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US Commanding Gen. Batiste (ret.) Criticises Bush

Comment by Larry Ross, May 14, 2007

General Batiste says to Bush: "...you did not listen. You continue to pursue a failed strategy that is breaking our great Army and Marine Corps....you have placed our nation in peril. Our only hope is that Congress will act now to protect our fighting men and women". He said to US Senators "protect America not George Bush".

General Batiste is one of a growing number of US generals speaking out against the Iraq war and Bush's handling of it. US veterans, VoteVets.org, is running a $500,000 Ad campaign featuring Gen Batiste, Maj.Gen Paul Eaton (Ret) and Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret). These well-known and respected US Generals should help educate Americans about Bush's disastrous Iraq war. US Public opinion is now at 60% thinking it was a mistake to invade Iraq.  The VoteVets ad campaign should help increase this figure.

The following article does not mention whether the Generals mentioned that the Bush Administration deceived Congress and the American people and military with a litany of lies to justify going to war with Iraq, or that under the criteria of international law, Bush and his aides would be judged to be war criminals. 

NZ Supreme Court judge and member of the Privy Council, Justice Ted Thomas, speaking of Tony Blair, Bush's partner in war crimes, said "Blair would be guilty of the international law crime of aggression as the war was launched without legal basis. ...Blair deceived Cabinet, parliament and the British people" over the war. Judge Thomas added: "Blair became "almost like a parrot" to the neo-conservatism of US president Bush's administration during his tenure" (The Star-Sunday Times May 13, 2007)

Judge Thomas's longer article on this was published in the May 2007 issue of the UK journal "The Spokesman".

In 2004, the mock War Crimes Trial of Bush, Blair and Howard, held by our Christchurch peace organization, PANNZ, came to similar conclusions as Judge Thomas did in his 2007 article. In our verdict we found Bush, Blair and Howard guilty of numerous war crimes. They were condemned as war criminals in violation of international laws, the UN Charter and the Geneva Accords. They were sentenced to life imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay for war crimes and for gross deception of their publics for the purpose of gaining their support for an illegal assault on Iraq. In a just, rational world, they might receive such a sentence from the International Court at The Hague.

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General Discontent

by Jake Tapper, ABC News, May 9, 2007

In an act of defiance perhaps not seen since President Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur, today the anti-war veterans group VoteVets.org, which has been influential with Capitol Hill Democrats, is launching a half-million-dollar TV ad campaign featuring Maj Gen John Batiste (Ret.), former commanding general of the first infantry division in Iraq.     

The ad begins with a clip President George W. Bush saying "I have always said that I will listen to the requests of our commanders on the ground."     

Batiste then appears, saying, "Mr. President, you did not listen. You continue to pursue a failed strategy that is breaking our great Army and Marine Corps. I left the Army in protest in order to speak out. Mr. President, you have placed our nation in peril. Our only hope is that Congress will act now to protect our fighting men and women."     

The ads are targeted at Republican members of Congress seen to be wavering in their support for the war. Those targeted include GOP Senators Susan Collins (Maine), John Sununu (NH), John Warner (Virginia), and Norm Coleman (Minnesota), and GOP Representatives Mary Bono (Calif.), Phil English (Penn.), Randy Kuhl (NY), Jim Walsh (NY), Jo Ann Emerson (Missouri), Tim Johnson (Illinois), Mike Rogers (Michigan), Fred Upton (Michigan), and Mike Castle (Del.)     

The ads conclude with Batiste saying, depending on the congressperson targeted, "Senator Collins, protect America, not George Bush."  
Major General Paul Eaton (Ret.) and Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.) will also appear in ads.     

Meanwhile, at the VFW headquarters in DC later today, according to the ARMY TIMES, an "Appeal for Courage" petition signed by 2,700 current and former service members supporting continued U.S. combat operations in Iraq will be given to House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC.

"The petition was organized by two U.S. service members serving in Iraq, Navy Lt. Jason Nichols, serving in Baghdad, and Minnesota National Guard Staff Sgt. David Thul, who is conducting convoy operations in Iraq with the 34th Infantry Division," the newspaper reports.

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