Bradley Manning headed to prison, those who authorized torture go free

Former secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld shares a laugh with former president George W. Bush and former vice president Dick Cheney during his farewell parade at the Pentagon.

By: Matt Sledge, The Huffington Post

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/22/319865/manning-goes-to-jail-higherups-go-free/

Bradley Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday for releasing 700,000 documents about the United States' worldwide diplomacy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Manning was a 25-year-old Army private first class at the time of his arrest. He saw himself as an idealist acting to end the wars, and said in online chats with hacker Adrian Lamo that he was particularly concerned about the abuse of detainees in Iraq. No political or military higher-ups have ever been prosecuted for detainee abuse or torture in Iraq, Afghanistan or at Guantanamo Bay.

"One of the serious problems with Manning's case is that it sets a chilling precedent, that people who leak information ... can be prosecuted this aggressively as a deterrent to that conduct," said Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel and advocate in Human Rights Watch's U.S. Program. "Shouldn't we be deterring people who commit torture?"

Here are some of the individuals who have been involved since 9/11 in detainee abuse and torture, and potential war crimes, and have never been prosecuted.

George W. Bush

George W. Bush was president when the U.S. invaded Iraq based on faulty intelligence, tortured terror prisoners and conducted extraordinary renditions around the world.

"Enhanced interrogation," a Bush administration euphemism for torture, was approved at the highest level. A "principals committee" composed of Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft signed off on the methods.

"There are solid grounds to investigate Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Tenet for authorizing torture and war crimes," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, when the group released a report called "Getting Away With Torture" in 2011.

Dick Cheney

As Bush's vice president, Cheney pushed the nation over to the "dark side," as he called it, in the war on terror.

The U.S. used extraordinary renditions to swoop up terror suspects and send them to repressive regimes for torture. Cheney was the key driver in producing the faulty intelligence that led the U.S. into war in Iraq. And he steadfastly defended the CIA's use of water-boarding and other torture tactics on U.S. prisoners.

Cheney "fears being tried as a war criminal," according to Colin Powell's former chief of staff Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, but he never has been.

Donald Rumsfeld

One of the planners of the Iraq War, Rumsfeld steadfastly maintained while Defense Secretary under Bush that U.S. soldiers did not have an obligation to stop torture being used by their Iraqi counterparts. He also approved of "stripping prisoners naked, hooding them, exposing prisoners to extremes of heat and cold, and slamming them up against walls" at Guantanamo.

While deployed to Iraq, Manning discovered that Iraqi soldiers had arrested members of a political group for producing a pamphlet called "Where Did the Money Go?" decrying corruption in the cabinet of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"‘I immediately took that information and *ran* to the officer to explain what was going on," Manning wrote in the chat logs. "He didn’t want to hear any of it … he told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the FPs in finding *MORE* detainees."

George Tenet and CIA torturers

Tenet was the CIA chief who told Bush that the case for war with Iraq was a "slam dunk." Under his watch, the CIA waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Further down the chain of command at the spy agency, lower-level officers have escaped prosecution for killing a prisoner in Iraq and one in Afghanistan in CIA custody. Attorney General Eric Holder in 2012 ruled out prosecuting anyone responsible for those deaths.

In sharp contrast, former CIA agent John Kiriakou is currently serving a 30-month sentence for revealing to reporters the names of interrogators involved in detainee abuse.

Abu Ghraib higher-ups

Although low-level soldiers like former Army Reserve Specialist Lynndie England were court-martialed for their role in detainee abuse at this notorious prison in Iraq, graphically illustrated in photos, the only officer prosecuted in the case had his conviction tossed out.

A 2009 Senate Armed Services Committee report found that the abuses at Abu Ghraib were not the result of a few unmonitored bad apples but rather the direct result of "enhanced interrogation" practices approved of by officials much higher up in the Bush administration.

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Update: 11:55 am

Bradley Manning In His Own Words After Being Sentenced to 35 Years

Video Source: The Real News

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMtClazlfCc

Manning's attorney David Coombs reads American Hero Bradley Manning's statement after he is imprisoned for 35 years in a Military Prison.

Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison

US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning arrives alongside military officials at a US military court facility to hear his sentence in his trial at Fort Meade, Maryland on August 21, 2013. (AFP Photo / Saul Loeb)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/manning-sentence-years-jail-785/

A US military judge has sentenced Army Pfc. Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison. Manning faced up to 90 years behind bars, while prosecutors sought to put the whistleblower away for a minimum of six decades.

Manning will be credited with the 1,294 days he spent in pre-trial confinement plus an additional 112 days. He was also dishonorably discharged, saw his rank reduced to private from private first class and was forced to forfeit all pay and benefits. No additional fine, however, was levied against him. Manning will have to serve a third of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Col. Denise Lind, who on Tuesday began her deliberations in the court-martial case, announced the sentence shortly after 10am local time (14:00 GMT). Lind read out the sentence succinctly and provided no other statement as a gaggle of journalist’s waited in anticipation. Flanked by his lawyers, Manning, 25, stood at attention and appeared not to react when Lind announced the punishment, AP reports. He further made no statement after his fate was announced

Immediately after sentencing, Amnesty International called on President Barack Obama to commute Manning’s sentence to time already served to allow his immediate release.

"Instead of fighting tooth and nail to lock him up for decades, the US government should turn its attention to investigating and delivering justice for the serious human rights abuses committed by its officials in the name of countering terror,” said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International.

The American Civil Liberties Union was also quick to excoriate the decision.

“When a soldier who shared information with the press and public is punished far more harshly than others who tortured prisoners and killed civilians, something is seriously wrong with our justice system,” said Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project.

Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, decried the sentence as "unprecedented" in its magnitude.

"It's more than 17 times the next longest sentence ever served" for providing secret material to the media, said Goitein. "It is in line with sentences for paid espionage for the enemy."

Manning's lawyer David E. Coombs had asked the judge for leniency, requesting a sentence that did not “rob him of his youth." Coombs argued that Manning's leaks had not endangered the US.

The prosecution had sought a 60-year sentence, arguing the stiff term would deter others from leaking classified information.

