Men Of Station & Rank Who Do Not Soil Their Own Hands With Blood Are The War Criminals Warn Others Not To Challenge State Power Even When It's Lawless!
My Name
Friday, 18 December 2009 11:15 Added by PT Editor Nour Scardina
US, December 18, 2009 (Pal Telegraph)- The Constitution's
Sixth Amendment assures defendants in "all criminal
prosecutions" the right to speedy, public, fair trials with
"the Assistance of (competent) Counsel for his (or her)
defense" provided free if unable to pay for it. The
Fourteenth Amendment holds government subservient to the law
and guarantees due process respect for everyone's legal
right to judicial fairness on matters relating to life,
liberty, or property.
In America and elsewhere, defending unpopular clients is a
long, honored tradition. So is upholding the law and
challenging unfettered power that defiles it. Yet doing it
risks lawyers being criminalized for doing their job too
vigorously or making enemies of powerful, influential
government or business officials in the process.
"In the best traditions of advocacy," according to her
lawyer Michael Tigar, Lynne Stewart was wrongly convicted
and now jailed for ethically, morally, and responsibly
defending an accused terrorist Washington wanted to convict.
As New York state Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer was an
aggressive prosecutor against Wall Street corruption and the
Bush administration's housing bubble involvement and
covertly arranged bailouts that followed. In a TV interview
and February 2008 Washington Post article titled, "Predatory
Lenders' Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration
Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers," he
called the president a fugitive from justice and accused him
of doing nothing to help consumers.
In preparing a high-profile campaign to tell all, his own
indiscretions brought him down for buying sex from a high-
priced prostitute in a Washington hotel. He wasn't charged,
but it ruined his career and halted efforts to target some
of the nation's most powerful.
Defense attorney Paul Bergrin follows in the same tradition.
Like Stewart and Spitzer, he challenged the powerful and
paid dearly. The New Times Times called him a "top
prosecutor" before becoming one of New Jersey's "most
prominent defense lawyers, representing clients as varied as
Abu Ghraib defendants, the rap stars Lil' Kim and Queen
Larifah and members of Newark's notorious street gangs," all
of whom have the same rights as everyone to due process and
judicial fairness as constitutional law demands.
Bergrin and other lawyers defended four 101st Airborne
Division soldiers accused of killing four Iraqis near
Samarra during the May 2006 Operation Iron Triangle. The
case made international headlines when evidence showed Col.
Michael Steele gave orders to "kill all military age males,"
and Professor Stjepan Mestrovic wrote a book on what
happened, titled "The 'Good Soldier' On Trial: A
Sociological Study of Misconduct by the US Military
Pertaining to Operation Iron Triangle, Iraq."
He documented disturbing evidence of "US government
mistreatment of its own soldier-prisoners as well as foreign
'detainees,' " and used Operation Iron Triangle and the
book's main protagonist, Spc. William Hunsaker, to study
"patterns of culture" and American society so readers will
know what he found.
He quoted Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" to highlight a key
theme, saying:
Clevinger "was guilty, of course, or he would have not been
accused, and since the only way to prove it was to find him
guilty, it was their patriotic duty to do so."
To the Iron Triangle soldiers also, unfairly convicted who
mustn't be forgotten so perhaps, one day, responsible
officials will review their cases and "reform the military
justice system to secure authentic justice" now absent.
It was no ordinary murder case. It involve conspiracy,
cover-up and intrigue by the government, not the solders who
were scapegoated to absolve the powerful. The prosecutor
called them "war criminals," contradicting the key fact:
"that a crime becomes a 'war crime' when it involves the
government, which is to say, when a crime is the result of
unlawful social policies and plans."
Lawful rules of engagement (ROE) killings result from orders
at a time of war. Unlawful ones are war crimes for which
leaders and high government officials bear main
responsibility. According to noted sociologist Emile
Durkheim:
"The immorality of war depends entirely on the leaders who
willed it - the soldier and even those government officials
who had no part in the decision remain innocent."
In other words, top administration figures and Pentagon
commanders bear responsibility for the killings and
atrocities they order. "But in the current 'war on terror,'
the open secret is that" low-ranking soldiers are blamed to
absolve superiors and let "rotten apples" be prosecuted and
punished.
