March 14, 2014
Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia,
United States Attorney’s Office
2100 Jamieson Ave
Alexandria, VA 22314
Dear Mr. Boente,
We the undersigned citizens hereby petition the U.S Attorney in Fairfax County under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, to wit, we are bringing a criminal complaint requesting a war crimes indictment against President Barack Obama, CIA Director John Brennan, and other government personnel for the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) which are used for extrajudicial and illegal purposes, causing the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and other places around the world.
On May 21, 2013 we delivered the same complaint to Mr. Neil McBride who was at that time the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Though we were able to meet with Assistant US Attorney Eugene Rossi, our complaint was ignored and there was not any follow-up, and so we must come again - to you this time.
A crime is being committed by our government. The killer drone strikes are NOT the actions of a responsible government. Such actions are terrorizing citizens in a number of countries. In these communities children can’t be children because they must deal with the whirring sounds of Predator and Reaper drones as they hover overhead. Imagine the fright caused by this terror.
We ask you to please accept this complaint and take appropriate action against these war crimes. You cannot continue to ignore what is happening when you know that people are dying and war crimes are being committed. We will stop by your office on March 25 at 11:00 am to discuss this further.
Sincerely,
Joy First
Malachy Kilbride
Max Obuszewski
Members of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance
WAR CRIMES INDICTMENT
When an individual becomes a public servant, serving in a government position, he or she publicly promises to uphold the United States Constitution. The US Constitution states:
“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
This clause is known as the Supremacy Clause because it provides that the Constitution and laws of the U.S., including treaties made under authority of the U.S. shall be supreme law of the land.
The Supremacy Clause provides part of the Supreme Law of the Land.
One Treaty duly ratified by the U.S. is the United Nations Charter. It was ratified by a vote of 89 to 2 in the U.S. Senate, and signed by the President in 1945. It remains in effect today. As such, it is part of the supreme law of the land.
The Preamble of the U.N. Charter states that its purpose is to “save future generations from the scourge of war” and it further states, “all nations shall refrain from the use of force against another nation.”
This Treaty applies both collectively and individually to all three branches of government, on all levels, U.S. federal, state and local governments, starting with the executive branch: the U.S. President and the executive staff; the judicial branch: all judges and staff members of the judiciary; the legislative branch: all members of the U.S. Armed Forces and all departments of Law Enforcement and all civilian staff, who have sworn to uphold the Constitution, which includes Article VI.
Under the U.N. Charter and long established international laws, anyone--civilian, military, government officials, or judges- who knowingly participate in or support illegal use of force against another nation or its people is committing a war crime.
The Central Intelligence Agency, overseen by President Obama and relevant US Congressional Committees, engages in the use of drones (UAVs) to target and kill people without guilt of any crime. Those following orders, from the president and down through the chain of command, after promising to uphold the United States Constitution, and promising to obey Treaties and International Law – as part of the Supreme Law of the Land, and furthermore, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice of the U.S., are required to disobey any clearly unlawful order from a superior.
These drones are being used not only in combat situations for the purpose of assassinations but also for killings far removed from combat zones without military defense, to assassinate individuals and groups far removed from military action.
For example:
· On October 24, 2012, a 67-year-old Pakistani woman was killed by an alleged U.S. drone while picking vegetables in a field with her grandchildren.
 |
A drone strike on a wedding in Yemen in December, 2013 created just
a few of the thousands of victims of U.S. drone killing. |
These are just a few examples of thousands of people who have been murdered by the CIA. These are extrajudicial killings, and are an intentional, premeditated, and deliberate use of lethal force to commit murder in violation of U.S. and International Law.
It is a matter of public record that the US has used drones in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen for targeted killings to target specific individuals which has nearly always resulted in the deaths of many others.
There is no legal basis for defining the scope of area where drones can or cannot be used, no legal criteria for deciding which people can be targeted for killing, no procedural safeguards to ensure the legality of the decision to kill and the accuracy of the assassinations.
“Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”
In support of this indictment we also cite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, who has said that the use of drones creates “a highly problematic blurring of the law applicable to the use of inter-state force.... The result has been the displacement of clear legal standards with a vaguely defined license to kill, and the creation of a major accountability vacuum.... In terms of the legal framework, many of these practices violate straightforward applicable legal rules.” See United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council Study on Targeted Killings, 28, May 2010.
The drone attacks supported, ordered, and executed by the CIA are a deliberate illegal use of force against another nation, and as such are a felonious violation of Article VI of the US Constitution.
By giving material support to the drone program, the individuals named in this complaint are violating the United States Constitution, dishonoring their oath, and committing war crimes.
We demand that the CIA stop immediately and end all drone attacks, being accountable to the people of United States and Pakistan, Afghanistan,Iraq, and Yemen.
As citizens of this nation, which maintains CIA bases around the globe with the largest, most deadly military arsenal in the world, we believe these words of Martin Luther King still hold true, ”the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government”.
There is hope for a better world when WE, THE PEOPLE, hold our government accountable to the laws and treaties that govern the use of lethal force and war. To the extent that we ignore our laws and constitution and allow for the unchecked use of lethal force by our government, allowing the government to kill whoever it wants, where ever it wants, however it wants with no accountability, we make the world less safe for children everywhere.
Based on all the above,
WE, THE PEOPLE, CHARGE THE UNITED
STATES PRESIDENT, BARACK OBAMA
, DIRECTOR OF THE CIA, JOHN
BRENNAN, THOSE PLANNING THE
TARGETED KILLING BY THESE DRONES,
THOSE OPERATING CIA DRONES, AND
THE FULL MILITARY CHAIN OF COMMAND
WITH CRIMES AGAINST PEACE &
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, WITH
VIOLATIONS OF PART OF THE SUPREME
LAW OF THE LAND, EXTRAJUDICIAL
KILLINGS, VIOLATION OF DUE PROCESS,
WARS OF AGGRESSION, VIOLATION OF
NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY, AND KILLING
OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS.
We appeal to the Court of Fairfax County to do as required by the Nuremburg Principles I-VII, and to launch a full investigation into these crimes.
Signed by,
Joy First, Mt. Horeb WI, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance
Malachy Kilbride, , Arlington, VA, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance
First
Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) called the U.S.
on the carpet for dodging the call from the international community to
come clean about its drone killings. Then Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and
Walter Jones (R-NC) submitted a bill calling for drone transparency. So
... are we finally going to get the truth?
