CAT Executives "Arrested" For War Crimes

[John M Cox <coxj@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: <tbowles106@xxxxxxx> (fwd)

CAT Executives "Arrested" For War Crimes: Office Condemned

At 9am Tuesday morning, September 17th, a media advisory went out stating that 
executives from the Caterpillar corporation would be arrested at their office 
in DC and at other locations around the country. The media responded 
immediately, assuming it was another case of corporate corruption, but, when 
Fox News arrived, they quickly realized it was not an issue of corruption but 
of War Crimes!

Activists from SUSTAIN (Stop US tax-funded Aid to Israel Now!) marched into the 
building in Downtown DC that houses the Caterpillar office, to make a citizens 
arrest under the provisions of the 4th Geneva convention, and to demand that 
the CAT executives come to the UN building in DC immediately to turn themselves 
in for war crimes. The arrest warrant served to CAT read:

"The Israeli Defense Forces have committed numerous war crimes and crimes 
against humanity--as defined by the Fourth Geneva Convention--against the 
Palestinian people using Caterpillar equipment. The Caterpillar corporation, by 
knowlingly selling equipment to be used for such purposes, and by refusing to 
cease such sales when illegal uses were documented, is complicit in these 
crimes. It is thereby violating its duty under international law, and violating 
its own code of moral conduct."

Based on this complicity, and in the spirit of Israeli justice, which CAT 
supports, the warrant called for:

"the immediate arrest of all senior executivs of the Caterpillar Corporation. 
Further, all Caterpillar executives living in the District of Columbia, are to 
be exiled to Anacostia [ghettoized area in southeast DC]. They will be 
furnished with UN refugee tents erected in abandoned alleys, though these will 
later be bulldozed with Caterpillar equipment. While some of these executives 
may not be directly associated with Caterpillar complicity in war crimes, we 
suspect they are related to people who are, and that's good enough for us."

Upon delivery of the warrant, the CAT executives tried to slam the door, but 
the SUSTAIN activists blocked it with their bodies and held it open. The CAT 
executives first threatened to call the police, and then threatented physical 
assault. The activists replied calmly that they would remain there until they 
were finished articulating all of the war crimes for which CAT was responsible. 
They presented color photographs of CAT bulldozers demolishing civilian homes, 
and explained that at Nurenburg, corporate executives who knowingly supplied 
equipment for war crimes were tried and held accountable under international 
law.

Meanwhile, downstairs in front of the building more activists from SUSTAIN, 
dressed as Israeli soliders, were condemning the CAT building for demolition. 
They were demanding, over a bullhorn, that everyone evacuate the building 
because people complicit in terrorist acts and war crimes were being arrested 
inside. "This is a closed Israeli military zone" they yelled as 'construction 
workers' put orange cones in front of the entrance and wrapped the building in 
yellow 'Caution' tape. They then posted "Condemnation Orders" on the front 
doors of the office building which read:

"This Office of the Caterpillar Corporation (and the activities carried out 
herein) Are Condemned. All personnel are instructed to vacate the premises and 
to turn over this office to homeless Palestinian families."

The CAT executives were visibly shaken, and were publicly indicted in front of 
the media. The executives and the media were made aware of the fact that 
similar actions happened today at other CAT offices around the country, and 
that if CAT continues to supply bulldozers for Israeli war crimes, the actions 
will continue to escalate nationally and internationally.

Pictures and Video footage from todays action, provided by the DC indymedia 
center and various independant photographers, as well as copies of the press 
releases will be posted on the SUSTAIN website as soon as possible. You can 
view them and get more information on the campaign against Caterpillar at 
www.sustaincampaign.org.




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