"Who are the real war criminals in the war crimes that were
committed during Operation Triangle on May 9, 2006?" Their
commanders, not the soldiers. Yet through conspiracy and
cover-up they were convicted to absolve the powerful.
In his opening Nuremberg address, Justice Robert Jackson
said:
"The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop
with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It
must also reach men who possess themselves of great power
and make deliberative and concerted use of it to set in
motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched."
He called Nuremberg defendants "men of a station and rank
which does not soil its own hands with blood. These were men
who knew how to use lesser folk as tools. We want to reach
the planners and designers, the inciters and leaders...."
The same standard applies to America under binding US and
international laws.
"The important point....is not just about Operation Iron
Triangle, but about this tragic mission and its connections
to American society in the new millennium." It exposes the
"systemic dysfunctions in the army as well as American
society in this era" that lets innocent victims pay for
their superiors' crimes.
In violation of international and US law, the brigade
commander issued an illegal ROE to kill every military-aged
Iraqi on sight, the same policy Israelis use against
Palestinians and America historically, including during WW
II in the Pacific ("the good war") that historian John Dower
called a "War Without Mercy" in his powerful 1986 book.
Nearly always, higher-ups escape responsibility, only low-
level soldiers, a few "rotten apples" take the fall.
So four Operation Iron Triangle troops were convicted of
conspiracy, murder, aggravated assault, or obstruction of
justice for following orders, that if disobeyed would have
gotten them court-martialed, dishonorably discharged, fined
and imprisoned.
Yet the law is clear and unequivocal, including standards in
the US Army Field Manual (FM) 27-10 that incorporate
Nuremberg Principles, Judgment and the Charter and The Law
of Land Warfare (1956):
-- FM's paragraph 498 states that any person, military or
civilian, who commits a crime under international law is
responsible for it and may be punished;
-- paragraph 499 defines a war crime;
-- paragraph 500 refers to a conspiracy, attempts to commit
it and complicity with respect to international crimes;
-- paragraph 509 denies the defense of superior orders in
the commission of a crime; and
-- paragraph 510 denies the defense of an "act of state" to
absolve them.
Two points are key:
-- these provisions apply to all US military and civilian
personnel, including top commanders, the Secretary of
Defense, his subordinates, and the President and Vice
President of the United States; and
-- under the Constitution's Supremacy Clause (Article VI,
paragraph 2), all international laws and treaties are the
"supreme Law of the Land."
Distinguished law professor Francis Boyle calls resisting
lawless orders "our Nuremberg moment," and those doing it
should be honored, not prosecuted. Authorities issuing them
are responsible, not low-level troops who have no choice but
to go along and obey.
Mestrovic "document(s) hundreds of instances of such deceit,
chicanery, and dubious behavior on the part of the
government." Brigade commander, Col. Michael Steele,
followed orders to kill every military-aged Iraqi on sight.
Army investigators called it improper, but never charged him
to avoid implicating higher-ups.
Four low-ranking soldiers paid the price - Staff Sgt.
Raymond Girouard, Spc. William Hunsaker, Pfc. Corey Clagett,
and Spc. Juston Graber, on charges of conspiracy and murder
for killing four Iraqis during the May 9 raid, and/or other
charges. They're members of Fort Campbell, KY's Company C,
101st Airborne Division, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd
Battalion (called Rakkasans). The outcome was predictable.
They were tried and either found guilty or pleaded guilty as
charged.
Graber pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a dangerous
weapon and received nine months imprisonment under a plea
bargain to testify against the others.
Clagett pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder,
conspiracy to commit murder, and obstruction of justice and
got 18 years in prison. Hunsaker also pleaded guilty for the
same sentence. Girouard was convicted of three counts of
negligent homicide and received 10 years confinement.
Throughout the proceedings, they never had a chance, nor
does anyone authorities target to convict. They paid for
their superiors' crimes. The Operation Iron Triangle ROE was
illegal. Yet in criminal proceedings:
"Law enforcement agents lied and tricked their own
soldiers." They weren't read their Miranda rights. They were
confined in 7 x 7 prison cells 23 hours a day, in violation
of minimal army standards. Required autopsies weren't
performed. Neither were scientific and forensic tests. "Some
sworn statements were not passed up the chain of command."
Others were shredded. "Information and reports were withheld
from (their) Article 32 hearing" - a preliminary process
preceding a court martial.
