War Criminals Watch's blog

Barack Obama is selling the planned US Cruise missile bombing of Syria as a “humanitarian” act in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack.  Bombing Syria will kill more civilians, polarize the situation further, and invite even more intervention and weapons into the country, making it more likely that the civil war could expand into an extremely dangerous regional conflagration.

by Debra Sweet         While protesting in Times Square Saturday, we listened amid the noise to Obama’s speech of mostly stick, and a little carrot. Some of the protesters took his “largesse” at offering Congress the chance to endorse his plan to attack Syria (the carrot) as a concession by Obama. They say we should seize the moment and “let Congress know” how many people are against this strike and potential regional war.

Here's our list of the September-October 2013 War Criminal Appearances/Protests. Please join or help organize a demonstration in a city near you. Reproducible posters and leaflets along with other information is available at the War Criminals Watch website. 

by Debra Sweet      It's looking like the U.S. — notwithstanding President Obama's speech about "justice" and "freedom" today at theMarch on Washington 50th anniversary — will launch air strikes on Syria in the next few days.  It's essential that visible protest in advance of, and in reaction to, such attacks are as strong as possible.
Protest Thursday August 29:

The sentence given in the Manning case is by far the longest given by the US government for anyone convicted of leaking information.  Supporters in at least 17 cities were out Wednesday to protest quickly.  There are demands for clemency, reduction of the sentence, and for a presidential pardon.

by Debra Sweet     The terrible situation in Egypt and Syria may make one wish to look away, but we can't. In both countries, thousands have been killed, with horrifying massacres in the last weeks, and the U.S. government is deeply implicated.

Egypt:
The U.S. government backed a military coup removing the elected government of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. The military, trained and supported under successive U.S. administrations, receiving more than $1.5B a year, killed over 1,000 Morsi supporters on August 14, including women and children.

by Debra Sweet         The judge's verdict in Bradley Manning's case, which was outrageous, came quickly after the guilt phase of the court martial. Bradley admitted breaking some laws in the service of greater good; exposing systemic, widespread abuse, murder, injustice and war crimes by the government, and faces most of his life in prison, while those who run the wars with impunity get called "humanitarians" and become Nobel Prize winners.

 There is, and should be, serious debate and discussion of how Bradley Manning affected our world by transferring a trove of classified US documents revealing war crimes to Wikileaks in 2010, and of his apology for doing so yesterday,

by Debra Sweet        Barack Obama pulled out the “we’re not Big Brother” line again Friday in the ongoing to effort to bamboozle people alarmed about the vast National Security Agency surveillance of whole populations exposed by Edward Snowden.  The important thing to him is not that the surveillance is curtailed, but that you feel comfortable with it.

by Dennis Loo          Yesterday, the judge in Bradley Manning’s show trial found Manning guilty on nearly every charge but the most draconian of “aiding the enemy,” which could have brought the death penalty.

Here is the August-September 2013 list war criminals appearances in the US.   Check out a demonstration in you areas or plan one yourselves. We're here to assist if you need it.  

George W. Bush

9-9-13 Denver CO

Dick Cheney

by Terri Suess           Under the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremberg Principles, a soldier's responsibility is to do exactly what Bradley Manning did – expose any and all war crimes. NurembergPrinciple VII states, "Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principle VI is a crime under international law."

Watch the video of "Collateral Murder" – the Army's own videotape of soldiers shooting unarmed reporters and civilians and laughing about it. Then tell me if Bradley Manning –who released this information to the public – is the war criminal.

by Debra Sweet      The war crimes that Bradley was convicted of exposing. Let us know you would like a copy of theCollateral Murder video on DVD (

by Steering Committee of World Can't Wait     Today Bradley Manning was convicted in a military "show trial" of espionage and theft charges for making available to the public classified documents evidencing US war crimes and bullying of other countries. He could be sentenced to 136 years in prison.  The government’s prosecution aimed to make an example of Manning, imprisoning him under harsh conditions, and charging him with “aiding the enemy,” a capital offense, to intimidate others from standing up and speaking out against U.S. war crimes.

by  Dennis Loo         Max Blumenthal, the well-known journalist, attended the Aspen Security Forum and wrote about it in an OpEd News piece published on July 27, 2013 entitled "Shocking 'Extermination' Fantasies by the People Running America's Empire on Full Display at the Aspen Summit

