War Crimes Tribunal on Colin Powell

DeAnza College Students and Faculty to Hold War Crimes Tribunal November 10 for Colin Powell, During His Scheduled Appearances on Campus.


Students for Justice, a DeAnza College student organization and their faculty advisers will hold a War Crimes Tribunal for former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, on Thursday, November 10, 2005, in the Campus Center, Conference Rooms A& B on the campus of DeAnza College, in Cupertino, California, from 1:30-5pm. The War Crimes Tribunal will be one of several forms of protest by campus and community groups during the period of November 9-11, the three evenings on which Mr. Powell is scheduled to speak at the Flint Center, in the Celebrity Forum Series.

Colin Powell’s critical role in the Bush Administration’s War in Iraq will be examined by a panel of presenters. The scholars, activists, and veterans taking part in the Tribunal will conduct an inquiry into Powell’s responsibilities and complicity in the destruction of Iraqi society since 2003, the ongoing occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the overthrow of President Jean Bertrand Aristide in Haiti, in 2004, the Gulf War in 1991, the ongoing U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands, the Iran-Contra Scandal, legal and illegal support for the Contras in Nicaragua, the Vietnam War, and the deaths, disability, and exposure of U.S. veterans and peoples of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the former Yugoslavia to toxic chemicals and depleted uranium munitions. All of the above policies have featured widespread accusations of war crimes, violations of international law, and crimes against humanity by human rights organizations and other critics in the U.S. and throughout the world.

In the spirit of the Bertrand Russell/ International War Crimes Tribunal of the U.S. war in Vietnam in 1966, the World Tribunal on Iraq, in New York in 2004, and In Istanbul, Turkey in June, 2005, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in South Africa 1995-‘98, in El Salvador, in 1992-’93 and in East Timor, 2000-2005, the War Crimes Tribunal of Colin Powell at DeAnza College will attempt to make U.S. government officials accountable for their repeated and blatant violations of international law in the conduct of war, the overthrow of foreign governments, military occupations of foreign lands, covert and illegal operations to assist others involved in related activities, disinformation and cover-ups of these actions, and the violations of the civil rights of U.S. veterans involved in these actions.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is often viewed as an opponent of war, or in his own words, a “reluctant soldier.” He was widely viewed as an independent and reasonable voice within the Bush Administration, in which the excesses of the neo-conservatives associated with the Project for a New American Century (Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowicz, Lewis Libby, Richard Perle) led the U.S. into the foreign policy debacle of the Iraq War and the atrocities of widespread deaths of civilians and routine torture of prisoners and combatants in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The War Crimes Tribunal will critically examine Powell’s role in these and other controversial U.S. military operations over several decades, including his speech at the U.N. in February, 2003, which made the case for war against Iraq, and his direct role in the overthrow of the elected President of Haiti in 2004.

Presenters will include Dr. Wendy White, of the Humanities faculty of DeAnza College,
Dr. Greg Druehl, of the Political Science faculty, who will defend Powell’s record,
Dr. Ayad al-Qazzaz, of the Sociology faculty of California State University, Sacramento,
who will discuss the war in Iraq, Pierre LaBossiere, founder of the Haiti Action
Network, Chuong Chung, of the faculty of City College of San Francisco and DeAnza
College, who will discuss Powell’s actions in the Vietnam War, Joyce Riley,
former captain in the United States Air Force Reserve and spokesperson for the
American Gulf War Veterans Association, and Ann Wright, a decorated 26-year veteran
of the U.S. Army and former U.S. diplomat in Mongolia, who resigned in protest of
the U.S. War in Iraq. Representatives of Iraq Veterans for Peace, Veterans for
Peace, Military Families Speak Out, and Gold Star Families for Peace will also address
the Tribunal.

Students and faculty will also sponsor a range of other political protests of Powell’s role in the U.S. War in Iraq. Students for Justice will hold a speak-out at the Campus Center Plaza at 12:30pm, on Wednesday, Nov. 9 and a march and protest of Powell’s first speech will begin at 6pm on Wednesday evening, November 9. Protests of Powell’s second appearance will occur at 7pm on Thursday, November 10. Religious and political protests will be organized on Friday afternoon and evening before Powell’s third appearance, on November 11, by students and community groups. A peace camp and various civil disobedience actions will take place throughout the three days sponsored by a wide range of students and Bay Area anti-war organizations.

Contact: Rich Wood, Sociology Faculty, DeAnza College; adviser: Students for Justice
650-879-0778
rend58@peoplepc.com