The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder
The Federal Impeachment Process: A Constitutional and Historical Analysis
Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law
United States v. George W. Bush et al.
The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism
Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush
The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens
The Case for Impeachment
Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney
George W. Bush versus the U.S. Constitution: The Downing Street Memos and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Cover-ups in the Iraq War and Illegal Domestic Spying
Verdict and Findings of Fact
Impeach Bush: A Funny Li'l Graphical Novel About the Worstest Pres'dent in the History of Forevar
Pretensions to Empire: Notes on the Criminal Folly of the Bush Admin- istration
The Twilight of Democracy: The Bush Plan for America
U.S. Sergeant Refuses to Go to Iraq: "This Occupation is Unconstitutional and Illegal"
By Karin Zeitvogel, Middle East Online
Matthis Chiroux is the kind of young American U.S. military recruiters love.
"I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in school," the now 24-year-old said.
"I was 'filet mignon' for recruiters. They started phoning me when I was in 10th grade," or around 16 years old, he added.
Chiroux joined the U.S. army straight out of high school nearly six years ago, and worked his way up from private to sergeant.
He served in Afghanistan, Germany, Japan, and the Philippines and was due to be deployed next month in Iraq.
On Thursday, he refused to go, saying he considers Iraq an illegal war.
"I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare to the military, my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq," Chiroux said in the sun-filled rotunda of a congressional building in Washington.
"My decision is based on my desire to no longer continue violating my core values to support an illegal and unconstitutional occupation… I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation," he said, as a dozen veterans of the five-year-old Iraq war looked on.
Minutes earlier, Chiroux had cried openly as he listened to former comrades-in-arms testify before members of Congress about the failings of the Iraq war.
The testimonies were the first before Congress by Iraq veterans who have turned against the five-year-old war.
Former army sergeant Kristofer Goldsmith told a half-dozen US lawmakers and scores of people who packed into a small hearing room of "lawless murders, looting and the abuse of countless Iraqis."
He spoke of the psychologically fragile men and women who return from Iraq, to find little help or treatment offered from official circles.
Goldsmith said he had "self-medicated" for several months to treat the wounds of the war.
Another soldier said he had to boost his dosage of medication to treat anxiety and social agoraphobia -- two of many lingering mental wounds he carries since his deployments in Iraq -- before testifying.
Some 300,000 of the 1.6 million US soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from the psychological traumas of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or both, an independent study showed last month.
A group of veterans sitting in the hearing room gazed blankly as their comrades' testimonies shattered the official version that the US effort in Iraq is succeeding.
Almost to a man, the soldiers who testified denounced serious flaws in the chain of command in Iraq.
Luis Montalvan, a former army captain, accused high-ranking U.S. officers of numerous failures in Iraq, including turning a blind eye to massive fraud on the part of U.S. contractors.
Ex-Marine Jason Lemieux told how a senior officer had altered a report he had written because it slammed U.S. troops of using excessive force, firing off thousands of rounds of machine gun fire and hundreds of grenades in the face of a feeble four rounds of enemy fire.
Goldsmith accused U.S. officials of censorship.
"Everyone who manages a blog, Facebook or MySpace out of Iraq has to register every video, picture, document of any event they do on mission," Goldsmith said after the hearing.
"You're almost always denied before you are allowed to send them home."
Officials take "hard facts and slice them into small pieces to make them presentable to the secretary of state or the president -- and all with the intent of furthering the occupation of Iraq," Goldsmith added.
Chiroux is one of thousands of U.S. soldiers who have deserted since the Iraq war began in 2003, according to figures issued last year by the US army.
But while many seek refuge in Canada, the young soldier vowed to stay in the United States to fight "whatever charges the army levels at me."
The US army defines a deserter as someone who has been absent without leave for 30 days.
Chiroux stood fast in his resolve to not report for duty on June 15.
"I cannot deploy to Iraq, carry a weapon and not be part of the problem," he said.
Watch video footage of Matthis Chiroux's announcement here.
© 2008 Middle East Online All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/85612/
www.VelvetRevolution.us
Give Sgt Chiroux his day in court
The oath of enlistment Sgt. Chiroux took:
"I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."
His oath was to the Constitution of the United States. To accomplish this he must obey the orders of the President and superior officers. When the President is waging an unconstitutional war and occupation, any soldier as brave as Sgt. Chiroux has the right to challenge the authority that is sending him to war. The Nuremberg Tribunals after WWII were clear that a soldier was not required to obey an illegal order and in fact would be held to account for doing such.
The United Nations Charter is a treaty legally ratified by the U.S. It clearly states that for a country to initiate the use of force against another, it must have approval from the UN Security Council. President Bush promised the country that he would get such approval before invading. When it became clear that not only France would veto such a resolution, but that it would not even pass with a majority vote, the President reneged on his promise and pulled the resolution.
He invaded with the peoples of the world united against his illegal act. On Feb. 15, 2003 an estimated 30 million people all across the world held demonstrations against this crime against the peace.
Pope John Paul called the war immoral and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called it illegal. Sgt. Chiroux deserves his day in court. So far the chickenhawks in the Bush Administration have refused to allow the legality of the war to be questioned in a court of law. Let him have his defense and see if the Bush Administration's case can stand the light of an open courtroom.
Nick Egnatz
Veterans For Peace
Sgt Chiroux is a true American Patriot...
Less we forget the lessons learned from WWII and the subsequent actions taken by the world to prevent further wars.
The most effective driving force against war are those who personally experience it. Until you witness your life's posessions blown apart infront of you, live in the stentch of decaying flesh, or have your face splattered by the remains of your former buddy, you have no moral authority to wage war.
Attack Iran, chicken-hawks, bring war to the US and see what will happen when the people rise up against YOU the cause of the ensuing misery. Take a close look at what the citizens did to Mussolini...