The following is a Global Exchange exclusive guest blog post written by Inder Comar, Esq. Inder Comar is principal at Comar Law and practices law in San Francisco, California.
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Help Me Hold Bush-Era Leaders Accountable For The Iraq War
As Americans, we are fortunate to have a functioning judiciary: we are heirs to an 800 year tradition extending back to Magna Carta that says when someone is injured, he may seek civil redress in a court of law against the people who injured him.
On March 13, 2013, I did just that over the Iraq War. I filed two lawsuits in a California federal court on behalf of an Iraqi refugee now living in Jordan, and on behalf of myself as a US citizen, against six former Bush-era officials: Richard Cheney, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, and George W. Bush himself.
The lawsuits seek damages under our civil system. They seek to hold these six people accountable for the illegal planning and waging of the Iraq War.
I am handling these cases because I believe in them. The evidence is terrible as it is plain: members of the Bush Administration, particularly Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld, publicly planned and advocated for war against Iraq in 1998; upon coming to power, they and other Administration officials used 9/11 as an excuse to scare and mislead the public into supporting a war that had no basis in international law.
My Iraqi client, Ms. Sundus Saleh, alleges that the Iraq War was a “war of aggression,” a term that was defined at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946. She has exercised the jurisdiction of the court through the Alien Tort Statute, a law passed by the first Congress in 1789.
My case seeks to set new precedent regarding the obligations of government leaders. I am asking the court to acknowledge that I have a common law and/or constitutional right (premised in the First Amendment) to receive honest and candid information from government officials with respect to war and peace. I have also alleged that the defendants violated California’s false advertising law in planning and waging the Iraq War.
All six defendants have been notified by letter of these lawsuits and I am currently waiting for their counsel to contact me to discuss service of the complaints and other preliminary matters.
I am handling these cases completely pro bono. I have litigated numerous cases in the federal courts, including civil and human rights cases, both as an associate for a major law firm and now with my own practice. I want to win these cases, both for my client and for myself.
But these lawsuits won’t go anywhere without the help of people like you.
First, the more people who care, the more likely the courts will care. We are now building a broad movement of people who want to see a trial for the Iraq War. And what better way to build a broad movement then to seek a simple pledge of one dollar from anyone who wants to see such a trial? We are asking people to donate a dollar to show support for the suits, and to tell a friend to do the same.
Second, I need the support of passionate, intelligent and thoughtful people to secure the court orders that I want for my client and for myself. American leaders no longer feel the pressure of accountability; only the force of a public movement, composed of caring Americans, will force a change in behavior such that leaders recognize that their first duty is always to the public, and that they cannot go to war for unjust and illegal reasons.
Please join me to make this trial a reality. You can help by supporting our fundraising campaign at indiegogo, by spreading the word about the lawsuits, and by reaching out to me if you want to get involved.
Please help me hold our leaders accountable. Please help to prevent another Iraq War.
Inder Comar, Esq. is principal at Comar Law (www.comarlaw.com) and practices law in San Francisco, California. Comar Law provides legal strategy to innovators. He can be contacted at inder@comarlaw.com.
TAKE ACTION! Watch these new videos with Inder Comar who is in Jordan right now taking interviews with Iraqi refugees including:
- Plaintiff Sundus Saleh (gets cut off a bit at the end)