This post is to call your attention to
the plight of high-profile defense attorney and former Assistant US
Attorney Paul Bergrin of New Jersey. Paul Bergrin is a former
military officer that represented one of the soldiers prosecuted in
Abu Ghraib (Javal Davis) and Corey Clagett in the Operation Iron
Triangle case in Iraq pro bono
as he fought to hold Bush administration officials accountable for
authorizing torture and violating the Geneva Conventions.
Paul Bergrin was
fighting for Corey Clagett against all odds when he was himself
arrested in 2007 on a slew of false felony charges in what was
clearly a vendetta and a successful attempt to elicit guilty pleas
from defendants and suppress further testimony in the Operation Iron
Triangle case. By 2009, federal prosecutors added a lengthy list of
outrageous counts against Bergrin, including murder conspiracy
charges, and he has been awaiting trial in federal court in New
Jersey since. The first trial on several severed counts resulted in a
hung jury and mistrial on November 23, 2011. The judge stated at that
time that the next trial, on 31 counts, would begin on January 4,
2012.
Paul Bergrin needs
your support in the form of publicity. Please do not allow the
federal government to quietly bury this zealous defense attorney that
supported and represented US military soldiers against the Bush
administration. The mainstream media is not reporting the truth about
the cases against Paul Bergrin or the serious lack of evidence in
these false allegations.
To
find out more about how you can organize and help Paul Bergrin,
please contact Creative Spirits of the State of New Jersey, a grass
root organization founded in 1979, at 973-551-4235. Please visit the
organization's website, http://www.paulbergrin.org
to learn more about Paul Bergrin's courageous defense of US soldiers
prosecuted overseas and his current predicament. Please do feel free
to contact me with any questions that you may have regarding this
extremely urgent matter.
Help us to make
sure that the world is watching!
4 comments:
Mr. Bergrin's goal was to make those ultimately responsible for these autrocities (Abu Ghraib and Operation Iron Triangle), made accountable. And that would be Rumsfeld, Bush and Cheney.
The timing of his arrests only helps substantuates this along with the fact that our government tortured the soldiers that followed the illegal ROE issued during Operation Iron Triangle, then they seeked the death penality, as well. These soldiers were following orders from their officers. So, if our government is wicked enough to torture and then want to kill our own soldiers for following an order, its not that "far out" they would go this far to silence Mr. Bergrin.
Mr. Bergrin was going after the most powerfull men in the world, do you think he would set himself up for failure by rackeetering and murdering people. I dont think so.
I absolutely agree. Though I would never jump in a lake because someone ordered me to, I have never been in the military and have no personal knowledge of what would happen if a soldier refused an order in an occupied nation during war. I wouldn't have done it no matter what the threat, but then I often do the opposite of anything demanded of me when pushed.
It isn't far out at all to believe they'd create a case (or several) to silence Paul Bergrin. We all know they've done much worse (i.e. the lies that had the US invading Iraq to begin with).
I do not view it as any sort of government conspiracy though. In my opinion, it was more like someone at the top (probably Rumsfeld) directing someone at the top of the DOJ to get rid of Bergrin no matter what it takes. That order is then half repeated to to the US Attorney in the correct district who then turns around and states, "Just do it" to his AUSAs. They all follow orders in lockstep and no explanation is necessary, sort of like the soldiers.
If you have read through the indictment on the next trial (the 31 counts) you'll see that there are actually statements made by an agent claiming Bergrin arranged a murder and was compensated either $10K or $20K by some defendant - (can't recall which). How absurd to believe that a high-profile powerful attorney like Bergrin would have anything to do with such crap for what amounts to a basic deposit on a basic felony case.
Thus far their cases are filled with lies and bullshit, as is often the case.
The one thing you dont do when your combat soldier is step out of your reference group. If you do step out your osterzied by your own comrads and you most likely dont come back alive, i.e Pat Tillman. With both Abu Ghraib and Operation Iron Triangle (OIT) soldiers they witnessed leadership doing worse than what they were ordered to to do so they would not even think about questioning the orders.
You are correct, many of the folks in the White House, DOJ and District Attorneys office run in "the same circles", so a call is all it would take. The Attorney Generals office of NJ has been after Mr. Bergrin for years, because he "stepped out" of his reference group, when he was a DA prosecutor. Mr. Bergrin is the type of man if somebody reaches out to him he will ALWAYS reach back. The man see's no indifference, he does not see race, social status, religion perference.
He just did not fit in with the elitist of the DA office of NJ, nor could he stomach their abuse of power with an individuals constitutional rights.
Mr. Bergrins work ethic, military experience and street savey gave him the edge over the prosecutors and he became the best of the best, as a prosecutor and defense attorney.
Mr. Bergrin is a politcal prisoner because he will NOT cave in to the political unjustices of DOJ and the White HOuse.
It is well documented in several books written by Woodward, Hersch and Ricks, that Rumsfeld did NOT like going through the chain of command. He had his cronies throughout the Pentagon and in the Iraq Theater. So, when had the Pentagon with their agenda, Rumsfeld with his agenda, and then what was really going on = Organized chaos". Mr. Bergrin had all this figured out. He saw the connections and similar leadership in both OIT and Abu Ghraib...
For me the bottom line is that Paul Bergrin is an attorney and zealously defended all clients. Today this is both unusual and admirable.
No matter what I think of the crimes or specifically who is involved, every defendant in a prosecution is entitled to the best defense. This is the basis of my support for Paul Bergrin. Because of the actions of DOJ prosecutors directed at Bergrin, Corey Clagett did not have much of a defense at all. High ranking military officers intended to bury the Operation Iron Triangle case and for the most part they did succeed.
Hiding exculpatory evidence is something that prosecutors in US prosecutions often do. In US military courts, US courts, and state courts this seems to be an acceptable practice among participants - and that often includes judges. They are quick to pretend they are unaware of what they do, but it's all see-thru to me. I've said it before and I will say it again: Either they're really fucking stupid and shouldn't be in the position to begin with, or they're complicit.
We really do have one of the worst systems in the world. It is as Paul Bergrin stated in his opening argument - the jury was his last chance, his only chance. So many never make it to trial in this plea deal system that Americans *seem* to embrace. And then many that do make it to a jury trial experience the prosecutorial and judicial misconduct referred to.
We have rules, but prosecutors regularly break them with impunity. What is the point to having rules regarding evidence if there is no penalty for breaking them?
I believe that Bradley Manning is currently experiencing this problem also, but then so are defendants all over the country.
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