In case you thought it might be easy to hold the Bush Crime Family to account for their crimes . . .

Of course the Nuremberg trials were derided as a sham, as mere "victors' justice." The Allied powers claimed to be setting precedent for applying principles of international law. Ha, we're such kidders!

by Ken

Just yesterday, you may recall, I was asking, "Is there anything we can do about the criminals Chimpy the Prez and "Big Dick" Cheney?" Now I wasn't speaking only of their war crimes, but certainly those are at the top of the list for which some kind of formal reckoning is needed, both as a matter of justice and as a lesson and warning to the people who follow them in their offices.

This morning I found an e-mail from Noah with this link:

http://digg.com/politics/LAW_SCHOOL_TO_ORGANIZE_BUSH_WAR_CRIMES_TRIAL/who

The link takes you to this Digg item:

LAW SCHOOL TO ORGANIZE BUSH WAR CRIMES TRIAL
Organizations that want to put President Bush and his accomplices on trial for war crimes will convene at the Massachusetts School of Law September 13-14 to map out an action blueprint to bring them to justice.

Naturally I was already imagining a blogpost that would take note of this while branding it "Not Much, but It's a Start." These days, while Howie is away, Everything I look at, I automatically imagine as a blogpost. It's an occupational hazard. (Wait, this doesn't qualify as an "occupation," exactly, even if it has been pretty much full-time. Is there such a thing as an "avocational hazard"?) So it would be nice to have more information, right?

The Digg item links to a lengthy post -- with, like, 1850 Diggs! -- which begins:

A conference to plan the prosecution of President Bush and other high administration officials for war crimes will be held September 13-14 at the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover .

"This is not intended to be a mere discussion of violations of law that have occurred," said convener Lawrence Velvel, dean and cofounder of the school. "It is, rather, intended to be a planning conference at which plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth."

"We must try to hold Bush administration leaders accountable in courts of justice," Velvel said. "And we must insist on appropriate punishments, including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top German and Japanese war-criminals in the 1940s."

Dean Velvel is quoted as saying. "For Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Yoo to spend years in jail or go to the gallows for their crimes would be a powerful lesson to future American leaders."

Hold on now. "September 13-14"? It doesn't seem likely that this refers to 2009. Sure enough, the original story circulated in early June 2008. Meaning that the conference has already taken place, right? Or if it didn't, there's some further development to report, surely.

A job for Google, surely. As you might guess from the number of Diggs, you'll find some version of the original post plastered all over the Net. This was followed by a sprinkling of posts noting indignantly that the MSM is predictably ignoring this important news. Then, well, it's hard to find anything.

Finally I find this report, from Andover (good sign!), on the website of a local paper:

Published: September 13, 2008 12:02 am

Law school dean's war crimes
conference starts today

By Brian Messenger
bmessenger@eagletribune.com

ANDOVER -- A two-day effort by lawyers and academics to coordinate war crimes prosecution against top U.S. officials begins today at the Wyndham Andover hotel.

The conference was originally scheduled to be on the Federal Street campus of the Massachusetts School of Law, but met with opposition from some alumni.

The conference is being hosted by law school Dean Lawrence Velvel.

The 18 participating speakers include authors, academics, lawyers, journalists and members of the American Civil Liberties Union and New York City-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

The conference will begin at 9 a.m. today and concludes Sunday afternoon.

Perhaps the best-known participant in the conference is author and former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. Bugliosi prosecuted Charles Manson with the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, a trial he later outlined in his best-selling book "Helter Skelter."

Velvel did not return calls seeking comment this week, but wrote in a June statement announcing his plans to hold the conference that President George W. Bush and other top U.S. leaders must be tried for war crimes.

The present location of the conference was not made public by Velvel or the law school, but was revealed this week by North Andover-based public relations agency Bulldog Communications.

Andover lawyer and Massachusetts School of Law graduate Peter Cotch said he was pleased the conference was moved off campus.

Cotch urged the school's board of trustees to review Velvel's standing as dean when the conference was first announced.