"There's value in deterrence," prosecutor Capt. Joe Morrow said in his closing argument on Monday

 

Protesters with the Bradley Manning Support Network hold a vigil while waiting to hear Manning's sentence on August 21, 2013 outside the gate of Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. (AFP Photo / T.J. Kirkpatrick)

Last week the 25-year-old Manning apologized for the “unintended consequences” of his actions, saying he believed he was “going to help people, not hurt people."

He told the court at Fort Meade, Maryland, that "the last three years have been a learning experience for me."

WikiLeaks responded to Manning’s mea culpa, saying “the only currency this military court will take is Bradley Manning’s humiliation.” The anti-secrecy group continued that Manning’s “forced” apology was done in the hopes of “shaving a decade or more off his sentence.”

The soldier was convicted last month of 20 charges including espionage, theft and violating computer regulations. Manning was found not guilty, however, of the most serious charge – aiding the enemy – which entailed a potential sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

Manning faced up to 90 years in prison for passing on more than 700,000 Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports and State Department diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2010. He was later arrested in Iraq in May of that year.

He also leaked video of ‘Collateral Murder’ video, which shows a US helicopter attack in Baghdad in which at least nine non-combatants were killed, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.

Manning is entitled to appeal against any verdict handed to him by the court-martial in the Army Court of Criminal Appeal within six months.

Collateral Murder Bradley Manning Leaked Video Clip

Video Source: Sunshine Press

Manning's sentence unjustifiably harsh, crimes he exposed remain unpunished – Moscow

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/manning-russia-tough-sentence-799/

Moscow has slammed the “harsh” sentence for US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, saying it was apparently meant to scare away other whistleblowers, and was not in accordance with human rights standards.

“When the USA’s interests are at stake, the American judicial system, as in the case of Bradley Manning, takes unjustifiably harsh decisions based on the principle of 'let’s teach them so that it doesn’t become a habit' – and without any glance at the human rights aspects,” Russian Foreign Ministry’s special representative for human rights, Konstantin Dolgov told reporters on Wednesday.

Calling Manning’s case an example of US “double standards in regard with the supremacy of law and human rights,” Dolgov argued it showed that America’s claims for leadership in those respects are “groundless.”

The Foreign Ministry official then cited international human rights groups – including those in based in the US – who believe Manning has revealed “widespread abuses on the part of the US Army during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the deaths of civilian, the torture of prisoners, as well as the other grave abuses of the international human rights law. ”

Despite all the efforts of rights groups and the UN Human Rights Council, no one in the US was held accountable for these crimes, Dolgov added

----------------------------------------------------

FREE Bradley Manning!!! Jail the top brass of the US Military for their War Crimes in Iraq AND the US Government executive for their Aggressive war on the sovereign nation of Iraq!

Egypt court orders Mubarak release

 
Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/19/319478/egypt-court-orders-mubarak-release/

A court in Egypt has ordered former dictator, Hosni Mubarak, be released in one of the remaining corruption cases against him.

According to Egyptian Judiciary officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, a court on Monday ordered Mubarak’s release in a corruption case in which Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, are accused of embezzled funds to renovate presidential palaces.

The officials added that Mubarak could be freed this week, but the court has decided to keep his two sons in custody.

The former dictator has been ordered released in two other cases against him which are the killing of protesters during the 2011 revolution that ousted him, and illegal earnings.

Mubarak is being retried for the demonstrators’ killing. However, he cannot be kept in custody anymore due to a two-year limit pending a final verdict.

He is also facing trial on allegations of accepting gifts from state newspapers but has already repaid their value.

The former long time ruler was sentenced to life in prison in June 2012, but an appeals court later overturned the sentence and ordered a retrial.

Many revolutionaries in Egypt believe the former US-allied strongman should be sentenced to death over his leading role in killing demonstrators.

Saudi prince seeks to stop Mubarak trial

http://worldunitednews.blogspot.ca/2011/03/saudi-prince-seeks-to-stop-mubarak.html

Saudi King Vows support for Mubarak

http://worldunitednews.blogspot.ca/2011/01/saudi-king-vows-support-for-mubarak.html


 

Stiff sentences for writers, military and political leaders in Turkish coup plot trial

 

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/turkey-ergenekon-trial-verdict-041/

A Turkish court has handed down 17 life sentences in the ‘Ergenekon’ trial of nearly 300 alleged coup plotters, including for ex-army chief Ilker Basbug and several other ex-top brass, along with leftist party leaders and a journalist.

The other sentences in the case ranged from one year and three months to 117 years behind bars, and the charges included instigating an armed uprising against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government, “aiding a terrorist organization”and conducting anti-state activities.

Retired Brig. Gen. Veli Kucuk, who was convicted of founding and heading the clandestine, secularist ultra-nationalist organization known as Ergenekon, received a double aggravated life sentence as well as an additional 99 years and one month in prison.

Prominent civilian suspects in the case, including journalist Tuncay Ozkan, Workers’ Party leader Dogu Perincek, accused of “leading a terrorist organization,” and lawyer Alparslan Aslan, identified as the assailant in the Turkish Council of State attack also received aggravated life sentences with additional years of imprisonment from the court.

Only 21 defendants were acquitted, and 16 others were released after the court took into consideration the time they spent in detention during the 6-year trial.

The court’s verdict has not yet come into power, and indictments are to be reviewed by Turkish Supreme Court. Several defendants have already announced they will appeal.

Turkish security forces were braced for large protests from the opposition at Silivri prison, west of Istanbul, where the verdicts were announced.

Despite bans for rallies being issued prior to the verdict delivery, demonstrators started arriving to the courthouse since early in the morning. Critics of Erdogan’s government, including the main opposition party, have described the trial as a “political witch hunt” aimed at cracking down on the country’s strong secularist traditions.

RT’s Irina Galushko, reporting from outside the prison complex, said local media estimated the number of security personnel at 10,000, with 13 water cannons having been spotted at the site.

Reports emerged later of tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons being used against protesters who gathered outside the Silivri complex.

The 2,455-page indictment listed dozens of charges against the 275 defendants, including accusations of them being members of an alleged ultranationalist terrorist network Ergenekon, which, according to the court, conspired to overthrow Erdogan’s government. Prosecutors had insisted on life sentences for 64 of the defendants.

