Culminating Session Of World Tribunal On Iraq Starts In Istanbul

ISTANBUL - Culminating session of the ''World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI)'' started in Istanbul's historical building of Darphane-i Amire on Friday.
Making opening remarks of the culminating session, Arundhati Roy, spokesperson of the Jury of Conscience, said, ''the testimonies at the previous sessions of the WTI in Brussels and New York have demonstrated that even those of us who have tried to follow the war in Iraq closely are not aware of a fraction of the horrors that have been unleashed in Iraq.''
''The Jury of Conscience at this tribunal is not here to deliver a simple verdict of guilty or not guilty against the United States and its allies. We are here to examine a vast spectrum of evidence about the motivations and consequences of the U.S. invasion and occupation, evidence that has been deliberately marginalized or suppressed. This tribunal is an attempt to correct the record. To document the history of the war not from the point of view of the victors but of the temporarily - and I repeat the word temporarily - vanquished,'' she said.
Roy noted, ''let me say categorically that this tribunal is the defense. It is an act of resistance in itself. It is a defense mounted against one of the most cowardly wars ever fought in history, a war in which international institutions were used to force a country to disarm and then stood by while it was attacked with a greater array of weapons than has ever been used in the history of war. Second, this tribunal is not in any way a defense of Saddam Hussein. His crimes against all Iraqi people cannot be written off in the process of bringing to light Iraq's more recent and still unfolding tragedy. However, we must not forget that when Saddam Hussein was committing his worst crimes, the U.S. government was supporting him politically and materially. Saddam Hussein is being tried as a war criminal even as we speak. But what about those who helped to install him in power, who armed him, who supported him, and who are now setting up a tribunal to try him and absolve themselves completely?''
Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the Panel of Advocates, Richard Falk said, ''the WTI is remarkable for two principal reasons: WTI bears witness to the depth and persistence of the popular mobilization of people throughout the world in opposition to the Iraq War. Such a mobilization against a particular war has never occurred before on such a scale. It started with the massive street demonstrations before the war on Feb. 15th 2003 in which some 11 million people took part in 80 countries and more than 600 urban communities. The second reason for claiming historical significance on behalf of WTI relates to this initiative of, by, and for citizens to hold leaders accountable for severe violations of international law, especially in relation to matters of war and peace.
''Of course, this tribunal does not pretend to be a normal court of law with powers of enforcement. At the same time, it is acting on behalf of the peoples of the world to uphold respect for international law. The U.S. government told a pack of lies in its feeble attempt to find a legal justification for the invasion of Iraq. The WTI will expose these lies by presenting evidence and testimony,'' he stressed.
Falk noted, ''this tribunal differs from a normal court of law in the following main respects: it is an organ of civil society, not of the state, and its essential purpose is to confirm the truth, not to discover it.''
''The United States justifies every abuse by pointing to the September 11th attacks. These attacks, even if they are what is claimed, do not justify aggression against states or the torture of individuals,'' he said.
Falk added, ''it should also be observed that Turkey is an appropriate site for this culminating session of the WTI since Turkey stands at the crossroads between the old European geopolitical core and the Third World periphery. It was Turkey's proudest moment when its parliament refused the request of the US Government to mount the invasion of Iraq from Turkish territory; this represented an expression of an increasingly robust democratic process here in Turkey.''
Speaking at the first session on ''The Role of International Law and Institutions'', Hans von Sponeck, former coordinator of the United Nations Humanitarian Aid Program for Iraq, said, ''the United Nations Secretariat acquiesced when the United States and Britain, two founding members of the United Nations, insisted in the Security Council on an economic sanctions regime that caused a human tragedy. The United Nations Secretariat remained mute when these same governments dropped out of the international community to unilaterally mount an illegal invasion into Iraq. In the history books of the United Nations the handling of the Iraq conflict by the Security Council will be recorded as a massive failure of oversight responsibility.''
He eulogized the Turkish parliament's decision to reject deployment of U.S. soldiers in Turkey, and use of Turkish ports and airports by the United States to transport military personnel and equipment to Iraq.