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ACTIVISM
War crimes and loopholes
BY CAMILLE DODERO

Here’s a question apparently no one can answer: how does the average citizen file a war-crimes complaint? Sean Donahue wants to know. And here’s why.

Late last week, Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for UK newspaper the Independent, recovered a fragment from a missile that had destroyed an Iraqi marketplace and reportedly killed 62 civilians. In his piece, Fisk noted that the weapon’s identification number was still embedded in the metal chunk — a sort of manufacturer’s fingerprint. That number — or " cage code, " as it’s called — was later traced back to Raytheon, a defense supplier headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Which led a local activists’ group, the Massachusetts Anti-Corporate Clearinghouse (MACC), of which Donahue is a member, to accuse Raytheon of committing a war crime. This past Monday, the Lawrence-based organization sent out a press release charging the company with " conspiring to provide the U.S. government with the tools to commit war crimes and crimes against peace " and compared Raytheon to " the makers of the Zyklon-B gas used in the Nazi gas chambers " who were convicted at Nuremberg " because they knew the gas they were selling to the government was being used to murder innocent people. " MACC filed a criminal complaint with the local police.

" The idea came from a conversation I had with a prosecutor two years ago, " says Donahue, head of MACC’s War Crimes Investigation Unit. He has protested outside Raytheon’s Lexington headquarters three times, both blockading the entrance and pouring human blood (his own) on Raytheon’s sign " to symbolize the blood of the victims of their weapons. "

" When we asked the assistant district attorney what citizens who are aware of war crimes should do, he suggested filing a criminal complaint with the local police department, " Donahue says.

As it turns out, the police in either Lexington or Andover (the home of a Raytheon branch Donahue says builds missile circuit boards) would not accept the complaint. The Lexington Police Department referred Donahue to the Department of Defense. And Andover police lieutenant Arthur Ricci says, " That has nothing to do with the community. " Donahue’s next move? " I really don’t know, " he says.

Amy Hosmer, a Lexington-based spokesperson for Raytheon, wouldn’t comment on the activists’ plan to file such a grievance, but added that Raytheon " respects their right to voice their opinions. "

While all this may seem like a noisy attempt at rabble-rousing, it nevertheless raises an important question: what can private American citizens legally do about war crimes they believe their nation has committed? " I don’t know the answer to your question, " says a spokesman from the Department of Defense. " You should contact lawyers and go that way. "

" I don’t know, " says Heidi Altman, press person for the New York–based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.

" Good question, " says Donahue, who late on Tuesday seemed ready to take action into his own hands. " I guess our War Crimes Investigation Unit is going to have to enforce the law without police assistance. "

Issue Date: April 10 - 17, 2003
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