Iraq War insights by Bill Moyers (video links and essays)

Buying the War: How Big Media Failed Us April 25, 2007

http://billmoyers.com/content/buying-the-war/

 Full Show: America’s New War in the Middle East | Moyers & Company

http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-americas-new-war-middle-east/

Web Extra: America’s Return to War in the Middle East

http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/26/web-extra-americas-return-war-middle-east/

Obama’s War on Terror Moves to Syria — Here’s What You Need to Know September 25, 2014

http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/25/syria/

Why Obama Underestimated ISIL in Syria and Iraq

September 29, 2014 by Juan Cole

http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/29/obama-underestimated-isil-syria-iraq/#.VCnznXsR6EA.twitter

A Primer: What is the Islamic State, and Why Are We Fighting Them?

http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/24/primer-islamic-state-fighting/

Updated: Iraq Is Coming Apart at the Seams — Here’s Our Essential Reader June 18, 2014 | Updated August 12, 2014

http://billmoyers.com/2014/06/18/iraq-is-coming-apart-at-the-seams-heres-our-essential-reader/

SCOTUS, BIG$$$ & GOP&TEA politics is democracy's ruination

BIG$$$ = survival of the fittest = intellectual & religious heresy.
"Law of the jungle capitalism" has no place in civilized society.

FDR "civilized dog eat dog capitalism" permitted democracy.
SCOTUS errant ruling turns USA democracy into a fallacy.  

Corporations are people is legalized SCOTUS fiction.

BIG$$$  GOP&TEA speak thru mass media corporations. 

BIG$$$ & GOP&TEA vulture capitalism is legalized greed.

Raiding the Treasury and Corporate Welfare is their legal feed.

Corporations are legal BIG$$$ surrogate people imitations.
BIG$$$ Money speech legalized lies and deceptions.

BIG$$$, their corporations, their mass media force us to listen.
SCOTUS, BIG$$$ & GOP&TEA politics is democracy's ruination.

SCOTUS errant rulings will go down in INFAMY!
SCOTUS errant rulings promote USA rule by Money.

Money is Speech is democratic mockery!

Corps are People turns fiction into reality!

Infidelis!

Infidelis In old English law. An infidel or heathen. In feudal law. One who violated fealty. http://thelawdictionary.org/infidelis/ 

one who violates an oath or duty to one's government or country

Each Supreme Court Justice takes the following oath:

According to Title 28, Chapter I, Part 453 of the United States Code, each Supreme Court Justice takes the following oath:

"I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God."

A STRANGE KIND OF BIG$$$ GOP&TEA FREEDOM

Big$$$ courtiers and minions support the beast

While suckling on the BIG$$$ cash sows' teats.

Middle class GOP&TEA take the rich man's stance.

To the rich man's tunes they sing and dance.

Middle class GOP&TEA get no milk

for supporting BIG$$$ GOP&TEA bilk.

Democrats with villainous hatred are so much despised,

by laboriously repeated, BIG$$$ GOP&TEA lies.

Sons, daughters, parents and grand parents

BIG$$$ GOP&TEA deprive without shame,

health and dignity in sickness and in old age,

in a strange kind of freedom's name.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"Experience declares that man is the only animal 
which devours his own kind, 
for I can apply no milder term to...
the general prey of the rich on the poor." 

—THOMAS JEFFERSON

I wish nonvoters would vote Nov 4, 2014 NONvoters can elect a whole new green party government Nov 4, 2014

50% of Voters are locked into the 2 parties.

Basically 25% of voters for each party.

Separating BIG$$$DEM from BIG$$$

doesn't seem possible or advisable in 2014.

THERE ARE MANY EXCELLENT DEMs.

I CAN'T THINK OF ANY ACCEPTABLE GOP&TEA.

However the 50% that are NONvoters

are an electoral powerhouse.

I wish all nonvoters would get out and vote 2014

just once for GREEN PARTY candidates.

NONvoters can elect a whole new GREEN PARTY

USA government Nov. 4,  2014

GREENS do not accept BIG$$$.

GREENS support RENEWABLES.

GREENS REPRESENT THE PEOPLE!

NONvoters your country needs you now!

HELP USA FIRE GOP/DEM BIG$$$ candidates.

VOTE NOV. 4, 2014 FOR A

WHOLE NEW USA GOVERNMENT!

MIDDLE CLASS REPUBLICANS ARE THE NATIONS GREATEST SUCKERS

Middle class Republicans are out in the cold.

