Vol. 4, No. 37 November 25, 1966
WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL HOLDS FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE
The International War Crimes Tribunal, which was initiated by the noted philosopher Bertrand Russell, held a news conference in London November 16, following several days of sessions taken up with preparations for the inquiries which the tribunal has announced it will undertake in relation to the war in Vietnam.
Bertrand Russell explained to newsmen the aims and scope of the tribunal and what it hoped to accomplish. A number of documents, providing further information on this were given to the press.
The tribunal will seek to find answers to five questions: Has the United States committed acts of aggression as defined by international law? Have the American armed forces used or experimented with new weapons or weapons forbidden under international law? Have Vietnamese prisoners taken by Saigon or the U.S. armed forces been subjected to inhumane treatment in violation of international law? Have purely civilian targets been bombed? Have forced labor camps, deportations of population or other acts of this nature tending to genocide been resorted to?
Bertrand Russell told the news conference that the evidence already supplied by Western newsmen in reporting the war made it "clear that we enter our inquiry with considerable prima facie evidence of crimes reported not by the victims but by media favorable to the policies responsible."
Both the National Liberation Front and the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam pledged to cooperate with the tribunal which wishes to send investigators to make inquiries in Vietnam.
An appeal has been made to the Johnson administration to cooperate with the tribunal in its efforts to establish the truth about the war.
Washington has responded with studied silence to the appeal while at the same time mounting all possible pressure to block the tribunal and to cut away support among those vulnerable to pressure.
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