defeat AIDS, and the newest revelations that the levees around New Orleans were fatally flawed from the start, can there be any doubt?

Now the issue is, will millions get to see the hard evidence and act in time? What is the responsibility of each of to see that this happens?

* The complete of campuses, in chronological order, is Berkeley, Hawaii, Sarah Lawrence, John Marshall Law School, Lake Forest, Columbia College, Harvard, M.I.T, Berkeley (2nd time), Stanford, Santa Cruz, Sonoma State, Northwestern, U. of Chicago, UCLA, and U. of Washington. We did all these events in two months, which shows what becomes possible as people see the urgency of the situation.

** Other participants included Vanessa Brocato, Joshua Dawson, Larry Everest, Ted Glick, Clark Kissinger, Taigen Dan Leighton, Peter Phillips, Cindy Sheehan, Stephan Sonnenberg, Daphne Wysham, and Philip Zimbardo.