The art of bamboozle has them in its hold.

Middle class Republicans are the nation's greatest suckers.

Confused and dispossessed they ignore Democratic benefactors.

Their thinking is faulty they can't think clearly.

They betray democracy which so many paid for dearly.

The Republican middle class is not capable of thinking.

They refuse to believe that their middle class is shrinking.

Reagan/Bush racketeers, the Republicans staunchly represent.

Republicans' war on the American middle class is clearly evident.

Many Americans have lost their dreams, homes, savings and jobs.

What they have left the Republican Reagan/Bush rat pack robs.

Middle class Republicans will be blind loyalists to their very end.

Headed to history's dung heap they will not dogmatically bend.

The American middle class is the ruling class' pawn.

The Reagan/Bush racketeers plan to make the middle class gone.

With the American middle class facing extinction.

Their dreams, wealth, homes and jobs vanishing like an illusion.

Stop BIG$$$ GOP&TEA from taking USA backward.
NOV 4 All must vote in solidarity to take USA forward.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the saddest lessons of history is this:

If we've been bamboozled long enough,

we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle.

We're no longer interested in finding out the truth.

The bamboozle has captured us.

It is simply too painful to acknowledge

-- even to ourselves --

that we've been so credulous [gullible].

Finding the occasional straw of truth awash

in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle

requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage.

But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought,

we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us

-- and we risk becoming a nation of suckers,

up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along. (emphasis added)

-- CARL SAGAN, "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection," Parade, February 1, 1987

PRELUDE TO DEMOCRACY'S DESTRUCTION

Tax breaks to the rich Reagan/Bush gave.

Added to the nation's debt unpaid.

Afghanistan and Iraq war costs paid by credit.

Added to America's unfunded debt.

Unfunded Part D Medicare benefit.

Reagan/Bush's blow to America's unpaid debit.

Part D benefit needed to win the 2004 election.

Seniors tricked by another Reagan/Bush deception.

Will the American electorate ever learn.

Reagan/Bush racketeers set America to burn.

Kleptocrats that induced government corruption.

Hope to preside over American democracy's destruction.

The Reagan/Bush racketeers did their best.

Extending wealth and power of special interests.

All Americans must join together to take the country back.

From the greed and corruption of the Reagan/Bush rat pack.

--------------------------------------------------------

“According to the Medicare trustees, Part D

created a $9.4 trillion unfunded liability

over the next 75 years. “

Paul Krugman - Part D, revisited, December 29, 2009

NOV 4 USA Must Choose: democracy liberty, and freedom of "We the People" or Unrestrained and Uncivilized Wealth and Capitalism

USA Cannot Have It Both Ways.

We must Choose Nov 4.

BIG$$$ & GOP&TEA represent 

the Dark Side of Human Endeavors, and is

anathema to democracy liberty, freedom 

and the will of "We the People"

Unrestrained & Uncivilized Capitalism 

does not belong in a civilized society.

Unrestrained and Uncivilized Wealth 

is anathema to democracy liberty, freedom 

and the will of "We the People"

Unrestrained Wealth and Capitalism must be civilized.

Liberty, freedom and democracy of "We the People" must be affirmed on Nov 4.

Libertarians seem not to understand these concepts.

BIG$$$ and; GOP and TEA represent an Unbridled Fascist State.

ALL MUST VOTE Nov 4. 

Our Constitution

Our Democracy

Our Freedom

Our Liberty

Our Very Way of Life

Is Under Attack!

America is for True Natural Born Americans

Not for BIG$$$ and  GOP&TEA shenanigans

KICK BIG$$$ out of Politics

End GOP & TEA deceitful tricks

INFIDELIS: SCOTUS errant rulings will go down in INFAMY!

SCOTUS errant rulings will go down in INFAMY!
SCOTUS errant rulings promote USA rule by Money. Money is Speech is a mockery of democracy!
Corps are People turns fiction into reality! Infidelis!

Infidelis In old English law. An infidel or heathen. In feudal law. One who violated fealty. http://thelawdictionary.org/infidelis/ 

one who violates an oath or duty to one's government or country

Each Supreme Court Justice takes the following oath:

According to Title 28, Chapter I, Part 453 of the United States Code, each Supreme Court Justice takes the following oath:

"I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God."

Can the USA Congress be Considered Complicit in War Crimes and Other Crimes?

Complicity

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Complicit)

For the novel, see Complicity (novel). For the film adaptation of the novel, see Complicity (film).

