Backed by family members and supporters all across the nation, U.S. military veterans will serve citizen arrest warrants for George Bush and Dick Cheney tomorrow in Washington, D.C.
The warrants are "for multiple violations of the Constitution and international war crimes," according to a statement issued by Veterans for Peace, a national organization of men and women who served in wars and military conflicts beginning with the Spanish Civil War in 1936 through the present war in Iraq.
"It has long been apparent that our Constitution is under attack and has been deliberately and relentlessly undermined by domestic enemies -- indeed, by our highest government officials -- who took the same oath we did and have violated it by waging a war of aggression and committing war crimes in Iraq," according to Veterans for Peace president, Elliott Adams in explaining the warrants.
The warrants will be delivered to the National Archives which houses the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
The patriots will also retake their military oath, which includes the words: "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
The military veterans will hold a rally at the National Mall and lead a march for peace that includes stops at other sites including the Museum of Native Americans, where they will be joined by musician Buffy St. Marie in a ceremony honoring Native Americans, the Peace Monument on the Capitol grounds, and they will protest inadequate health care funding for returning soldiers and veterans at McPherson Square which faces the Veterans' Administration headquarters.
Veterans for Peace members follow a “responsibility to serve the cause of world peace. To this end we will work with others to increase public awareness of the costs of war...(and) to abolish war as an instrument of national policy," according to the organization’s statement of purpose.
"This war has cost too many lives and resources that should have been spent on health, education and other needs,” said Army Col. (ret) Ann Wright, a member of Veterans for Peace. “The war must be stopped before more Iraqis and Americans are killed, and the sooner the better. Our military presence in Iraq must end so Iraqis can begin to rebuild their lives."
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Author's note: Trade union members, environmentalists, doctors, constitutional scholars, artists, factory and office workers, students, educators and other patriots across the country have their backs.
VFP Chapter 27 protesting the Iraq occupation in 2005. Photo: kayakbiker
