From the daily archives:

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Special Prosecutor for Bush, Cheney, and DOJ Attorneys

by Frank Paynter on February 24, 2009

February 24, 2009

*Statement on Prosecution of Former High Officials *

We urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a non-partisan independent Special Counsel to immediately commence a prosecutorial investigation into the most serious alleged crimes of former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard B. Cheney, the attorneys formerly employed by the Department of Justice whose memos sought to justify torture, and other former top officials of the Bush Administration.

Our laws, and treaties that under Article VI of our Constitution are the supreme law of the land, require the prosecution of crimes that strong evidence suggests these individuals have committed. Both the former president and the former vice president have confessed to authorizing a torture procedure that is illegal under our law and treaty obligations. The former president has confessed to violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

We see no need for these prosecutions to be extraordinarily lengthy or costly, and no need to wait for the recommendations of a panel or â€œtruthâ€ commission when substantial evidence of the crimes is already in the public domain. We believe the most effective investigation can be conducted by a prosecutor, and we believe such an investigation should begin immediately.

Drafted by The Robert Jackson Steering Committee
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/robertjackson

Signed By:

Center for Constitutional Rights
http://www.ccrjustice.org

The National Lawyers Guild
http://www.nlg.org/

After Downing Street
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

American Freedom Campaign
http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org

Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserve Colonel and US diplomat http://www.voicesofconscience.com/

Backbone Campaign
http://www.backbonecampaign.org

Brad Blog
http://www.bradblog.com/

Cities for Peace
http://citiesforprogress.org/

CODE PINK: Women for Peace
http://www.codepink4peace.org

Daniel Ellsberg, Truth-Telling Project
http://www.ellsberg.net/

Defending Dissent Foundation
http://www.defendingdissent.org/

Delaware Valley Veterans for America

http://www.delvalvets4america.org
;
Democrats.com
http://www.democrats.com/

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
http://www.space4peace.org/

Gold Star Families for Peace
http://www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com/

Grandmothers Against the War
http://www.grandmothersforpeace.org/gatw

Grassroots America
http://www.grassrootsamerica4us.org/

High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project
http://www.highroadforhumanrights.org

Iraq Veterans Against the War
http://ivaw.org/

Justice Through Music
http://www.jtmp.org

Marcus Raskin, co-founder of Institute for Policy Studies, member of editorial board of the /Nation/, member of the special staff of the National Security Council in the Kennedy Administration

Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored
http://www.projectcensored.org/

Naomi Wolf, author of /End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot/, and /Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries/
http://naomiwolf.org/

National Accountability Network

Northeast Impeachment Coalition
http://www.neimpeach.org/wp/

Op Ed News
http://www.opednews.com/

Peace Action
http://www.peace-action.org/

Peace Team
http://www.peaceteam.net/

The Progressive
http://www.progressive.org/

Progressive Democrats of America
http://www.pdamerica.org/

Republicans for Impeachment
http://republicansforimpeachment.com/

United for Peace and Justice
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

Velvet Revolution
http://www.velvetrevolution.us/

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/vips

Veterans for Peace
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/