The case was opened in 2007 when 27 hand grenades were discovered in a house in Istanbul. Accusations soon began circulating that the explosives were intended to be deployed in an coup attempt. The number of suspects and allegations continued to balloon over the proceeding five years.

Army officers, politicians, scientists, journalists and lawyers would later be implicated in the scheme. All of the accused deny the charges which have been levied against them.

One of the most notable arrests was the January 2012 detention of ex-military chief Ilker Basbug. That members of the military feature so prominently in the case has sparked accusations that Prime Minister Recep Erdogan is attempting to purge the military in a bid to put it under his thumb. The Turkish military staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and also forced a pro-Islamist government out of office in 1997. Over the past weekend four senior military officials were dismissed from their posts.

“People here say that essentially Ergenikon is just a pretense under which the Prime Minister is taking people who he personally does not like and putting them in jail so as to get rid of dissident voices,” RT's Irina Galushko reports from Istanbul.

Critics of the case include the main opposition party, who argue the charges brought against the accused are vague and the trial has dragged on for a suspiciously long period of time. They have further decried the use of anonymous witnesses as unacceptable. Critics of the proceedings have further characterized it as a politically motivated attempt on the part of Ergdogan’s Islamist government to stifle secularist activists in the country.

“This trial has been ridiculous and it ends with the verdict expected from the beginning that will be no surprise for no one. And it will be the end of trust in Erdogan’s government for a lot of people and it also is the end for the judicial system of Turkey,” Yunus Soner, from the Workers Party of Turkey, told RT.

Court hearings concerning the so-called Ergenekon trial have regularly led to violent clashes between the defendants’ supporters and police.

The trial is wrapping up in an already politically volatile climate, as Turkey has witnessed anti-government rallies on a near weekly basis, with the latest having taken place over the weekend. Monday’s verdict is expected to trigger further unrest.

Key Sentences:

Military & Police

Life sentences or more: Former armed forces chief General İlker Başbuğ, Former army commander Hurşit Tolon, Retired Col. Dursun Çiçek, Retired Col. Fuat Selvi, Hasan Ataman Yıldırım, retired generals Nusret Taşdeler, Hasan Iğsız and Şener Eruygur, Retired Brig. Gen. Veli Küçük, Capt. Muzaffer Tekin.
49 years: Lt. Col. Mustafa Dönmez.
47 years: Retired Col. Arif Doğan.
41 years: Retired Maj. Fikret Emek

Politicians:

Life: Workers’ Party leader Doğu Perinçek.
21 years: Workers' Party Press Secretary Hikmet Çiçek.
15 Years: Workers' Party Secretary-General Ferit İlsever

Journalists, Academics, Lawyers:

 
Life: Journalist Tuncay Özkan and lawyer Kemal Kerinçsiz.
34 years: Journalist Mustafa Balbay.
22 years: Professor Yalçın Küçük

Mafia Bosses:

12 years: Semih Tufan Gülaltay.
10 years: Drug lord Sami Hoştan

Manning US Army like child torturing ants with a magnifying glass’ (FULL LEAKED TESTIMONY)

Source: Russia Today

A speech freedom advocacy group has released audio of Bradley Manning’s testimony about his motives for leaking secret US government documents to WikiLeaks. It marks the first time the public has heard Manning's voice since his 2010 arrest.

Defying the military's ban on making recordings at Manning’s pre-trial tribunal at the military court at Fort Meade, the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) has released Manning’s February account to the judge explaining why he exposed military secrets.

"We hope this recording will shed light on one of the most secret court trials in recent history, in which the government is putting on trial a concerned government employee whose only stated goal was to bring attention to what he viewed as serious governmental misconduct and criminal activity," the FPF said in a statement.

While unofficial transcripts of the statement are available, this is the first time anyone outside the court has heard Manning’s own explanation of how and why he gave the Apache helicopter video, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars Logs and State Department Diplomatic Cables to WikiLeaks

Freedom of the Press Foundation

Manning justifies his actions with a firm belief that what he identifies as US government wrongdoings need to be exposed in order to “spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.”

In the recording he goes on to accuse the army of “not valu[ing] human life," comparing servicemen "to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass."

In regards to the “Collateral Murder” video, which shows US Apache helicopters opening fire on and killing civilians, including journalists, Manning said “the most alarming aspect of the video to me, however, was the seemingly delightful bloodlust they appeared to have.”

The attacks footage received worldwide coverage following the release of 39 minutes of classified cockpit gunsight material in 2010, starting the controversy surrounding WikiLeaks and its whistleblowing founder Julian Assange.

Because recording is prohibited at Manning’s hearings, the Pentagon is pursuing measures that would strengthen security and prevent information leaks from the trial.

Military judge Denise Lind, who is trying Manning’s case, has been informed by the Department of Defense that there was "a violation of the rules for the court," a spokesman said in a statement sent to AFP, and that the “US Army is currently reviewing the procedures set in place to safeguard the security and integrity of the legal proceedings and ensure PFC Manning receives a fair and impartial trial.”

Twenty-five-year-old Private First Class Manning has been held in US military custody following his arrest in May 2010. He has pleaded guilty to 10 of the 22 charges set against him. If convicted, he could face 20 years in jail. He is pending trial as the prosecution still intends to pursue the 12 remaining charges.

Collateral Murder - Bradley Manning Leaked Video Clip

Obama fights ban on indefinite detention of Americans

(AFP Photo / Paul J. Richards)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-indefinite-detention-forrest-070/

The White House has filed an appeal in hopes of reversing a federal judge’s ruling that bans the indefinite military detention of Americans because attorneys for the president say they are justified to imprison alleged terrorists without charge.

Manhattan federal court Judge Katherine Forrest ruled in May that the indefinite detention provisions signed into law late last year by US President Barack Obama failed to “pass constitutional muster” and ordered a temporary injunction to keep the military from locking up any person, American or other, over allegations of terrorist ties. On Monday, however, federal prosecutors representing President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta filed a claim with the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in hopes of eliminating that ban.