"Complicit" redirects here. For the play, see Complicit (play).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2012)

Criminal law
Part of the common law series
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An individual is complicit in a crime if he/she is aware of its occurrence and has the ability to report the crime, but fails to do so. As such, the individual effectively allows criminals to carry out a crime despite possibly being able to stop that person--either directly or by contacting the authorities. The offender is a de facto accessory to the crime; rather than an innocent bystander.

Law relating to complicity varies. Usually complicity is not a crime although this sometimes conflicts with popular perception. At a certain point a person that is complicit in a crime may become a conspirator depending on the degree of involvement by the individual and whether a crime was completed or not.

Complicity is a doctrine that operates to hold persons criminally responsible for the acts of others. Complicity encompasses accessorial and conspiratorial liability. Accessorial liability is frequently referred to as accomplice liability.

An accomplice is a person who helps another person commit a crime, Accomplice liability involves primary actors who actually participate in the commission of the crime and secondary actors who aid and encourage the primary actors. The aid can be either physical or psychological. The secondary actors are called accomplices.

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 Common law
• 2 Types of assistance
• 3 Joint participation and assistance
• 4 Mental states
• 5 Liability of accomplices for unintended crimes
• 6 Conspiratorial liability
• 7 Innocent Agency
• 8 Notes
• 9 Sources

Common law[edit]

At common law criminal actors were classified as principals and/or accessories.^[1] Principals were persons who were present at the scene of the crime and participated in its commission.^[2] Accessories were persons who were not present during the commission of the crime but who aided, counseled, procured, commanded, encouraged or protected the principals before or after the crime was committed. Both categories of actors were further subdivided. Principals in the first degree were persons who with the requisite state of mind committed the criminal acts that constituted the criminal offense.^[3] Principals in the second degree, also referred to as aiders and abettors, were persons who were present at the scene of the crime and provided aid or encouragement to the principal in the first degree.^[4] Accessories were divided into accessories before the fact and accessories after the fact. An accessory before the fact was a person who aided, encouraged or assisted the principals in the planning and preparation of the crime but was absent when the crime was committed.^[5] An accessory after the fact was a person who knowingly provided assistance to the principals in avoiding arrest and prosecution. It was eventually recognized that the accessory after the fact, by virtue of his involvement only after the felony was completed, was not truly an accomplice in the felony.^[6]

Types of assistance[edit]

To be deemed an accomplice, a person must assist in the commission of the crime by "aiding, counseling, commanding or encouraging" the principal in the commission of the criminal offense. Assistance can be either physical or psychological. Physical assistance includes actual help in committing the crime as long as the acts of assistance do not constitute an element of the offense. It also includes such things as procuring weapons to be used to commit the crime, or serving as a lookout during the commission of the crime or providing protection from arrest or prosecution after the crime’s commission. Psychological assistance includes encouraging the principal to commit the offense through words or gestures^[7] or mere presence as long as the principal knows that the accomplice purpose is present to provide assistance. It is not necessary that the accomplice's acts cause or contribute to the principal's committing the crime. In other words the prosecution need not prove that the accomplice's acts were either a proximate cause or cause in fact of the crime.^[8]

The prosecution must show that the defendant provided assistance, and intended to assist the perpetrator. While substantial activity is not required, neither mere presence at the scene of the crime nor even knowledge that a crime is about to be committed count as sufficient for accessorial liability.^[9]

Joint participation and assistance[edit]

Two or more persons may act as principals in the first or second degree or as accessories. For example, one person may hold a gun on the clerk of a convenience store while a second person takes the money from the cash register during a robbery. Both actors are principals in the first degree since each does an act that constitutes the crime and each acts with the necessary criminal intent (to steal). Even though neither did all the acts that constitute the crime under the theory of joint participation or acting in concert the law treats them as partners in crime who have joined together for the common purpose of committing the crime of robbery and each is held responsible for the acts of the other in the commission of the object offense.

Mental states[edit]

Two mental states are required for accomplice liability. First, the accomplice must act with at least the same mental state required for the commission of the crime. For example, if the crime is common law murder the state must prove that the accomplice acted with malice. Second, the accomplice must act for the purpose of helping or encouraging the principal to commit the crime.

The accomplice can be guilty of a greater offense than the perpetrator. For example, A and B discover B's wife in an adulterous relationship with C. A says kill C. B pulls his gun and shoots C killing him. B would have the benefit of provocation which would reduce his offense to manslaughter. A, however, would be guilty of murder.

