US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is being asked to hear a claim that the US-led Iraq war was illegal under laws formed because of the Nuremberg trials in the wake of World War II.
Sundus Saleh is single mother in Iraq who is suing members of the George W. Bush administration for their role in the war in Iraq. Saleh has an international team of lawyers and filed in 9th Circuit Appellate Court May 27th after working through U.S. District Court of Northern California.
Plaintiff Saleh brings this action on her own behalf and on behalf of a putative class of Iraqi civilians against former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard Cheney, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz (“Defendants”).
June 2, 2015 Ramsey Clark, 66th Attorney-General of the United States, and others filed an amicus brief on Saleh’s behalf. The other attorneys are an all-star team that includes: Abdeen Jabara, former president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and former president of the Association of American Arab University Graduates; Jeanne Mirer, president of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, co-chair of the International Committee of the National Lawyers Guild, founding Board Member of the International Commission for Labour Rights; Marjorie Cohn, former president of National Lawyers Guild, Professor of Law at Thomas Jefferson Law School; Arno Develay, French avocat; Paul Wolf, attorney; Margaretha Wewerinke, Lecturer in Law, University of the South Pacific, President of International-Lawyers.Org; and Curtis F.J. Doebbler, visiting Professor of International Law at Webster University Geneva, as well as at Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations.
CASE No. 15-15098 __ IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT __ SUNDUS SHAKER SALEH on behalf of herself and those similarly situated, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. GEORGE W. BUSH, et al., Defendants-Appellees. __ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District Of California, Judge Jon S. Tigar, Case No. 3:13-cv-01124 JST __ AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF BY Lawyers for International Law IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT URGING REVERSAL
The Amici Curiae maintain that:
I. INTERNATIONAL LAW IS PART OF THE LAW OF THE UNITED STATES AND SHOULD BE APPLIED BY ALL FEDERAL COURTS;Dahr Jamail, a Truthout staff reporter, has today published an article in which Attorney General Clark is quoted.
II. INTERNATIONAL LAW PROHIBITS THE CRIME OF AGGRESSION;
III. ACTS OF AGGRESSION THAT VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL LAW ARE ACTIONABLE UNDER THE ALIEN TORT ACT;
IV. THE WESTFALL ACT SHOULD NOT BE INTERPRETED TO PROVIDE IMPUNITY FOR THE CRIME OF AGGRESSION.
"It is always necessary to pursue the course of justice against those who commit injustices," Clark said. "In this case as many as 3.5 million people have lost their lives as a consequence of the crime of aggression - the illegal use of force perpetrated against the people of Iraq - and the country's development has been set back countless years. Human rights need to be defended everywhere, by all those who are able.".