The plaintiffs "cannot point to a single example of the military's detaining anyone for engaging in conduct even remotely similar to the type of expressive activities they allege could lead to detention," Obama’s attorneys insist. With that, the White House is arguing that as long as the indefinite detention law hasn’t be enforced yet, there is no reason for a judge to invalidate it.

Reuters reports this week that the government believes they are justified to have the authorization to lock alleged belligerents up indefinitely because cases involving militants directly aligned against the good of the US government warrants such punishment. Separate from Judge Forrest’s injunction, nine states have attempted to, at least in part, remove themselves from the indefinite detention provisions of included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, or NDAA.

In section 1021 of the NDAA, the president’s authority to hold a terrorism suspect “without trial, until the end of the hostilities” is reaffirmed by Congress. Despite an accompanying signing statement voicing his opposition to that provision, President Obama quietly inked his name to the NDAA on December 31, 2011. In May, however, a group of plaintiffs including notable journalists and civil liberty proponents challenged section 1021 in court, leading to Just Forrest to find it unconstitutional one month later.

"There is a strong public interest in protecting rights guaranteed by the First Amendment," Forrest wrote in her 68-page ruling. "There is also a strong public interest in ensuring that due process rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment are protected by ensuring that ordinary citizens are able to understand the scope of conduct that could subject them to indefinite military detention."

At the time Just Forrest made her injunction, attorney Carl Mayer told RT on behalf of the plaintiffs that, although he expected the White House to appeal, “It may not be in their best interest.”

“[T]here are so many people from all sides of the political spectrum opposed to this law that they ought to just say, 'We're not going to appeal,’” Mayer said. "The NDAA cannot be used to pick up Americans in a proverbial black van or in any other way that the administration might decide to try to get people into the military justice system. It means that the government is foreclosed now from engaging in this type of action against the civil liberties of Americans."

The original plaintiffs, who include Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges, have asked Just Forrest to make her injunction permanent. Oral arguments in the case are expected to begin this week.

Egyptians continue rally against Mubarak verdict

Egyptian demonstrators protest against verdicts passed in ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak's murder trial during a demonstration in Cairo on June 5, 2012

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/06/06/244817/egyptians-keep-up-rally-on-mubarak-rule/

Egyptians continue their million-man march in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez to voice their anger at the lenient sentence handed to ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The protesters gathered in the capital's iconic Liberation Square and other cities to urge the retrial of Mubarak and his two sons, demanding the death penalty for the octogenarian dictator.

The demonstrators also called for unity among all political parties to prevent the re-emergence of the Mubarak-era dictatorship.

On June 2, Mubarak and his interior minister Habib al-Adly were sentenced to life in jail for ordering the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the country’s historic revolution of February 2011.

Six top police commanders also faced the same charge for being involved in the killings, but were acquitted over a “lack of evidence.”

The court also dropped separate charges of corruption Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal faced.

The ruling sparked outrage among Egyptians, with thousands taking to the streets of Cairo, calling for the execution of Mubarak.

A group of protesters also stormed Mubarak’s last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq’s offices in the town of Fayyoum on Sunday morning after Shafiq said the verdict must be accepted.

The demonstrators also demanded that Shafiq be barred from the upcoming run-off presidential election.

Amnesty International also responded to the Cairo court’s decision, saying the life in prison ruling for Mubarak fails to deliver full justice.

Seeds of doubt: Brazilian farmers sue Monsanto

Machines lined up before harvesting soybeans at a farm in Tangara da Serra in Cuiaba, Brazil (Reuters / Paulo Whitaker)

Source: Russia Today
http://www.rt.com/news/monsanto-brazil-seed-soy-908/

Five million Brazilian farmers are locked in a lawsuit with US-based biotech giant Monsanto, suing for as much as 6.2 billion euros. They say that the genetic-engineering company has been collecting royalties on crops it unfairly claims as its own.

The farmers claim that Monsanto unfairly collects exorbitant profits every year worldwide on royalties from “renewal” seed harvests. “Renewal” crops are those that have been planted using seed from the previous year’s harvest. While the practice of renewal farming is an ancient one, Monsanto disagrees, demanding royalties from any crop generation produced from its genetically-engineered seed. Because the engineered seed is patented, Monsanto not only charges an initial royalty on the sale of the crop produced, but a continuing 2 per cent royalty on every subsequent crop, even if the farmer is using a later generation of seed.

"Monsanto gets paid when it sell the seeds. The law gives producers the right to multiply the seeds they buy and nowhere in the world is there a requirement to pay (again). Producers are in effect paying a private tax on production," Jane Berwanger, lawyer for the farmers told the Associated Press reports.

In the latest installment of the legal battle erupting in South America, the Brazilian court has ruled in favor of the Brazilian farmers, saying Monsanto owes them at least US$2 billion paid since 2004. Monsanto, however, has appealed the decision and the case is ongoing.

In essence, Monsanto argues that once a farmer buys their seed, they have to pay the global bio-tech giant a yearly fee in perpetuity – with no way out.

At stake is Brazil’s highly profitable and ever growing soybean production. Last year, Brazil was the world's second producer and exporter of soybean behind the United States, according to the AFP report. The crops can be used for anything from animal feed to bio fuel, and worldwide demand is growing.

Genetically engineered soy first appeared illegally in Brazil in the 1990’s, smuggled in from neighboring Argentina. The Brazilian farmers found the seed attractive despite the ban in place from the Brazilian authorities because Monsanto had specifically designed the seed to be resistant to its own immensely powerful and popular herbicide Roundup.

When used in tandem, the strong herbicide will kill the weeds while allowing the soy crops to grow unimpeded. After the ban was lifted, genetically modified seed flooded the Brazilian market, and now 85 per cent of the Brazilian soy crop is genetically-engineered. Soy has been extremely successful in Brazil, currently making up 26 per cent of the country’s farm exports last year and netting Brazil a total of $24.1 billion, according to AP. However, Brazil’s farmers were apparently unaware there would be a heavy price to pay.

To make a deal with Monsanto is to make a deal with a company that is one the most powerful and pervasive food giants in the world. It is the world’s number one seed developer, and its patented genes have been inserted into 95 per cent of all American soy, and 80 per cent of all American corn crops. Monsanto has repeatedly levied large damage suits against independent farmers that have unknowingly or unwittingly used their seed.