 In arguing that Russia should send Edward Snowden back to the U.S. to face charges for exposing, from inside the NSA, a vast surveillance network on whole populations, Attorney General Eric Holder was in the ironic position of alleging that:

by Debra Sweet                   More than 60 of us filled the courtroom, and spilled into the overflow trailer, at Ft. Meade last Thursday (July 25).  The chief prosecutor for the government, a sneering Major Fein, in closing argument called Bradley Manning a “traitor” for the first time, and also a “hacker,” an “anarchist,” and a “humanist who does not care about humans.”

by Debra Sweet         Editor's Note from Dennis Loo.com: Obama's Justice Department is the same DOJ that has blocked torture victims from being able to sue for damages in court, declaring that allowing evidence of their torture by the U.S. and clients of the U.S. would reveal "national security" secrets (as if the world didn't all know that the U.S. is and has been torturing people), the same DOJ that is going after whistleblowers, not against those the whistleblowers have revealed to be committing crimes, the same DOJ that presides over the mass incarceration of millions (including the torture of many) here in the U.S.

by Debra Sweet             This is day #162, with 80 or more prisoners on strike, 45 of them being force-fed. There was a temporary federal court order against the new genital searches, but that has been overturned, and the searches have not stopped. Some prisoners report to their attorneys having their rectums searched ten times a day as punishment and pressure to drop the hunger strike.

by Debra Sweet           Thursday July 18, the judge presiding over Bradley Manning's court martial denied defense motions to drop the most serious charge against him, "aiding the enemy." This is the same judge who will announce her decision, soon, on Bradley's guilt in 21 charges. Closing arguments will probably come the week of July 22.

By Dennis Loo               In Part 1 of this article I argued that the actual target of the U.S. government’s universal spying is not terrorists but us, the public, or more specifically, whistleblowers, investigative journalists, dissenters, and the public. 

by Debra Sweet           On Monday, July 8, Bradley Manning’s defense began with what was surely one of the most intense and unusual openings in U.S.

By Dennis Loo            On July 12, 2013’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” panelist Matt Lewis, a senior contributor to The Daily Caller and columnist to The Week Magazine, responded to Bill Maher’s query about the George Zimmerman trial by describing it as confrontation between “a wannabe gangster” and a “wannabe cop.” Both Cornel West, another panelist last night, and Maher, objected immediately to this false characterization of Trayvon Martin.

By The World Can't Wait Steering Committee         The U.S. government is prosecuting Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden who exposed war crimes and crimes against humanity by the U.S. Now is the time to issue a powerful people's indictment of the crimes of the US government and counter the war on truth tellers.

We urge people to go out publicly in every way they can think of. Read these indictments aloud on street corners, post them up online and on paper, tweet them, and participate in creative protests to bring the indispensable peoples' voice and actions into this politically intolerable scene.

"A Conversation with Professor John Yoo"  Deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 to 2003, Yoo helped draft the Patriot Act and author the legal basis for the NSA 'PRISM' program.
World Can't Wait joins with a large section of the U.S. population -- and billions worldwide -- in outrage at the unconstitutional, illegitimate surveillance of whole populations by the U.S. which has been covered up and lied about for years.
We Defend Edward Snowden for his courageous action in revealing vast, unlawful surveillance by the United States.
We Call on others to join us in opposing the U.S. government's plans to gain custody of him, to try and imprison him on espionage charges. 

Monday July 8 Bradley Manning Defense Begins at Ft. Meade:   We must fill all the public seats in the courtroom, and fill the overflow space next week! Protest outside the gates at Ft. Meade 7:00 am.  Trial begins 9:30 am. 

by Debra Sweet, Director of World Can't Wait            We learned while in a strange, airless, windowless trailer-like military court at the infamous Ft. Meade, during the trial of Bradley Manning on Thursday, June 28, that the U.S. military has blocked access, worldwide, for anyone in the military to the website of The Guardian, apparently in reaction to the leaks by Edward Snowden on vast surveillance of whole populations by the National Security Administration.  Ironically, or not, Ft. Meade is the home of the NSA.

240 people came together on short notice on June 19,2013 in The Great Hall of Cooper Union in NYC, and hundreds more watched online as we united to say “We will not be complicit... We DO NOT Consent.” The room reverberated with outrage, support for Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning, and, in some cases, newly acquired knowledge of the crime against humanity unfolding at Guantanamo, where over 100 prisoners are on a hunger strike. 

WE DEFEND Edward Snowden for his courageous action in revealing vast, unlawful surveillance by the United States.

WE CALL on others to join us in opposing the U.S. government’s plans to gain custody of him, to try  and imprison him on espionage charges.