Since our initial filing in March 2013, we’ve gained the support of high-ranking US officials, esteemed attorneys, and international human rights groups.
Our supporters include:
- Ramsey Clark, 66th United States Attorney General
- The Planethood Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Benjamin Ferencz, the last living Nuremberg prosecutor
- Donald Ferencz, Convenor of the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression, Visiting Professor, Middlesex University School of Law
- Marjorie Cohn, Former President of the National Lawyers’ Guild and Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law
- Curtis Doebbler, International Human Rights Attorney
- David Swanson, Author, Activist, Journalist, and Radio Host
- Ann Wright, Colonel, U.S. Army Reserves (Retired) and former U.S. Diplomat
- Jodie Evans, Political activist, author, and documentary film producer
- Medea Benjamin, Political activist, author, and presidential candidate
Statements of support:
“It is always necessary to pursue the course of justice against those who commit injustices. In this case as many as 3.5 million people have lost their lives as a consequence of the crime of aggression – the illegal use of force perpetrated against the people of Iraq – and the country’s development has been set back countless years. Human rights need to be defended everywhere, by all those who are able. We as Americans have the primary responsibility for ensuring our leaders respect the law, including international law.”
Ramsey Clark
“It is high time the victims of Bush’s illegal war of aggression against the people of Iraq receive compensation for their needless suffering. US presidents routinely ignore the treaties we have ratified, including the United Nations Charter, which prohibits military interventions except in self-defense. Team Bush tried mightily to forge a connection between Hussein and al-Qaeda, which it was unable to accomplish. If this lawsuit prevails, it will deter future administrations from waging similar aggressive wars.”
Marjorie Cohn
“If the letter and spirit and tradition of the law were followed, or if basic morality were followed, this case would be an easy victory. It’s up against tough odds because of the perversion of the law by a culture that has come to imagine war isn’t a crime. The Kellogg-Briand Pact, U.N. Charter, and laws of Nuremberg are clear, and we and our courts ignore them at our peril — and the peril of huge numbers of victims. This lawsuit is doing the world a tremendous service by publicly advancing sanity in a world gone mad.”
“I strongly support this lawsuit to compensate victims of the US war of aggression on Iraq. I am writing this letter of support for the lawsuit as I ended my employment with the U.S. government because of this issue. After 29 years in the U.S. Army and 16 years in the State Department, in March 2003, I resigned from the U.S Diplomatic Corps in opposition to the war on Iraq. I wrote in my letter of resignation that since Iraq had not attacked the United States and had in fact opened its facilities to United Nations weapons inspectors, that without the authorization of the United Nations Security Council, a U.S. attack on Iraq would be against international law. The Bush administration attempted several times to obtain a United Nations vote for international offensive military operations against Iraq, but failed.
“Instead, in the lead up to the war, the U.S. embassy in Mongolia where I was the Deputy Ambassador was told by the Bush administration to tell the Mongolian government that if it didn’t provide military forces to the ‘coalition of the willing’ and ratify article 98 to exempt U.S citizens from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court then the U.S. would cut off financial aid.
“As a retired military officer and a former U.S. diplomat, I strongly believe that this lawsuit needs to continue to prevent other administrations from conducting similar illegal acts of aggression.”
Ann Wright
Colonel, U.S. Army Reserves (Retired) and former U.S. Diplomat
“Since the lead up to the Iraq war, we have been calling for peace, justice and accountability. In 2004, we headed an all women’s delegation, and a separate delegation of military families and veterans to Iraq. We meet with representatives of a variety of Iraqi women’s organizations that were working on issues ranging from creating income-generating projects to organizing shelters for victims of domestic violence to raising women’s concerns in the writing of the new constitution. We researched how women were faring under US military occupation, met with US authorities, including Paul Bremer, and Iraqi officials to learn how their plans affect Iraqi women. In addition to the formal meetings, we met with women in their homes, at the university and in the markets. We collaborated with a female Iraqi doctor and created Occupation Watch to gather human rights data, which was centered in Baghdad. We support the efforts of Comar Law in bringing a lawsuit against key members of the Bush Administration: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Powell and Rice, and bringing justice to the plaintiff, Sundus Shaker Saleh, and other Iraqis who lives were devastated by the defendant’s decisions.”
Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, CODEPINK cofounders
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