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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/kinane07112006.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/kinane07112006.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>July 12,
2006<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000"><b>
My Statement to the US District Court<br><br>
<br>
</i></font>Arrested for Failing to Obey a Lawful Order to Cease
Protesting a Unlawful
War</b></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5>By ED
KINANE<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">L</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>ast Friday I was tried and found guilty in
federal district court in alexandria, virginia for a civic action at the
pentagon on march 20 -- the first day of the fourth year of the u.s.
invasion of iraq. My court statement follows.<br><br>
Your Honor:<br><br>
I stand accused of failing to obey a lawful order.<br><br>
Such irony!<br><br>
On March 20 of this year our nonviolent civic action on the outskirts of
the Pentagon was <i>all about</i> being lawful.<br><br>
I was acting under the Nuremburg imperative of resisting the organized
and lethal illegalities of my government.<br><br>
I live in a nation whose most salient characteristic these days is the
defiance of lawful order.<br><br>
I live in a nation whose rulers hold the Ten Commandments in
contempt.<br><br>
Let us recall some of those commandments particularly relevant to the
U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq: <br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>thou shalt not steal; <br><br>
<dd>thou shalt not bear false witness; <br><br>
<dd>thou shalt not covet thy neighbors' goods; <br><br>
<dd>thou shalt not kill.<br><br>
</dl>I live in a nation whose rulers habitually engage in armed or covert
intervention against other sovereign states.<br><br>
I live in a nation whose military -- the Pentagon -- habitually and
brazenly defies international law;<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>a Pentagon that systematically defies the Geneva
Conventions,<br><br>
<dd>a Pentagon that, by endorsing torture, degrades each of us.<br><br>
</dl>However, these rogues could not operate without the silence and
complicity of us all.<br><br>
Speaking out is each citizen's responsibility.<br><br>
It is also the Judiciary's responsibility not to be complicit when the
Executive branch systematically defies the law.<br><br>
However on June 16, this Court found some of my co-defendants guilty for
going to the Pentagon to petition our government for redress of
grievances -- a right expressly asserted in that quaint document, the
U.S. Constitution.<br><br>
The grievances we sought to bring to the Pentagon on March 20 include
its<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>~ invading and pillaging Iraqillegally and without
provocation;<br><br>
<dd>~ using torture and terror;<br><br>
<dd>~ and otherwise slaughtering tens of thousands of Iraqis;<br><br>
<dd>~ defiling Iraq with toxic and radioactive depleted uranium;<br><br>
<dd>~ squandering hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax money to
enrich the corporate cronies of Bush Inc.;<br><br>
</dl>and so on.<br><br>
Your honor, I am an eye-witness to these grievances, to these war
crimes.<br><br>
In 2003 I spent five months in Iraq.<br><br>
I was there during "shock and awe."<br><br>
Men were incinerated or blown apart within shouting distance of
me.<br><br>
Since 1987 I have deliberately lived below taxable income.<br><br>
I have done so to avoid subsidizing Pentagon criminality.<br><br>
Likewise I resist the Judiciary's complicity with such
criminality.<br><br>
Your honor, I will not pay fines for illegitimate and
politically-motivated charges.<br><br>
I will not pay fines levied against me for my nonviolent civic
activism.<br><br>
I have been to prison before and I can go to prison again. <br><br>
In these times prison may be where an honorable citizen must be.<br><br>
I understand our Constitution holds international law to be the highest
law of our land.<br><br>
Your honor, with all due respect, I urge you to uphold that
Constitution.<br><br>
I urge you to honor those soldiers in Iraq who die or get maimed
believing they are defending our Constitution.<br><br>
I urge you to heed the Nuremburg mandate<br><br>
to not play the "good German"<br><br>
to not succumb to fear and careerism.<br><br>
I urge you to find my co-defendants and myself not guilty for honoring
our conscience and for honoring the rule of law.<br><br>
Thank you.<br><br>
Ed Kinane</b> can be reached at: Edkinane@verizon.net<br><br>
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