Subject of column stunned by judge’s ruling

Bruce Ramsey has done an admirable job in capturing the essence of the U.S. lawsuit against me and why I keep fighting it [“Why Bert Sacks keeps fighting,” opinion, Jan. 5]. However, in the limited space available there are necessarily many details which have to be left out.

The article says, “Sacks refused to pay [the fine]. In 2004, he sued the government, arguing that the blockade of Iraq violated international treaties on human rights. The courts ruled the treaties were not binding.”

One of those treaties is the Convention on Genocide. Federal District Judge Robart had to accept that 500,000 preventable Iraqi children’s’ deaths were genocide — given the stage in our legal proceedings where we were at. Yet, he still dismissed our case against the government for this crime.

I must admit that the judge’s ruling stunned me at the time. And it still does. The U.S. can commit genocide and there is no legal remedy.

Go to http://www.iraqikids.org and click on Berts Case, then Legal documents, then From Federal District Court for Judge Robart’s ruling.

— Bert Sacks, Seattle