See Bush War Crimes Conference on Streaming Video

The conference on plans to bring high-level American war criminals to justice will be streamed live from Andover, Mass., September 13-14.

The conference has attracted eminent national and international legal authorities who will speak about the legal grounds for seeking prosecution of top administration officials, including George Bush, who appear to be guilty of war crimes.

 The URL address to view the conference live or to view it afterwards from the archives is: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/warcrimesconference “All viewers need to do to follow the proceedings is to visit the Web address and they can watch everything,” said the conference’s convener, Lawrence Velvel, a prominent legal educator.

Viewing hours will be from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time(EST) on Saturday, September 13, and from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (EST) on Sunday, September 14.

In the tradition of Justice Robert H. Jackson, America’s Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials after World War II, the Conference’s purpose is “to promote efforts to hold culpable officials accountable in courts of law,” said Velvel. “Otherwise, the future could be threatened by additional examples of Executive lawlessness by leaders who need fear no personal consequences” for their actions, leading to “the possibility of more Viet Nams, and more Iraqs,” he added.

Attendees will hear from prominent authorities on international law, criminal prosecutions, and constitutional law who are determined to give meaning to Justice Jackson’s words: “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.”

Topics to be discussed, include:

# What international and domestic crimes were committed, which facts show crimes under which laws, and what punishments are possible.

 # Which high level Executive officials -- and Federal judges and legislators as well, if any -- are chargeable with crimes.

 # Which international tribunals, foreign tribunals and domestic tribunals (if any) can be used and how to begin cases and/or obtain prosecutions before them.

 # The possibility of establishing a Chief Prosecutor’s Office such as the one at Nuremburg.

 # An examination of cases already brought and their outcomes.

 # Creating an umbrella Coordinating Committee with representatives from the increasing number of organizations involved in war crimes cases.

# Creating a Center to keep track of and organize compilations of relevant briefs, articles, books, opinions, and facts, etc., on war crimes and prosecutions of war criminals.

Those scheduled to address the Conference include, among others:

 1  |  2