2002 : (FORMER US SENATOR FROM S DAKOTA, JAMES ABOUREZK, PRAISES HEZBOLLAH) The second-generation Lebanese-American seemingly has no problem exercising his first amendment rights. In 2002, Abourezk praised the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and the “positive role it was playing in Lebanon.””[Hezbollah] was like the tool that forced the ‘Israelis’ to withdraw,” Abourezk said.Also last year [2002], Abourezk suggested that the solution to Israel’s terrorism problem would be to “get the hell out of the occupied territories.””It’s not a wonder there are suicide bombers, it’s a wonder there aren’t many more,” Abourezk said.
—— “20-Year-Old Republican Website Owner Sued by Former Democrat Senator, “ By Jeff Gannon, Talon News, July 31, 2003
SEPTEMBER 2002 : (FORMER DEMOCRAT US SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA JAMES ABOUREZK TRAVELS TO IRAQ TO MEET WITH IRAQI DPTY PM TARIQ AZIZ ----- See CNSS, ADC) The former senator made a trip to Baghdad in September 2002 to meet Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. Abourezk said that a U.S. attack on Iraq would be "immoral."---- "20-Year-Old Republican Website Owner Sued by Former Democrat Senator, " By Jeff Gannon, Talon News, July 31, 2003
SEPTEMBER 2002 : (DENNIS KUCINICH ANNOUNCES THE FORMATION OF A CONGRESSIONAL ANTIWAR DELEGATION - See ABOUREZK, LEE, MCDERMOTT, SHAKIR AL KHAFAJI) The CPC overlaps with the Iraq antiwar lobby organized in September 2002 by CPC Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich announced the formation of a Congressional antiwar coalition immediately following the return of a delegation to Baghdad co-led by former MCPL Senator James Abourezk [ ----- See CNSS, ADC]. Kucinich’s coalition initially consisted of 19 Democrats, notably CPC members Barbara Lee, who had cast the lone vote against military action in Afghanistan after 9/11, and Jim McDermott, who had also criticized military action against Afghanistan. McDermott would soon follow up Abourezk’s delegation with another trip to Baghdad. Accompanying McDermott’s delegation was Iraqi agent Shakir Al-Khafaji, who later paid McDermott a check. Al-Khafaji had also been using Oil-for-Food vouchers to finance a film by antiwar spokesman Scott Ritter, who met Abourezk’s delegation in Baghdad. Since 2002, Kucinich’s coalition has spearheaded the movement to defund the war effort.-------------- "In Fonda’s Footsteps: Murtha, Kucinich, and the Antiwar Movement’s Economic War," Original FReeper research | 1/15/2007 | By Fedora
JANUARY 10, 2006 : (POLITICAL STUNT "CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY MEME"- See VIPS' RAY MCGOVERN, ABU GHRAIB'S KARPINSKI, NION, JAMES ABOUREZK)
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Connie Julian, 917-449-9064, Janet Yip 212-941-8086 or commission@nion.us
News Advisory:
From: International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration
WHEN: January 10, 2006 at 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: The White House, Walk-in Gate, across from Lafayette Park
WEBSITE: http://www.bushcommission.org
An unprecedented series of indictments alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity, in five separate areas, on moral, political, and legal grounds, will be delivered by a citizens' tribunal to President Bush at the front gate of the White House this Tuesday, January 10th. Named in the indictments are: President of the United States George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, U.S. Army Major General Geoffrey Miller, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, et al.
The indictments will be delivered to the White House by: Retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, authors William Blum and Larry Everest, Code Pink, Mike Hersh (Progressive Democrats of America/After Downing Street), Kevin Zeese (Director, Democracy Rising; candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland), Travis Morales (World Can't Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime) and others TBA.
A press conference will follow delivery of indictments, which will also be delivered to the Department of Justice.
The indictments result from preparatory work and testimony presented in New York City in October 2005, before the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration which featured former UN envoy to Iraq Denis Halliday, Guantanamo prisoners' lawyer Michael Ratner, and former State Department officer Ann Wright. The Commission's second tribunal will be held at Riverside Church and the Columbia University Law School in New York, January 20- 22. Witnesses will include Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, former British ambassador Craig Murray, and former arms inspector Scott Ritter, among many more. The indictments allege war crimes and crimes against humanity authorized by the Bush Administration in relation to:
1) Wars of Aggression, particular reference to Iraq and Afghanistan;
2) Torture and Indefinite Detention;
3) Destruction of the Global Environment, particular reference to distortion of science and obstruction of international efforts to stem global warming;
4) Attacks on Global Public Health and Reproductive Rights, particular reference to the potentially genocidal effects of enforcing abstinence only, global gag rule, distortion of science, and restriction of generic drugs; and
5) Failure of Bush administration, despite foreknowledge, to protect life during and after Hurricane Katrina.
Appended to these indictments will be the demand for investigation of the war crimes of Tony Blair and George Bush submitted by prominent British citizens to the UN Secretary General and the UK Attorney General.
The commission was organized by the Not in Our Name Statement of Conscience and is endorsed by: Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, After Downing Street.org * and others, including Former Sen. James Abourezk, former British MP Tony Benn, authors Gore Vidal and Howard Zinn, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and actor Edward Asner.
[Charter, full indictments, standards for judgment, and audio and video coverage of the first session: http://www.bushcommission.org]
----------Citizen's Tribunal Indicts Bush Administration for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity US newswire ^ | 1/9/06
* The spy for Cuba, Walter Kendall Myers, was involved in the Downing Street Memo org's special event.