And Monsanto’s reach goes far beyond agriculture.

Monsanto is also the world’s largest manufacturer of synthetic bovine growth hormone, injected into cows in order to stimulate greater milk production. The widespread pressure by the company to use the chemical and the subsequent measures taken by Monsanto to suppress information regarding the potential health risks sparked uproar among American farmers.

When dairy producers that did not use Monsanto’s products began labeling their products as “Hormone Free” or “Organic”, Monsanto slapped them with a lawsuit as recently as 2008, claiming the labels amounted to negative advertising against hormone-produced milk.

Director of corporate communications for Monsanto, Phil Angell, summed up Monsanto’s take on the issue in a report by food author Michael Pollan for New York Times Magazine in 1998: "Monsanto should not have to vouch for the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is FDA's job.”

Turkish Court Indicts Senior Israeli Military Officials in Murders on Gaza Flotilla

Actual Video on board Mavi Marmara

Source Video: Cultures of Resistance.org

Article By: Col. Ann Wright

Original Source: War is a Crime

Source: Global Research

On the Second Anniversary of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, Turkish Court Indicts Senior Israeli Military Officials in Murders of Nine Passengers

Two years ago I was a passenger on the first Gaza Freedom Flotilla which was sailing to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. I watched from a small boat called the Challenger 1, as a much larger boat, the Mavi Marmara, with almost 600 passengers, was brutally attacked by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) commandos. 30 minutes later, our boat was attacked.

Using snipers from helicopters Israeli commandos shot many of the passengers on the exposed top deck of the ship. Other commandos in boats fired live ammunition, as well as percussion grenades, into all levels of the ship. As commandos repelled down from helicopters and boarded the ship, they executed at point blank range 5 passengers, including a 19 year old American citizen Furkan Dogan, whose body had five bullets including one to the back of his head. 9 persons, 8 Turkish citizens and one American citizen, were murdered and 50 others were wounded. One severely wounded Turkish man later died after being in a coma for many months.

Each of the six ships in the flotilla was attacked by IDF commandos. Passengers on the ships were shot with tasers and beaten by commandos. Potentially lethal paintballs were shot into the faces of passengers narrowly missing eyes and soft parts of the skull.

IDF commandos took the computers, cameras, identification and credit cards and several hundred thousands of dollars in cash from the passengers. IDF commandos sold many of the stolen computers. Very few of the items taken by the IDF have been returned to passengers.

The Mavi Marmara was returned to Turkey with a new coat of paint to cover the blood stains of those wounded and killed. The other five ships are still held by the Israeli government in the port of Haifa.

Turkish Court Indictment of Senior Israeli Military Officials

On May 28, 2012, almost two years after the Israeli attack, a court in Istanbul, Turkey, voted unanimously to approve an indictment against Israel's former military chief Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, as well as for Eliezer Marom, Amos Yadlin, and Avishai Levi, the former heads of the Israeli Navy, Air Force Intelligence, and Military Intelligence. If convicted, each faces nine consecutive life terms in prison for "inciting to kill monstrously, and by torturing." http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/turkish-court-charges-senior-idf-officials-over-gaza-flotilla-deaths-1.432983#article_comments

The indictment also charged several unidentified soldiers who shot passengers. The charges against members of the Israeli military include commandeering vehicles, voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder, persecution and causing damage to the ship.

The indictment specifies 490 victims and complainants, among them 189 who were injured during the raid. The indictment rejected Israeli claims that Israeli commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara acted in self-defense, saying that Israeli commandos used disproportional force by firing with heavy weapons and automatic rifles on passengers who only carried "plastic flag masts, spoons, and forks." The indictment stated that some of the victims were shot dead from close range and from the back.

2011 Gaza Flotilla and Freedom Waves

Despite the lethal Israeli attack a year earlier, in 2011, international citizen activists prepared ten ships to sail to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. The Israeli and US governments pressured the Greek government to prevent the sailing of 8 of the ships that were in Greece. Three ships from the 2011 Gaza Freedom Flotilla eventually challenged the Israeli blockade. One ship that had sailed from France in July, 2011 and two others (one from the Irish campaign and one from the Canadian/Australian campaign) that sailed from Turkey in November, 2011 were intercepted by the Israeli navy, the boats confiscated and the passengers deported from Israel.

Next Challenge to the Israeli Blockade-Gaza’s Ark

Committed to continue to bring international attention to the continuing brutal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, international activists are working with the sailing and boating community of Gaza to prepare a ship to sail FROM Gaza carrying Gazan exports goods that will have been purchased by the international community. The boat will be called “Gaza’s Ark” and will provide job skills and employment for workers on the boat as well as a market for the beautiful crafts of Gaza. http://www.tahrir.ca/en/gazaark

About the Author: Ann Wright spent 29 years in the US Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She was a US diplomat for 16 years and resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war. She travelled to Gaza three times in 2009, helped organize the 2009 Gaza Freedom March and was a passenger on the 2010 and 2011 Gaza Freedom Flotillas. She was an organizer for the US Boat to Gaza, the Audacity of Hope and is an organizer for the US campaign for Gaza’s Ark.

To DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO :

http://tc.indymedia.org/files/flotilla-footage/index.html

On the night of Sunday, May 30, showing a terrifying disregard for human life, Israeli naval forces surrounded and boarded ships sailing to bring humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. On the largest ship, the Mavi Marmara, Israeli commandos opened fire on civilian passengers, killing at least 9 passengers and wounding dozens more. Others are still missing. The final death toll is yet to be determined. Cultures of Resistance director Iara Lee was aboard the besieged ship and has since returned home safely.

Despite the Israeli government's thorough efforts to confiscate all footage taken during the attack, Iara Lee was able to retain some of her recordings. Above is raw footage from the moments leading up to and during the Israeli commandos' assault on the Mavi Marmara.

Visit http://www.culturesofresistance.org/gaza-blockade to learn more.

Mubarak sentence shows Zionist influence on Egyptian judiciary: lawmaker

Egyptian protesters call for the execution of ousted president Hosni Mubarak who was sentenced to life on June 2, 2012

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/06/02/244322/egyptians-must-condemn-mubarak-sentence/

An Iranian lawmaker says Egyptians should protest to the life sentence handed to Egypt’s former dictator, Hosni Mubarak, because it proves the influence of the global arrogance on the Egyptian judiciary.

