2003.09.16 - PEGC Status ------------------------ PROJECT TO ENFORCE THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS (PEGC) Project web site: http://PEGC.no-ip.info/ Project summary: http://PEGC.no-ip.info/_DRAFTS_/summary/geneva_summary_rev01.txt Project protocol: http://PEGC.no-ip.info/protocol.html Short bio of Charles Gittings: http://PEGC.no-ip.info/cbg.html PEGC Updates: http://PEGC.no-ip.info/_UPDATES_/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PROJECT HISTORY -- 2001 -- 2001.09.11 - Personal commitment "to do what I can" 2001.11.13 # Bush military tribunal order: PROJECT BEGINS 2001.11.26 * Petition to Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA 9th) -- 2002 -- 2002.02.07 # White House "Fact Sheet": Bush war crimes certain 2002.02 thru 09 - research, data gathering, first attempts to get legal help 2002.09.25 * Project summary (mandamus concept) 2002.09.27 - Initial distribution list (3 journalists) 2002.11.13 - JVB volunteers to help with project 2002.11.20 - Web site started, project named "PEGC", PEGC protocol written 2002.12.25 * The Christmas Theory -- 2003 -- 2003.01 * Draft civil complaint (mandamus) 2003.01.08 # Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (III), 4th Cir. 2003.01.15 * Began establishing contact with legal teams in habeas cases 2003.02 - JVB decides quits project for personal reasons 2003.02.16 * Hamdi Commentary 2003.03.11 # Al-Odah v. United States, DC Cir. 2003.03 * Concept for 4th Cir. Judicial Misconduct Complaint 2003.07.14 * Bush War: Military Necessity or War Crimes? in truthout w JVB 2003.07.23 # Newman & Patel (Padilla) cite 18 USC 2441 in a brief 2003.08.14 # Charles Savage (Miami Herald) reports 18 USC 2441 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BASIC TASKS (on-going) * Legal Research Going in I had a substantial background in history, philosophy & ethics, politics, military history including strategy and tactics, and a well above average understanding of the law for a layman. I wrote the petition to Barbara Lee more or less off the top of my head. Then I began studying the relevant treaties, laws, and military regs. That has been an continuous process which includes keeping abreast of the briefs, decisions, and precedents in the various cases. I've also spent a lot of time reading law review articles on various topics related to the issues. * Data Gathering I've tried to track every development and save as much of the significant reporting as I can. My main sources are the NY Times and the Washington Post, plus the Miami Herald, LA Times, Guardian (UK), BBC, and a number of others. I also keep track of White House, DoD, State Dept, and Justice Dept press conferences and documents as events occur, and maintain a folder of significant statements and reports by various legal and human rights organizations. I try to save as much as I can to ASCII text digests which I keep on the web site. The object of this has been to establish a basic factual record. It could be better organized than it is, but my main concern is collecting the stuff and I try not to get side tracked by house keeping chores. At some point I figure I will organize it all into a proper data base. * Writing I've got one published article (with Jennifer Van Bergen). Most of the writing I've done has been task oriented: either a way to organize my thinking or to disseminate my thoughts to others, plus a few attempts at op/eds. The more significant pieces are on the web site at: http://PEGC.no-ip.info/articles.html I also write reader responses to columnists and reporters who cover the issues for the sake of expressing my views and telling them about 18 USC 2441 and the web site. * Web site Being a programmer, the last thing I had in mind was a web site -- that's work! It was originally just an easy way to transfer information to Jennifer Van Bergen when she volunteered to help with the project. Then I figured as long as I had a web site, I might as well make it presentable. Then I decided to try and make it useful without getting too fancy. It's gradually evolved to where it is now, and I've seen a gradual increase in traffic, partly from being indexed by Google etc, partly by word of mouth through the distribution list. PEGC Website Stats: Month Visitors # Visits Pages Bandwidth Jan 123 157 294 9.70 MB Feb 115 128 177 23.50 MB Mar 323 334 628 46.15 MB Apr 340 362 609 51.84 MB May 271 285 664 38.49 MB Jun 253 267 834 28.23 MB Jul 438 515 883 34.60 MB Aug 585 664 1019 88.27 MB Sep 455 511 877 102.86 MB Direct address / Bookmarks 255 29.0% Links from Search Engines 377 42.9% - Google 248 - Yahoo 102 - AOL 18 - Others 6 - Netscape 3 Links from an external page 36 4.1% Links from an internal page 208 23.7% Unknown Origin 1 0.1% [ as of 2003.09.15 17:10 PDT ] * PEGC Updates & Networking The distribution list began with three journalists just for the sake of having someone know what I was doing. It now consists of about 50 people. It includes reporters, columnists, legal & human rights orgs, at least one attorney on each of the habeas teams, and academics. This has been time consuming, and has included some phone conversations, though I try to stick to email. I don't get a lot of feedback, but I do get some, ranging from very positive to cautiously neutral. I've never had a complaint or a request to be removed from the list. A new contact generally takes me a day of careful writing -- I'm always at pains to try and get it just right, both as to accuracy and tone. It's a delicate business given the situation. At the same time, I've always believed in the power of reason, so I've been making an effort to communicate with folks from the beginning. It's not easy to get people to take you seriously, but I just do the best I can and keep at it. I can't prove it for certain, but I've had some pretty good indications that I've managed to have some influence. The down side here is that I have also pretty well established that the legal community, the press, and the human rights organizations are intentionally avoiding the topic of 18 USC 2441 -- and I haven't been able to get anyone to really talk about it... but then I am VERY, VERY careful not to press for information or lecture people. Everyone is walking on eggshells here, and I've managed to make the progress I have by simply stating my views and letting folks make up their minds for themselves. Now I'm at the point where I am trying to be a little more assertive. Odd side effect -- people have started sending things and asking for help finding things now and then. I also send out updates that track the more significant developments on a fairly regular basis, so this part of the project has sort of evolved into a little one-horse news agency on the prisoner issues. I don't mind though, because it's just a by-product of my own data gathering. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CURRENT INITIATIVES * 4TH CIR. MISCONDUCT COMPLAINT -- the concept was mostly worked out 6 months ago, but I've been subject to writers block, a lot distractions, and a lot of indecision and doubt. But I am working on it and I mean to do it. It will have to be soon because I'm going to have to concentrate on looking for work soon. This will be my one real shot it seems. I've not been able to find legal help, and just haven't been able to convince myself that the original civil suit concept is viable as a pro se effort. The weird part is that it's not the issues that worry me -- those I have well in hand -- it's the legal procedures and the paper work, especially appeals. * A FORMAL DEMAND TO THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AND DOD. I don't expect this will accomplish much, but it's a matter of covering the bases in relation to the misconduct complaint. Copies will go to Congress and the press. * CLUEPHONE: NEWS MEDIA -- I have it in mind to contact the editors at the Washington Post, the NY Times, and The Guardian (UK) and attempt to shame them into reporting the war crimes story accurately and fully. This is a bigger story than Watergate or the Dreyfuss case: the Bush administration is committing flagrant crimes by policy, and I can prove it. All of these papers have policies to the effect that they will report the truth in full regardless of other considerations, and it is time to remind them of their duty as journalists. * FIND A JOB: This will soon have to take priority over anything else. I've been looking a little all along, but things are just awful here in California, especially for programmers. I've started thinking I might try to make the project my job somehow... indeed, that is actually what I would like to do. Programming has been good for me, but I am 51 now, I feel that this kind of work is important, and I think I have something to contribute. Easier said than done, but all I can do is give it my best try. Charles Gittings Oakland, California * * *