"Perjured testimony was admitted. Fear and intimidation was
used to coerce testimony. Witnesses were told to align their
stories so that they would please what CID (criminal
investigators) wanted to hear. Accused soldiers and lawyers
were threatened not to mention certain leaders and
policies." Their commander, Col. Steele, refused to testify.
More on that below.
The fix was in, predetermined guilt for a few "bad apples"
to absolve the powerful. "There is no way that the average
person can conclude that the outcome of (their) courts-
martials was real justice. It was not," and no media
coverage exposed it.
Mestrovic hopes his book will keep this tragedy/travesty
from "the black hole of history," as well as defense
attorney Paul Bergrin's heroic role in it, and the price
he's now paying.
Eliot Spitzer, Lynne Stewart, and Paul Bergrin Victimized
for Doing Their Jobs
On May 20, 2009, a Department of Justice (DOJ) press
released headlined "Newark Lawyer Arrested, Charged with
Racketeering Conspiracy, Including Murder of a Federal
Witness (along with) Three Others Also Arrested and
Charged."
The 14 count indictment accuses Bergrin of "using various
legal entities, including (his law office) to conduct
illegal activities, including murder, to protect criminal
clients, perpetuate their activities and shield them from
prosecution."
Specifically cited is his alleged role in the "murder of a
confidential witness in an Essex County federal drug case,
and his efforts to hire a hitman from Chicago to kill at
least one witness in a Monmouth County drug case."
DOJ says the murder never happened. Likely none was planned,
but a supposed "hitman" is a cooperating witness, perhaps
for leniency on his charges, unrelated to Bergrin. It's a
common DOJ tactic, often with paid informants, to let off
lesser fish for bigger ones in unrelated cases.
Bergrin was charged with "racketeering and racketeering
conspiracy, wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, murder of
a federal witness, and conspiracy to murder a federal
witness, and, separately, witnesses in a state case, as well
as Travel Act violations and conspiracy to commit Travel Act
violations."
If convicted of murder or conspiracy, he potentially faces
life in prison. Also charged were:
-- Thomas Moran, an attorney in Bergrin's office;
-- Vincent Estevez, currently facing drugs trafficking
charges;
-- Yolanda Jauregui in connection with an alleged mortgage
fraud scheme with Bergrin; and
-- Sundiata Koontz in the same alleged mortgage fraud.
The indictment alleges that in November 2003:
"Bergrin received the name of a confidential federal
informant, who went by the name Kemo, from a client, William
Baskerville, and passed along the name to Baskerville's drug
trafficking associates." He was also arrested on federal
drugs trafficking charges.
"Bergrin allegedly told the drug traffickers....that if the
informant (was) killed, (he) could get Baskerville out of
jail and derail the federal prosecution....On March 4, 2004,
Anthony Young (allegedly at the behest of Bergrin) shot the
informant three times in the back of the head...."
From "at least....June 2008 through December 2008, Estevez,
Bergrin and Moran schemed to locate and kill a number of
witnesses that they believed intended (to) testify against
Estevez."
Begrin's Involvement in Defending Operation Iron Triangle
Soldiers
Lawyers who target high officials risk becoming victims of
the system they challenge. Paul Bergrin is the latest, not
for any crimes, but for threatening the wrong people - Col.
Steele and high administration officials, including Donald
Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, George Bush and Dick Cheney.
It's no coincidence that he was arrested one week before
Pfc. Clagett's trial, then a second time after he announced
he'd target Rumsfeld for perjury regarding his sworn
testimony about Abu Ghraib torture and abuse.
He got court permission for Steele to testify, something
Washington wouldn't allow to avoid implicating higher-ups
instead of "rotten apples" to be sacrificed. Had he done so,
imagine the possibilities, including testimony from his
second in command, Lt. Col. Nathaniel Johnson, calling him a
"toxic leader;" that he used "kill boards," wanted a big
body count, and in one pre-deployment speech told his
troops:
"....where we're going they could not send a bunch of Girl
Scouts and left-handed midgets to do what needs to be
done....This is real, and the guy who is going to win on the
battlefield is the one who gets violent the fastest. (So
here's what) I want you to know. Number One, anytime you
fight, anytime you fight, you always kill the other son-of-
a-bitch. Always. Do not let him live today, so he will fight
you tomorrow. Kill him today....when you walk out that gate,
fly out that gate, drive out that gate, I expect you to look
like a killer....Man, it's time to go hunting....You are the
hunter, you are the predator, you are looking for the prey,
and that's all."