“The verdicts handed down to Hosni Mubarak, [former] Egyptian Interior Minister [Habib al-Adli] and Mubarak’s sons reveal the profound influence of the global arrogance and Zionism on the Egyptian judiciary and Egyptians must show more sensitivity toward this issue,” Mohammad Esmail Kowsari said on Saturday.

The lawmaker added that execution is the fairest verdict for Mubarak and his relatives due to the crimes they have committed.

“Issuing life sentences and acquittals for them shows that these people still have vast support of certain groups and [political] currents,” he noted.

Kowsari stated that the Egyptian people should know that indifference toward Mubarak’s court sentence will raise hopes among his supporters and pave the way for their renewed presence in Egyptian politics.

“By supporting Egypt’s former dictator, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the Zionist regime [of Israel] are standing against the Egyptian people’s revolution to prevent their revolution from reaching its desired result,” he said.

On Saturday, June 2, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak got life behind bars for murders committed during the country’s historic revolution in February 2011.

In a final court hearing in Cairo, the ex-dictator as well as former Interior Minister Habib al-Adli were sentenced to life imprisonment for the killing of around 900 protesters during the country’s popular uprising.

Mubarak also faced separate charges of corruption along with his sons Alaa and Gamal. But the charges were dropped.

The court also dropped charges against six other security officials, who were brought to trial for the killing of protesters.

The verdict sparked fierce clashes between the families of the victims and security officials inside the court while angry spectators called the court illegitimate and demanded that Mubarak be executed.

Mubarak verdict fails to deliver justice: Amnesty Intl.

An image taken from the Egyptian state TV shows ex-dictator Hosni Mubarak lying on a stretcher inside a cage in a courtroom during his verdict hearing in Cairo on June 2, 2012

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/06/02/244307/mubarak-verdict-fails-to-deliver-justice-amnesty-intl/

Amnesty international says the court ruling that sentenced Egypt’s former dictator Hosni Mubarak to life in prison for the deaths of some 900 protesters fails to deliver full justice.

“We have from the start welcomed the trial of Mubarak and others for their role in the killing of protesters which began in January 2011. However, the trial and verdict have today left the families of those killed, as well as those injured in the protests, in the dark about the full truth of what happened to their loved ones and it failed to deliver full justice,” Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director Ann Harrison said on Saturday.

In a final verdict hearing in a Cairo court on Saturday, the ex-dictator as well as former Interior Minister Habib al-Adli were sentenced to life imprisonment for the killings of protesters during the country’s popular uprising last year that ended his three-decade rule.

However, the court dropped charges against six other security officials, who were brought to trial for the killing of protesters.

“The Egyptian authorities must now establish an independent and impartial commission of inquiry to fill the gap that the court left open,” Harrison added.

The verdict sparked fierce clashes between families of the victims and security officials inside the court. Angry spectators called the court illegitimate and demanded that Mubarak be executed.

There have been several calls for demonstrations, including Muslim Brotherhood (MB) presidential hopeful Mohamed Morsi, later on Saturday to protest against the verdict

Berlusconi walks out of fraud court

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/174272.html

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has walked out of a court room during his tax fraud trial, saying the hearing was “a waste of time.”

In an open court on Monday, about two and a half hours after the hearing started, Berlusconi, who was sitting at the front row with his lawyer, stepped out of the court room, accusing prosecutors of having no case against him.

"I've spent a surreal morning, a paradoxical waste of time and a waste of resources," Berlusconi told reporters inside before leaving.

"There is no proof, no documents, no testimony, no money trail that supports the prosecutors' thesis."

Monday's trial centered on charges that Berlusconi's Mediaset broadcasting empire has bought TV and film rights at inflated prices through offshore front companies, leaving the difference to be skimmed off to avoid tax and create secret slush funds.

Both Mediaset and Berlusconi deny the charges and the prime minister's lawyers, who attended a related hearing on March 28, said that he would be in the Milan court where judges are expected to question some defense witnesses.

"These charges are laughable, unfounded and demented," Berlusconi said, adding that the charges were "the invention of the public prosecutor."

The Mediaset trial is one of a related series of three trials, all linked to the sale of television and film rights dating back to the 1990s.

The case is not related to Berlusconi's sex scandal in which the prime minister is accused of paying for sex with a dancer when she was under the age of 18.

Berlusconi, who has faced at least a dozen trials over the years, denies all charges against him and says he has been victimized by leftist magistrates who are using the legal system to bring him down.

PA calls for ICC probe into Israeli war crimes

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117975§ionid=351020202


The Palestinian Authority says it has sent a memorandum to The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) in a bid to seek justice for "all Israeli crimes" committed in the occupied Palestinian lands.

On Friday, Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour called on the court to adjudicate on war crimes committed against Palestinians during Israel's December 2008-January 2009 war on the Gaza Strip.

Mansour also said the Palestinian Authority had created a commission to investigate the crime allegations leveled against it.

Regarding the war crimes charges against both Hamas and Israel, he said the commission did not view potential wrongdoing on the Palestinian side as seriously as any acts by Israel.

"There is absolutely no symmetry or proportionality between the occupying power and the occupied people," he added.

A UN Human Rights Council report that was compiled by a team led by the South African judge Richard Goldstone has accused Israel of war crimes during the three week war in the region.

Mansour pleaded for ICC involvement in adjudicating the allegations, saying the representatives of the Palestinian authority have met several times with representatives of the ICC and called on the court to pen an investigation into the case.

He also criticized the UN Security Council, saying that it "has not carried out its responsibility" over bringing the case to ICC.

The Goldstone report could be referred to the council for action and ultimately to the International Criminal Court, but with the United States — a strong ally of Israel — as a member of the body, the move seems very unlikely.

US Court Say’s Corp.’s are Persons

Source: Al Jazeera
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2010/01/21/us-court-says-corps-are-persons

The US Supreme Court issued a landmark opinion on Thursday that over-turned the way American election campaigns are financed.

