International Activism
Following his term as Attorney General Clark worked as a law professor and was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement. He visited North Vietnam in 1972 as a protest against the bombing of Hanoi. He was also associated with the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison before resigning to run for political office.
In 1974, Clark was nominated in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senator from New York defeating the party's designee Lee Alexander, but losing the election to the incumbent Jacob K. Javits. In 1976, Clark again sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, but was a distant third in the primary behind Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Congresswoman Bella Abzug.
More recently, Clark has become controversial for his left-wing political views and publications. He has described the War on Terrorism as a war against Islam.
In 1991, Clark's Coalition to Stop US Intervention in the Middle East opposed the US-led war and sanctions against Iraq. Clark accused the administration of President George H. W. Bush, J. Danforth Quayle, James Baker, Richard Cheney, William Webster, Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf and "others to be named" of "crimes against peace, war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" for its conduct of the Gulf War against Iraq and the ensuing sanctions; in 1996, he added the charges of genocide and the "use of a weapon of mass destruction". Similarly, after the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ramsey charged and "tried" NATO on 19 counts and issued calls for its dissolution. Ramsey also traveled to Belgrade to receive an honorary doctorate from Belgrade University.
Ramsey Clark has been criticized by both opponents and supporters for some of the people he agreed to defend; this criticism has been exacerbated by some statements Clark has made in defense of his clients.
In 2004 Clark joined a panel of about 20 prominent Arab and one other non-Arab lawyers to defend Saddam Hussein in his trial before the Iraqi Special Tribunal. Clark appeared before the Iraqi Special Tribunal in late November 2005 arguing "that it failed to respect basic human rights and was illegal because it was formed as a consequence of the United States' illegal war of aggression against the people of Iraq." Clark said that unless the trial was seen as "absolutely fair", it would "divide rather than reconcile Iraq". Christopher Hitchens claimed that Clark was admitting Hussein's guilt when Clark reportedly stated in a 2005 BBC interview: "He had this huge war going on, and you have to act firmly when you have an assassination attempt".
Clark was not alone in criticizing the Iraqi Special Tribunal's trial of Saddam Hussein, which drew intense criticism from international human rights organizations. Human Rights Watch called Saddam's trial a "missed opportunity" and a "deeply flawed trial", and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found the trial to be unfair and to violate basic international human rights law. Among the irregularities cited by HRW, were that proceedings were marked by frequent outbursts by both judges and defendants, that three defense lawyers were murdered, that the original chief judge was replaced, that important documents were not given to defense lawyers in advance, that paperwork was lost, and that the judges made asides that pre-judged Saddam Hussein. One of those outburst occurred when Clark was ejected from the trial after passing the judge a memorandum stating that the trial was making "a mockery of justice". The Chief Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman shouted at Clark, "No, you are the mockery... get him out. Out"!
On March 18, 2006, Clark attended the funeral of Slobodan Milošević. He declared: "History will prove Milošević was right. Charges are just that: charges. The trial did not have facts." He compared the trial of Slobodan Milošević with the one of Saddam Hussein by stating: "both trials are marred with injustice, both are flawed." He characterized Slobodan Milošević and Saddam Hussein as "both commanders who were courageous enough to fight more powerful countries."
In June, 2006, Clark wrote an article criticizing US foreign policy in general, containing a list of 17 US "major aggressions" introduced by "Both branches of our One Party system, Democrat and Republican, favor the use of force to have their way." (the list includes the Clinton years) and followed by "The United States government may have been able to outspend the Soviet Union into economic collapse in the Cold War arms race, injuring the entire planet in the process. Now Bush has entered a new arms race and is provoking a Second Cold War..."
| Clark's List of "Major Aggressions" by the United States of America |
|---|
|
(1) Regime change in Iran (1953) the Shah replacing democratically elected Mossadegh; Eisenhower (R); (2) Regime change in Guatemala (1954) military government for democratically elected Arbenz; Eisenhower (R); (3) Regime change in Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) (1961) assassination of Patrice Lumumba, Eisenhower (R) (4) the Vietnam War (1959–1975), Eisenhower (R), Kennedy (D), Johnson (D), Nixon (R); (5) Invasion of the Dominican Republic (1965), Johnson (D); (6) The Contras warfare against Nicaragua (1981–1988), resulting in regime change from the Sandinistas to corrupt capitalists; Reagan (R); (7) Attack and occupation of Grenada (population 110,000)(1983–1987) Reagan (R); (8) Aerial attack on the sleeping cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya, (1986) Reagan (R); (9) Invasion of Panama Regime Change (1989–1990), George H. W. Bush (R); (10) Gulf War (1991), George H. W. Bush (R); (11) "Humanitarian" occupation of Somalia leading to 10,000 Somali deaths (1992–1993) George H. W. Bush (R) and Bill Clinton (D); (12) Aerial attacks on Iraq (1993–2001) Bill Clinton (D); (13) War against Yugoslavia (1999) 23,000 bombs and missiles dropped on Yugoslavia, Bill Clinton (D) (14) Missile attack (21 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles) destroying the Al Shifa Pharmaceutical Plant in Khartoum which provided the majority of all medicines for Sudan (1998) Bill Clinton (D); (15) Invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, Regime Change (2001–present) George W. Bush (R); (16) War of aggression against Iraq and hostile occupation (2003)-present George W. Bush (R); (17) Regime change in Haiti (2004) Democratically elected Aristide for three years of chaos and systematic killing, George W. Bush (R). |
On September 1, 2007, in New York, Clark, age 79, called for detained Filipino Jose Maria Sison’s release and pledged assistance by joining the latter’s legal defense team headed by Jan Fermon. Clark doubted Dutch authorities’ validity and competency, since the murder charges originated in the Philippines and had already been dismissed by the country's Supreme Court.
In November 2007, Clark visited Nandigram in India where conflict between state government forces and villagers resulted in the death of at least 14 villagers.
In April 2009, Clark spoke at a session of the Durban Review Conference where he accused Israel of genocide.
In September 2010, Clark's essay was published in a three-part paperback entitled The Torturer in the Mirror (Seven Stories Press).
He was a recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award and the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award.
Read more about this topic: Ramsey Clark