Last week, First Lt. Ehren Watada faced a court martial trial that could result in several years in Prison for the courageous and principled young soldier. On February 2nd, Not in Our Name New York was among the organizations that held a Citizen’s Tribunal on the legality of the war. Witness after witness testified about the war. The same thing kept surfacing, the Bush Administration has committed repeated war crimes.

The use of white phosphorous and depleted uranium on civilian populations is a war crime. Targeting entire cities such as Fallujah for collective punishment is a war crime. Shooting at clearly marked ambulances and detaining and abusing medical personnel is a war crime. The list goes on.

Despite the clear voice of the American People in November’s elections, it is clear that the new congress is not going to put an end to the illegal war and occupation in Iraq. In fact, more troops have been deployed, politicians are lining up to “get tough” on Iran, and more ships and equipment have been sent to the volatile Gulf region.

Lt. Watada refused to go along with all of this on the grounds that his participation would certainly involve committing war crimes. He is right. The wrong person is on trial here, and it is our responsibility to remedy the situation.

The only way to stop this is for the people to demand that Bush (and his entire criminal administration) be held responsible for these war crimes. One way to do this is through impeachment. Not in Our Name has decided to join the growing list of groups demanding impeachment now.

To this end, we are co-sponsoring a major impeachment summit this weekend in New York City. Cindy Sheehan, John Nichols, Ramsey Clark and others will be joining a large coalition of diverse groups who are coming together for one purpose: to build a movement to impeach this entire criminal Regime.