The Court’s been considering whether to end long-standing limits on corporate and labour union spending in US political campaigns.


BIG BUSINESS

You have to understand that in America, political campaigns are big business.

Literally - they cost millions of dollars!

The 2008 contest between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain for the White House was the most expensive so far with both candidates raising more than a billion dollars between them.

Much of that money went on relentless TV ads.

Dave Levinthal from the political research group Center For Responsive Politics told me:

“This is a right it’s considered freedom of speech to be able to take money and give it to a political candidate in support of that candidate. For example if you or I want to give money to a politician we can only give twenty four hundred US dollars during one election cycle. But if you’re a corporation you can’t even give money, you have to do it through a second party and there’s lots of rules and restrictions.”


MOVIE

The case in the Supreme Court centred on a mini-film called "Hillary the Movie".

It was made by a conservative advocacy group that’s funded in part by money from big business.

The idea was to attack Hillary Clinton during the primary stages of her 2008 Presidential run.

The Federal Election Commission banned it from broadcast close to voting day saying Hillary the Movie amounted to a campaign advertisement.

The producers thought otherwise, sued, and their case was taken up by the Court - though the Justices took it upon themselves to broaden their inquiry and review over a century’s worth of campaign finance law.

At the heart of the case should corporations be treated as persons under the US constitution and allowed to spend huge amounts of cash on political campaigns at state, Congressional and Presidential level.


FOR AND AGAINST

Those in favour argued before the bench that not to include corporations would be a violation of the First Amendment which guarantees free speech.

Those against claimed it would be devastating for American democracy with a flood of corporate sponsored TV ads with big business way outspending individuals.

Craig Holman from the not-for-profit consumer lobby group Public Citizen put it this way.

“Corporations who care about defeating the healthcare bill are going to get their way in 2010. Corporations who think global warming is a myth are going to get their way in 2010. Corporations who don’t want to see the banks and financial services regulated are going to get their way in 2010. This is devastating.”


HERE COME THE ADS

Americans won't have to wait too long to see the effect of the Supreme Court's opinion put into practice.

The next big election here is the crucial mid-term congressional elections in November ... elections that are likely to set the political tone for the final two years of Barack Obama’s first term in office.

Unite Against Israeli War Criminals

End the Israeli Genocide of the Palestinian People! ISRAEL IS COMMITTING War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. Send a letter to The International Criminal Court of Justice and call for A War Crimes trial against the Israeli government and ANYONE THAT IS SUPPORTING THEM.


The International Criminal Court of Justice.

http://www.icc-cpi.int/

"The Office of the Prosecutor" at the International Criminal Court of Justice.
otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int

Below you will find my letter to the Office of The Prosecutor. Please feel free to copy it or write one of your own. The Children of Gaza need our help right now!

Letter dated: January 11th, 2009


Your Honor, Please, I beg of you to hear my sincere plea for help.

Israel is committing War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza on the Palestinian people and must be stopped immediately.

Remembering the words of Chief Justice Jackson during the first War Crimes trial held in Nuremberg Germany in 1946.

“The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrong’s which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.”

Chief Justice Jackson

If humanity is to survive and progress, we must take swift and legal action on Governments that employ Crimes on Civilian Populations such as the crimes being committed in Gaza by the Israeli Government. It is not acceptable to wait until these Israeli crimes are played out because many of the men, woman, and children in Gaza will not survive this brutal genocide. Let us not get caught up in words, because action is required immediately. Aggressive War is a Crime, and targeting a civilian population in War aggression is a “Crime Against Humanity”.

The integrity and embodiment of the United Nations has come under attack by the absolute refusal of Israel to cease its War agenda by continuing to attack the Palestinian general population, UN convoys, civilian shelters, hospitals, schools, and all Palestinian Infrastructure. The very survival of the United Nations body will come into question if it is powerless to put a stop to a genocide that is taking place.

If the I.C.C.J. does not inform and take action against Israel for the atrocities they are committing on the Palestinian people then the United Nations will have failed Humanity and we will descend in to very dark times. The International Criminal Court of Justice is the one beacon of light that remains in our War torn World, and granted, there are many cases before the Court, but you MUST speak out NOW! As a Human being, I demand that the International Criminal Court of Justice stand up for the innocent people in the Gaza Strip! If need be, ask a neutral power of the Security Council such as Russia, to send a peace keeping force into Gaza. Do something before it is too late for the thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

Urgently waiting,
Stewart Brennan
Winnipeg, Manitoba,
Canada

Report January 9th, 2009 by;

United Nations High Commission on Human Rights

http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/D78B7DAC697D3060C1257539003B5F3A?opendocument

Commissions Findings (Part 1)
http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=S4av0mqaQNY&feature=email

Commissions Findings (Part2)
http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=1k0RVyB4DuY&feature=channel_page


Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/WelcomePage.aspx

Please join our letter campaign and put an end to Israel's evil aggression!

Patriot Act Provisions Voided

A federal judge in Oregon ruled yesterday that two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional, marking the second time in as many weeks that the anti-terrorism law has come under attack in the courts…

This is a VERY SIGNIFICANT VICTORY for the people of the United States against the unassailable Federal system!

Since 2001, through the executive offices in Washington, “The Federal System” has formed itself into an absolute controlling monster on the back of a terror scare! Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party in 1930’s Germany used the same fear tactic. Those guys managed to convince the people of its nation and did so using the medium of their time, radio. Today that medium is television…need I say more? History does repeat itself.

Those that will criticize me for writing this post will do so because they have been convinced by the current Federal propaganda ploy of fear or they are part of the propaganda ploy. These people usually shout down anyone with an opinion that differs from their own agenda. If American citizens take control of their destiny rather than have the Federal system dictate destiny, then Freedom is real. Otherwise, you are no longer free to make your own choices.

Where do you go from here?

The next step is to challenge the implementation of electronic voting machines that were not approved by the American Public. Get a voters list, and do not use anything but a paper ballot. Smash the Feds plans to rig elections. Get your congressperson to vote against the implementation of any voting system that does not leave an absolute verifiable paper trail. This is a WAR to take back your own country! No one else can do it but YOU, the FREE American People.

These comments have been Posted in the Washington Post under the the story detailed below. Please voice your opinions loudly! The time is now!

