Prosecution of those responsible for torture is not optional – it is required by our obligations under the Geneva Conventions .

So we’ve joined forces with buhdydharma and the Docudharma community to petition Obama’s AG nominee, Eric Holder, to appoint a Special Prosecutor.

Holder replied after receiving a few hundred emails: ” Enough folks. I hear you .” That’s a start, but we’ve asked for a formal statement. And we’re collecting additional signatures to deliver when Holder goes before the Senate for confirmation hearings in January.

Please sign and spread the word!
http://democrats.com/special-prosecutor-for-bush-war-crimes

A version of this column appeared in the Nov. 10 edition of UT-Austin’s Daily Texan newspaper.

Manny Babbitt was a Marine, a Vietnam War veteran whose demonstrated courage earned him a Purple Heart. Babbitt was a survivor of the battle of Khe Sanh where 737 Americans died and more than 2,500 soldiers were wounded. He was hit by rocket shrapnel that opened up his skull. He lost consciousness and was thought to be dead. Afterthat, he was loaded onto a pile of corpses by helicopter operators, where he regained consciousness surrounded by severed limbs and bodies.

Manny returned from his service in Vietnam suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), exhibiting bizarre and violent behavior. Finally he broke into the home of Leah Shendel, an elderly woman, and beat her. She later died of a heart attack. Manny’s brother Bill Babbitt turned him in to the authorities, believing that he owed it to the larger community and expecting that his mentally ill brother, the war hero, would get the medical attention that he needed and deserved. But authorities responded by seeking the death penalty for Manny. Not long after being awarded a Purple Heart for his service, he was executed one minute after midnight, May 4, 1999, in the state of California. It was his 50th birthday.

Manny’s story is not just a tragic account of a one-time American hero. It is another glaring example of how the death penalty system is broken. Manny’s story is much like those of others who were executed. Coming from a hardworking family of very modest means, he was unable to afford a lawyer who would fight for him to have a fair trial, let alone fight to save his life. Manny’s first lawyer took money from his family and then dropped the case. His second, a court appointed attorney, refused to allow African Americans on the jury, drank heavily during the trial, and was later disbarred from practicing law. Manny’s trial was rife with racial tensions and his own lawyer would later be sued based on claims of racial bias.

It’s 11 years later, and the United States is again involved in another endless and illegal war that has resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. According to a March 2008 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, a third of veterans returning from Iraq who received care from Veterans Affairs between 2001 and 2005 were diagnosed with mental health or psychosocial ills. Combat stress, exhaustion, and bearing witness to the horrors of war contribute to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which can lead to depression, suicide and violent behavior as seen in Manny’s case. Early this year New York Times found more than 100 cases of murder as part of a new wave of nationwide increase in crimes committed by veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Not surprisingly, district attorneys around the country are taking advantage of this situation by seeking death penalty and life sentence, rather than providing mental treatment.

We owe the men and women returning home from battle a justice system that is worthy of the sacrifices we are asking them and their families to make in the name of defending democratic ideals. We owe them more than what Manny received: A paucity of services to address serious health issues. The Veterans Administration is far too under-funded to provide adequate mental health care to soldiers.

The money that is squandered on capital punishment could fund hundreds of walk-in storefront Veterans’ Centers, clinics, physical and mental rehabilitation programs, as well as assistance with education, employment and housing. As we are getting reading to start the 2009 Texas legislative session, the state legislature should ban execution of mentally-ill, and replace it with smarter, more effective ways of responding to the tragedy of murder. In this new era of change, we not only owe it to our veterans, but to all citizens, to take a closer look at our criminal justice system and the damage it does to families, and to society at large. A mountain of research over the past 30 years demonstrates that capital punishment does not operate consistent with principles of due process and equal protection of the laws. It did not operate that way in Manny’s case.

Movie Synopsis:

“NO END IN SIGHT” examines the manner in which the principal errors of U.S. policy-the use of insufficient troop levels, allowing the looting of Baghdad, the purging of professionals from the Iraqi government, and the disbanding of the Iraqi military-largely created the insurgency and chaos that engulf Iraq today. How did a group of men with little or no military experience, knowledge of the Arab world, or personal experience in Iraq come to make such flagrantly debilitating decisions? “NO END IN SIGHT” dissects the people, issues, and facts behind the Bush administration’s decisions and their consequences on the ground to provide a powerful look into how arrogance and ignorance turned a military victory into a seemingly endless and deepening nightmare of a war.

We need a new president now, someone with some credibility and trustworthiness.

Bush and Cheney should recognize that they have failed and that if they remain in office, they are endangering the entire country.

We are the people of Main Street and we need to know if our futures are in danger because of the greed and incompetence of Wall Street, but we can not trust Bush and Cheney to tell the truth.

To save Main Street, Bush and Cheney must resign so that an interim president can address the immediate crisis. The first step would be to figure out if indeed there is a crisis that warrants a $700 billion bailout. We need someone we can trust to level with us.

Right now, we do not even know if the crisis is as dire as Bush and Cheney claim because they have mislead the country before. Why should we believe them now?

An interim president could restore trust between the people and the president, address the immediate crisis and hand off the White House to the next elected president on Jan 20.

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Source: Charlotte Observer