"Larry Velvel is certainly entitled to his own political activities and cultural pursuits, but they should not be confused with the mission of the law school, which is to educate lawyers," Cotch said.

Andover attorney Arthur Broadhurst, a member of the school's board of trustees, said he called Velvel after learning of the conference and was told by the dean the event would be held off campus.

"He wasn't ordered to," said Broadhurst. "When I had talked to him to find out what was going on, he had told me he wasn't going to be doing it on campus."

It turns out that this very same Eagle-Tribune had editorialized on the subject back in July:

Published: July 08, 2008 10:46 pm

Our view: Velvel's 'war crimes' charade is preposterous

The words and actions of the dean of the Massachusetts School of Law cast the Andover school in ill repute and raise doubt over whether anyone can expect serious legal training there.

Lawrence Velvel, dean and co-founder of the law school, says that President Bush and members of his administration should be placed on trial for war crimes and, if found guilty, hanged -- just like the leaders of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan.

The "Bush is Hitler" argument is a common one in the less rational corners of the Internet. Overblown rhetoric is one thing. Propounding foolishness as a matter of public policy is another matter entirely.

Velvel is planning a two-day conference for September titled "Planning for the Prosecution of High Level American War Criminals." Originally slated for the school's Federal Street campus, the conference has been moved to an undisclosed location.

Velvel declined to comment to our reporter on his motives for the conference. But in writings promoting it, Velvel has said this is no mere academic exercise.

"Because domestic politics are obviously useless for holding the guilty accountable, we must try to do what was done in the 1940s to the leaders of nations who committed evil," wrote Velvel.

"We must try to do what was done to the German and Japanese leaders from top Nazis and Tojo right down to lawyers and judges. ... Not unless leaders fear prison or the gallows for actions that violate law will there be anything to check the next headlong rush to war for allegedly good reasons that later prove false," Velvel wrote.

Velvel names Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger as specific targets of his "war crimes" charade. Not surprisingly, Velvel makes no mention of former President Clinton, under whose administration "regime change" in Iraq became official U.S. policy. Nor does he mention the numerous senators and congressmen -- Republican and Democrat -- who in 2002 granted the president authority to use military force against Iraq.

Velvel's conference and war crimes rabble-rousing amount to a political exercise, not a legal one. Indeed, why even hold trials at all? Let's proceed directly to the hangings. It's clear that's where Velvel stands. His attempt to smear a veneer of legality over his hatred of Bush administration policy in Iraq is transparent.

It is perfectly fair, reasonable and just to oppose the war in Iraq and to condemn the president's role in it. The people of the United States are welcome to boot Bush, his administration and its supporters out of public office for as long as they see fit.

But in a democracy, differences in opinion over national policy are not criminal matters. Those who lead law schools should be resisting such nonsense, not encouraging it.

Is it possible for an entire newspaper even a regional one, to fit its entire head up its collective butt? Is it possible that these people who run a newspaper are that utterly clueless about the abundant war crimes committed -- or at the very least in need of adjudicating -- by the Bush regime? (Is this possible? A: yes.) Or are they just reflexive right-wing propagandists?

Or are they just fans of war crimes when we do 'em? It's worth keeping in mind the common description of the Nuremberg trials as "victors' justice" -- a holding-to-account that, for all its fancy kowtowing to supposed higher principles of international law -- would never have been prosecuted except by a winning power upon a losing one.

Somebody deserves to be held up to widespread ridicule and scorn here, but I don't think it's Dean Velvel. One suggestion: If war crimes tribunals ever are held, how about adding the name of "Andover lawyer and Massachusetts School of Law graduate Peter Cotch," on a charge of obstructing international law?


SINCE WE HAVE THE REPORTER'S E-MAIL ADDRESS
(ASSUMING HE'S STILL AT THE EAGLE-TRIBUNE) --

Once this post posts, I'm going to e-mail him and see if he can fill us in on further developments in Andover. I'll let you know anything I find out.

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