Patriot Act Provisions Voided
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092602084.html

Nuremberg Trials - Mr. Justice Jackson

Robert H. Jackson

Chief United States Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals

May it please Your Honors;

The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrong’s which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason.

This Tribunal, while it is novel and experimental, is not the product of abstract speculations nor is it created to vindicate legalistic theories. This inquest represents the practical effort of four of the most mighty of nations, with the support of 17 more, to utilize international law to meet the greatest menace of our times aggressive war. The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberate and concerted use of it to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched. It is a cause of that magnitude that the United Nations will lay before Your Honors.

In the prisoners' dock sit twenty-odd broken men. Reproached by the humiliation of those they have led almost as bitterly as by the desolation of those they have attacked, their personal capacity for evil is forever past. It is hard now to perceive in these men as captives the power by which as Nazi leaders they once dominated much of the world and terrified most of it. Merely as individuals their fate is of little consequence to the world.

What makes this inquest significant is that these prisoners represent sinister influences that will lurk in the world long after their bodies have returned to dust. We will show them to be living symbols of racial hatreds, of terrorism and violence, and of the arrogance and cruelty of power. They are symbols of fierce nationalisms and of militarism, of intrigue and war- making which have embroiled Europe generation after generation, crushing its manhood, destroying its homes, and impoverishing its life. They have so identified themselves with the philosophies they conceived and with the forces they directed that any tenderness to them is a victory and an encouragement to all the evils which are attached to their names. Civilization can afford no compromise with the social forces which would gain renewed strength if we deal ambiguously or indecisively With the men in whom those forces now precariously survive.

What these men stand for we will patiently and temperately disclose. We will give you undeniable proofs of incredible events. the catalog of crimes will omit nothing that could be conceived by a pathological pride, cruelty, and lust for power. These men created in Germany, under the "Fuehrerprinzip", a National Socialist despotism equalled only by the dynasties of the ancient East. They took from the German people all those dignities and freedoms that we hold natural and inalienable rights in every human being. The people were compensated by inflaming and gratifying hatreds towards those who were marked as "scapegoats". Against their opponents, including Jews, Catholics, and free labor, the Nazis directed such a campaign of arrogance, brutality, and annihilation as the world has not witnessed since the pre-Christian ages. They excited the German ambition to be a "master race", which of course implies serfdom for others. They led their people on a mad gamble for domination. They diverted social energies and resources to the creation of what they thought to be an invincible war machine They overran their neighbors. To sustain the "master race" in its war-making, they enslaved millions of human beings and brought them into Germany, where these hapless creatures now wander as "displaced persons". At length bestiality and bad faith reached such excess that they aroused the sleeping strength of imperiled Civilization. Its united efforts have ground the German war machine to fragments. But the struggle has left Europe a liberated yet prostrate land where a demoralized society struggles to survive. These are the fruits of the sinister forces that sit with these defendants in the prisoners' dock.

In justice to the nations and the men associated in this prosecution, I must remind you of certain difficulties which may leave their mark on this case. Never before in legal history has an effort been made to bring within the scope of a single litigation the developments of a decade, covering a whole continent, and involving a score of nations, countless individuals, and innumerable events. Despite the magnitude of the task, the world has demanded immediate action. This demand has had to be met, though perhaps at the cost of finished craftsmanship. In my country, established courts, following familiar procedures, applying well-thumbed precedents, and dealing with the legal consequences of local and limited events seldom commence a trial within a year of the event in litigation. Yet less than 8 months ago today the courtroom in which you sit was an enemy fortress in the hands of German SS troops. Less than 8 months ago nearly all our witnesses and documents were in enemy hands. The law had not been codified, no procedures had been established, no tribunal was in existence, no usable courthouse stood here, none of the hundreds of tons of official German documents had been examined, no prosecuting staff had been assembled, nearly all of the present defendants were at large, and the four prosecuting powers had not yet joined in common cause to try them. I should be the last to deny that the case may well suffer from incomplete researches and quite likely will not be the example of professional work which any of the prosecuting nations would normally wish to sponsor. It is, however, a completely adequate case to the judgment we shall ask you to render and its full development we shall be obliged to leave to historians.

Before I discuss particulars of evidence, some general considerations which may affect the credit of this trial in the eyes of the world should be candidly faced. There is a dramatic disparity between the circumstances of the accusers and of the accused that might discredit our work if we should falter, in even minor matters, in being fair and temperate.

Unfortunately the nature of these crimes is such that both prosecution and judgment must be by victor nations over vanquished foes. The worldwide scope of the aggressions carried out by these men has left but few real neutrals. Either the victors must judge the vanquished or we must leave the defeated to judge themselves. After the first World War, we learned the futility of the latter course. The former high station of these defendants, the notoriety of their acts, and the adaptability of their conduct to provoke retaliation make it hard to distinguish between the demand for a just and measured retribution, and the unthinking cry for vengeance which arises from the anguish of war. It is our task, so far as humanly possible, to draw the line between the two. We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants today is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well. We must summon such detachment and intellectual integrity to our task that this Trial will commend itself to posterity as fulfilling humanity's aspirations to do justice.

At the very outset, let us dispose of the contention that to put these men to trial is to do them an injustice entitling them to some special consideration These defendants may be hard pressed but they are not ill used. Let us see what alternative they would have to being tried.

More than a majority of these prisoners surrendered to or were tracked down by the forces of the United States. Could they expect us to make American custody a shelter for our enemies against the just wrath of our Allies? Did we spend American lives to capture them only to save them from punishment? Under the principles of the Moscow Declaration, those suspected war criminals who are not to be tried internationally must be turned over to individual governments for trial at the scene of their outrages. Many less responsible and less culpable American-held prisoners have been and will continue to be turned over to other United Nations for local trial. If these defendants should succeed, for any reason, in escaping the condemnation of this Tribunal, or if they obstruct or abort the trial, those who are American-held prisoners will be delivered to our continental Allies. For these defendants, however, we have set up an International Tribunal and have undertaken the burden of participating in a complicated effort to give them fair and dispassionate hearings. That is the best- known protection to any man with a defense worthy of being heard. [=]