Open Letter to President Hugo Chavez

Why I Tried to Arrest George W. Bush

By Splitting the Sky

Nov. 22, 2009

Dear President Chavez,

Allow me to say from the onset that it is indeed with great honor that I write this very long but most urgent letter to you and the peoples of Venezuela.

Like you Mr. President, I am no friend of George Bush either as well as the rest of the neo-conservative cabal within his cabinet that took us down the long road to hell in its bogus war on terror which according to Dick Cheney “will not end in our lifetime”.

In fact brother Hugo, I despised G.W. Bush so bad that on March 17th, 2009, I attempted to perform a citizens arrest of him as a credibly accused war criminal at the Telus Convention Center in Calgary Alberta also know as Texas north. There were close to 500 policemen and women in full riot gear and mode as well as numerous suspected Black water type mercenaries which act as Bushes private security whom are shown in camouflage outfits including balaclavas with their sniper rifles pointed directly at me as I broke the police line to arrest Bush. Quite simply put I risked taking a bullet or more to arrest this despicable war criminal.

Prior to the demonstration which was held that day which over 700 people shouted in unisons that Bush be arrested, I had asked my personal lawyer Ramsey Clark the former US Attorney general of the U.S.A. under Lyndon B. Johnson if I was within my rights to attempt this dangerous arrest. Mr. Clark informed me that I was and as well he sent a solidarity statement to us demonstrators at my coaxing wherein he adamantly stated,

“We dare not blink at the magnitude, diversity and pervasive impact of the known crimes committed by the Bush administration. Wars of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq , the Supreme International Crime, have killed hundreds of thousands outright, wounded, sickened and malnourished many more than they have killed and sent millions as refugees to neighboring nations while rendering homeless millions more. Indiscriminate killing of civilians, summary execution, arbitrary seizures of people and property, secret unlimited detention and torture have been authorized, widely practiced and both defended and denied publicly. President Bush, the self-proclaimed “decider,” reached for unlimited dictatorial power whenever he proclaimed the national security was threatened. And he considered himself above the law where domestic affairs were concerned even a he signed Acts of Congress into law.

Ramsey Clark was one of my attorneys in a celebrated case in 1975 were I was accused of killing a prison guard during the infamous insurrection turned massacre by New York State police at Attica state prison near Buffalo New York on September 9-13th, 1971.

Another lawyer named Michael Ratner former head of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City along with his ex- wife Margaret Ratner and her husband the famous civil rights attorney William Kunstler( subject of a recent film release called Disturbing the Universe) all assisted in my Attica related murder trial to which I would be the only man convicted for any charge, including the fact that the New York State troopers shot over 50 thousand rounds of bullets from fully automatic weapons and killed 43 people which included 11 hostages in the retaking of the prison. They were granted along with prison guards a blanket amnesty from criminal prosecution by Hugh Carey who succeeded Nelson Rockefeller as governor.

An Attica prosecutor investigating charges of torture and murder by state troopers to be presented to a second grand jury named Malcolm Bell, charged Nelson Rockefeller with attempting to tamper with a second grand jury while he was facing confirmation hearings in the Senate for his seat as Vice president of the US under Gerald Ford.

Michael Ratner and the Center for Constitutional Rights (USA) have worked tirelessly to expose the war crimes committed by the Bush regime. He and the Center for Constitutional Rights has issued this statement in part to that relative to torture at the hands of the Bush regime,

“Evidence of the criminal activities of the Bush administration is exceedingly well documented. It is apparent in Bush administration memos, FOIA documents, congressional hearings, court documents, the testimony of victims, innumerable investigative news articles and books and direct admissions by intelligence, military and administration officials. The evidence shows that officials at the very highest level including Bush himself, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and CIA Director George Tenet were directly involved in illegal activities, including torture and war crimes.

In the face of this blatant lawbreaking and institutionalized torture and war crimes committed by the Bush administration, now is the time for accountability. The mechanism exists to hold these officials accountable for their criminal behavior and dissuade future government officials from engaging in torture, war crimes, warrant less surveillance of Americans, and other lawbreaking activities – criminal prosecution of those responsible.

A full investigation and prosecution of these actions by the Bush administration is necessary for the Obama administration to meaningfully reassert the rule of law in the United States. Government officials are not above the law and their actions impact the lives of millions of people around the world. Prosecuting these officials for their activities is, in fact, a meaningful mechanism for securing justice for the victims and the survivors of torture and war crimes, as well as for deterring future government officials from repeating this conduct.

Full Letter here