Liability of accomplices for unintended crimes[edit]

Questions arise as to the liability of accomplices for unintended crimes committed by a co-actor. Assume the clerk drew a weapon and the gun totting principal shot the clerk killing him - would a person waiting in the get away car be responsible for the murder? Most jurisdictions hold that accomplice liability applies not only to the contemplated crime but also any other criminal conduct that was reasonably foreseeable.^[10]

Conspiratorial liability[edit]

A conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime or unlawful act or a lawful act by unlawful means. In the United States, any conspirator is responsible for crimes within the scope of the conspiracy and reasonably foreseeable crimes committed by coconspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy, under the Pinkerton liability rule.^[10]Notice the extent of potential liability. Under the Pinkerton rule, the conspirator could be held liable for crimes that he did not participate in or agree to or aid or abet or even know about. The basis of liability is negligence - the conspirator is responsible for any crime that were a foreseeable consequence of the original conspiratorial agreement.

WIth the exception of an accessory after the fact in most cases an accomplice is a co-conspirator with the actual perpetrator. For example, the person who agrees to drive the getaway car while his confederates actually rob the bank is principal in the second degree for purposes of accessorial liability and a co-conspirator for purposes of conspiratorial liability. However, many situations could arise where no conspiracy exists but the secondary party is still an accomplice. For example, the person in the crowd who encourages the batterer to "hit him again" is an aider and abettor but not a co-conspirator. As Dressler notes, the difference between the two forms of complicity is that with a conspiracy an agreement is sufficient and no assistance is necessary, whereas with accessorial liability no agreement is required but some form of assistance is necessary for liability.^[11]

Innocent Agency[edit]

The doctrine of innocent agency is a means by which the common law attaches criminal liability to a person who does not physically undertake some or all of the offence with which he is charged. A person acts through an innocent agent when he intentionally causes the external elements of the offence to be committed by a person who is himself innocent by reason of lack of a required fault element, or lack of capacity.(McHugh and Gummow JJ in Pinkstone v R [2004] HCA 23) A person who uses an innocent agent is subject to the same liability as if he was the one who committed the actus reus.http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2004/23.html

Notes[edit]

Look up complicity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

1. Jump up^ The classification system applied to felonies. For treason all actors were considered principals. For misdemeanors participants included principals in the first and second degree and accessories before the fact. There were no accessories after the fact with respect to misdemeanors.
2. Jump up^ Presence could be either actual or constructive.
3. Jump up^ Lafave (2000) sec 6.6(a). See also Osland v R [1998] HCA 75; 197 CLR 316 AustLii
4. Jump up^ Lafave (2000) sec. 6.6(b).
5. Jump up^ Lafave (2000) 6.6(c)
6. Jump up^ Sickmann, Andrew John. Accomplice Liability: American Jurisprudence Injecting Mens Rea Under False Hopes of Criminal Deterrence.
7. Jump up^ Lafave (2000) sec. 6.7(a_
8. Jump up^ "But for" causation not required for accessorial liability. The fact that the primary actor would have committed the offense regardless of the assistance is not a defense.
9. Jump up^ Pattern Criminal Jury Instructions, Federal Judicial Center West (1988).
10. ^ Jump up to:^a b Singer & LaFond, Criminal Law (Aspen 1987)
11. Jump up^ Joshua Dressler, Understanding Criminal Law, 3rd ed. (Lexis 2001) ISBN 0-8205-5027-2 at 487.

Sources[edit]

• "What is complicity or accomplice liability?". ABA Family Legal Guide. American Bar Association. 2004. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
• "Complicity Law & Legal Definition". Legal Definitions. USLegal.com. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
• Paust, Jordan J. (May 18, 2009). "The Complicity of Dick Cheney: No 'Necessity' Defense". JURIST. University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
• Robertson, Cassandra Burke (April 1, 2009). "Judgment, Identity, and Independence". Connecticut Law Review (Hartford, Connecticut: University of Connecticut School of Law) 42 (1). Retrieved December 16, 2009.
• Report of the ICJ Expert Legal Panel on Corporate Complicity in International Crimes: Corporate Complicity & Legal Accountability. Volume 3: Civil Remedies 3. International Commission of Jurists. 2008. ISBN 92-9037-133-1. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
• Farmer, Lindsay (2007). "Complicity beyond causality". Criminal Law and Philosophy (Springer Science+Business Media) 1: 151–156. doi:10.1007/s11572-006-9013-y. Retrieved December 16, 2009.

Categories:

• Legal terms
• Criminal law