by
NARR: More than a thousand people gathered at Riverside Church and the Columbia University Law School to watch the mock trial. For three days, they heard prosecutors and witnesses present evidence to a panel of five jurors.
TAPE: RITTER: The Bush administration fixed intelligence.
NARR: Scott Ritter was a UN weapons inspector from 1991 to 1998. He testified that, in the lead up to the war in Iraq, the Bush administration knew there were no weapons of mass destruction and lied about the facts.
TAPE: RITTER: The CIA actively suppressed data which sustained Iraq's contention that it had unilaterally disarmed in the summer of 1991.
NARR: Another star witness was Craig Murray, the former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan. He testified that Uzbek authorities torture people on behalf of the U.S. government and hand over false confessions to the CIA.
TAPE: MURRAY: This administration has introduced a dehumanization of our Muslim brothers and sisters, which means that anything done to them doesn't count. [applause]
NARR: During a break in the hearings, Murray said the Commission's impact may be indirect because it doesn't have any legal authority.
TAPE: MURRAY: I don't expect George Bush to resign tomorrow because of it. But I do believe it helps raise awareness of the issues. It helps people who are politically active to have information on the basis of which to act.
NARR: For some on the Commission, the appropriate action is to fire the president.
TAPE: OLSHANSKY: I want this man impeached.
NARR: Barbara Olshansky is a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights. She says Bush has violated both national and international laws.
TAPE: OLSHANSKY: There is no doubt that the decisions to authorize torture and the decision to hold people outside the Geneva Conventions and to deny them the specific protections of the conventions constitute war crimes.
NARR: Noticeably absent from the proceedings was a defense team. Before the hearings, the Commission presented its charges to the White House and invited the Bush administration to participate. The Commission says the White House declined the offer. One of the five jurors is Ann Wright, a former U.S. diplomat who served in the military for 29 years.
TAPE: WRIGHT: We had hoped that government would provide witness here to comment on these indictments. We want to have their views on these indictments as a part of our deliberative process to determine whether or not the indictments are legitimate or not.
NARR: After two weeks of deliberations, the jury found the Bush administration guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The organizers of the Commission know their verdict does not carry the force of law. But they hope the evidence they gathered will be used in the court of public opinion.
SOC: Marcelle Hopkins, Columbia Radio News.