In his journey into the "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad
wrote:
"one comes to hate those savages....hate them to the
death....Exterminate all the brutes!" In exhorting his
troops, Steele called them "predators" and Iraqis "prey."
His order - kill them for a big body count.
In appealing his November 9, 2005 - November 8, 2006
evaluation report preventing his promotion to full Colonel,
Johnson added:
"Throughout the duration of my command tenure, Colonel
Steele's attitude toward me and my battalion created a
dysfunction and intentionally hostile command
environment....(He) constantly articulated his judgment and
displeasure that my battalion was not being aggressive
enough toward the insurgents....He bullied and intimidated
my company commanders and questioned them behind my back."
The four targeted soldiers "implicated Colonel Steele (as a
toxic leader), and he received a letter of reprimand from
the Corp Commander."
Military documents, in fact, showed he acted illegally,
caused four Iron Triangle deaths, and got four soldiers
convicted for their commander's crime. Yet he escaped
accountability with deputy division commander, Brig. General
Thomas Maffey, citing his "miscommunication" (of the rules
and) his honest belief of the correctness of the mission
ROE."
Senate Committee Blames Higher-Ups for Soldier Abuses
The fall 2008 Levin-McCain Senate Armed Services Committee
Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in US Custody
concluded that White House officials, their lawyers, and top
Pentagon commanders were responsible for the Abu Ghraib
abuses, not so-called "rotten apples." Still, they were
wrongly imprisoned and never exonerated, while
administration practices went unchallenged, and continue
under a new president as official US policy.
Yet on May 10, 2007, General David Petraeus, head of US
Central Command said:
"What sets us apart from our enemies in this fight....is how
we behave. In everything we do, we must observe the
standards and values that dictate that we treat
noncombatants and detainees with dignity and respect. While
we are warriors, we are also human beings."
Then and now, he lied the way Israeli leaders do calling the
IDF "the "most moral army in the world," as they slaughter,
destroy, plunder, and commit the most unspeakable atrocities
against anyone who moves or is held in custody. Kill all the
brutes, but if lawyers try exposing them, they, in turn, are
targeted by a government determined to convict to warn
others not to challenge state power even when it's lawless.
Bergrin's First Bail Hearing - May 2009
As expected, prosecutors lied in arguing for detention
pending trial, accusing Bergrin's law firm of being
"specifically designed to make money by manipulating the
criminal justice system illegally (by) manipulat(ing)
witnesses, bribing (them), intimidating (and) killing
(them)."
"Mr. Bergrin provided information to assist the hit man in
identifying and locating these witness so that they could be
killed." An alleged recorded conversation supposedly said he
"told the hit man to make the hit look like a home invasion
robbery, to put on a ski mask and take all of the money, and
that under no circumstances (make it) look like a hit."
"Mr. Bergrin (is also) on one million dollars cash bail in
connection with his charges in New York state for money
laundering and prostitution."
On November 23, 2009, the AP reported that he plead "not
guilty to bribery, drug, (and) prostitution charges." If
he's released, "the safety of every single witness in this
case will be in jeopardy."
In response, defense attorneys called prosecution charges
"exaggerated, unsupported, and completely, completely
baseless and untrue." On the contrary, "He has forged a
career. And I'll say it - I'll say it as plainly as I can,
it has been in so many ways an exemplary career. He has
taken cases....that many lawyers, if not most lawyers, would
run away from. He has defended people who most lawyers would
not even want to know. And he has done it again and again
with integrity. He has done it again and again with
character."
"He served with character and integrity in the US Army,
where he achieved the rank of major. He acted with character
and integrity when he served as an assistant district
attorney in this county. And he acted again with integrity
and character when he prosecuted cases as an assistant
United Stated attorney in this district."
"But not only that. He acted with integrity and character
because he believed that any person charged with a crime of
whatever nature and whatever kind, no matter how serious, no
matter what the consequences, that he was a person who was
willing to stand up."
Yet prosecutors claim Bergrin "is really a murderer in
disguise wearing the - wearing the garb of a lawyer. In many
of these cases," and a particular one in which "a witness
was going to appear, and you know what, a witness was
murdered in that case, and who was the lawyer? Paul Bergrin.
