WAR CRIMES CONFERENCE FROM ANDOVER, SEPT. 13-14
In the tradition of Justice Robert H. Jackson, America’s Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials after World War II, the Conference’s purpose is “to promote efforts to hold culpable officials accountable in courts of law,” said the conference’s convener, Lawrence Velvel, a prominent legal educator.
“Otherwise, the future could be threatened by additional examples of Executive lawlessness by leaders who need fear no personal consequences” for their actions, leading to “the possibility of more Viet Nams, and more Iraqs,” he added.
Attendees will hear from prominent authorities on international law, criminal prosecutions, and constitutional law who are determined to give meaning to Justice Jackson’s words: “The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberate and concerted use of it to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched.”
Speakers attending the Conference included, among others:
Famed former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, author of the best-selling “The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder”(Vanguard).
Phillippe Sands, Professor of Law and Director of the Centre of International Courts and Tribunals at University College , London . He is the author of “Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values” (Penguin/Palgrave Macmillan), among other works.
Jordan Paust, Professor of Law at the University of Houston and author of “Beyond The Law.”
Ann Wright, a former U.S. Army colonel and U.S. Foreign Service official who holds a State Department Award for Heroism and who taught the Geneva Conventions and the Law of Land Warfare at the Special Warfare Center at Ft. Bragg, N.C. She is the coauthor of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”
Peter Weiss, Vice President of the Center For Constitutional Rights, which was recently involved with war crimes complaints filed in Germany and France against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others.
Benjamin Davis, Associate Professor at the University of Toledo College of Law and former American Legal Counsel for the Secretariat of the International Court of Arbitration.
David Lindorff, journalist and co-author with Barbara Olshansky of “The Case for Impeachment: Legal Arguments for Removing President George W. Bush from Office”( St. Martin ‘s Press).
Colleen Costello of Human Rights USA .
Christopher Pyle, a professor at Mt. Holyoke and author of several book on international matters.
Lawrence Velvel, a leader in the field of law school education reform, who has written numerous internet articles on issues relevant to the conference.
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