And that's the end of it. And from that, they want the Court
to infer that somehow he was responsible for that murder."
"Yes, he has represented murderers. Yes, he's represented
gang members. Yes, he's represented killers. (But) that does
not make him part of any gang" or complicit in their crimes.
Mr. Bergrin "crossed no ethical line. He crossed no - or
violated no penal code."
The New York Times quoted government lawyers earlier saying
that the integrity of wiretap/recorded conversations was in
question, that "the tapes had not been properly dealt with,
apparently (related to) a sealing problem," creating a
suspicion of tampering.
The prosecution has one witness in a very thin case based on
bogus charges with no proof. The man he's accused of wanting
killed is in prison. "He was nowhere to be killed." The
entire case is based on fabrication and intimidation to
suppress truths and convict lawyers who try to expose them.
On May 29, Bergrin was denied bail, despite strong arguments
for his release. If convicted, he faces possible life
imprisonment, perhaps the death penalty.
In about two dozen previous articles, this writer documented
a consistent pattern of US prosecutorial injustice,
misconduct, and abuse against Muslims; Black, environmental
and animal rights activists; Latino immigrants; and lawyer
Lynne Stewart for representing an unpopular client
Department of Justice attorneys wanted to convict. All were
innocent, except an environmental activist who plead guilty
to a minor offense that at most deserved a reprimand and
perhaps small fine, not seven years hard time he's now
serving in federal prison for trying to save the earth.
From known facts about his case, Bergrin threatened the
powerful, so was framed to discredit and silence him. In
defending the scapegoated soldiers, he performed heroically.
Yet the media vilified him as a lawyer for mobsters, drug
dealers, street gang members, rappers, and guilty US troops
in stories like New York Times writer David Kocieniewski on
May 20, 2009 headlining, "Lawyer's Ways Spelled Murder, US
Is Charging."
Emphasizing DOJ charges, he convicted him in the court of
public opinion, biased potential jurors for his scheduled
2010 trial, and left no doubt where The Times stands -
guilty as charged as Heller's astute Catch-22 quote above
discerned.
Bergrin paid for his integrity - for wanting disturbing
truths to come out to hold those responsible accountable
under US and international law, not innocent soldiers forced
to obey orders or face court-martials, dishonorable
discharges, fines and imprisonments.
He's now victimized and disbarred for doing his job, and in
a November 24, 2009 letter to Mestrovic said:
"This virtual nightmare has destroyed everything (that) I
worked my heart and soul out for, including my family. What
hurts me the most is I am not guilty and totally
innocent....I am (as) despondent as a human being could be
and sincerely thank you for your friendship, love and
concern."
"Besides the evidence I uncovered on Operation Iron
Triangle, Objection Murray and the Rules of Engagement, to
kill every military aged male upon contact, I was about to
change the course of history (in a press conference) that I
had affirmative proof that President Bush, VP Cheney,
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Assist. Secy. of (Defense)
Wolfowitz, Carbone and White House Counsel, (Alberto)
Gonzales (later US Attorney General) had lied, deliberately
and intentionally when they denied knowledge of the torture
techniques at Abu Ghraib."
"If I had the torture memos, I would have compelled the
highest levels of the government to testify at these Court-
Martials, gone with a not guilty plea and exposed the
hypocrisy. Additionally, Col. Pohl denied me calling these
witnesses because the (government) alleged there was no
nexus nor evidence in existence on the torture memos and
techniques; we now know (they) existed and all the above had
knowledge of....I could have reversed the convictions at Abu
Ghraib and placed blame on the real offenders."
"My life is in crisis and I don't know where to turn....I
really attempted to treat these soldiers and defend them
like they were my own children."
For that and threatening the powerful, Bergrin faces a
possible life sentence if convicted in his 2010 trial. Until
then, he's imprisoned without bail under a system rewarding
high crimes while targeting lawyers who try to expose them.
_______________________________________
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for
Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be
reached at lendmanstephenatsbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to the Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org
Monday - Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on world and national
issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://republicbroadcasting.org/Lendman
http://www.paltelegraph.com/world/us/3193-targeting-lawyers-the-case-of-paul-bergrin-by-stephen-lendman
--
A government, of Israel, by Israel, and, for: Israel.
But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light:
for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. The light shineth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehended it not. The light of the body is the eye:
if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.