Mock Trial of Karl Rove: Va Beach, VA, 7_18_2008 (video)

[kaygore]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMNipia5bQ8

Unfortunately the digital camera memory ran out before the trial was over.

Video from local newspaper online:
http://video.hamptonroads.com/?id=2008324

Other videos of trial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRNtjU2xyBs

Local news coverage:
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/07/group-protests-karl-rove-outside-rep-drake-fundraiser

http://www.wtkr.com/global/story.asp?s=8700875


Below is the full script:

Mock Trial of Karl Rove
to be held at
Virginia Beach Town Center Fountain
Friday, July 18, 2008
11:35 a.m.

The Trial of Karl Rove

Karl Rove is at the center of nearly every Bush Administration scandal:

Bailiff: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye, the commencement of this court of Concerned Citizens for Humanity, Truth and Reconciliation shall now begin.

Bailiff: The judge of the court of Concerned Citizens for Humanity, Truth and Reconciliation. All Rise.

Judge: The defendant Karl Rove has decided unto himself that he and he alone will choose the time and place and to whom he will tell his story. Karl Rove wants to be tried by a court of public “opinion” that is owned and operated by a corporatocracy, which first and foremost favors Karl Rove. It is also by no coincidence that Karl Rove comes today to the Ruth’s Chris Steak House that happens to be a corporate sponsor of the Reich-leaning Sean Hannity radio show. So being that this is the venue of Thelma Drake’s and Karl Rove’s choosing, let it be here that our court of Concerned Citizens has convened to judge the crimes of Karl Rove.

Ladies and gentlemen of jury have you reached a verdict?

Juror: Yes, your honor, we have reached a verdict.

Judge: Bailiff you may read the charges.

Bailiff: In the year 2000, while serving as George W. Bush's Campaign Manager, Karl Rove’s political tactics were instrumental in facilitating the stolen election in the State of Florida. This resulted in a virtual coup d'état of the United States government and a grievous assault on the Constitution of the United States of America.

Judge: Ladies and gentlemen of jury what is your verdict?

Jury: We the jury find the defendant Karl Rove former political advisor to President George W. Bush, Guilty As Charged.


Bailiff: In the year of 2002, while chairing the powerful White House Iraq Group (Know as the WHIGS), Karl Rove conspired to mislead the United States into war with Iraq by proliferating massive falsehoods regarding an Iraqi threat.

The resulting fiasco in Iraq has had disastrous consequences, including the slaughter of over 1.2 million Iraqis; the deaths in the field of combat of over 4,680 American servicemen and women and over 77,000 battlefield casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Veterans Administration claims as many as 126 suicides occur a week, since the beginning of the occupation of Iraq. This is an average of 18 suicides a day, and does not include unsuccessful attempts at suicide. The VA has already treated nearly 325,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans at underfunded VA hospitals and clinics. As many as 68,000 service personnel are coming home with untreated symptoms of PTSD; and the cost of the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq exceeds $5.4 billion and counting at the tune of 2 billion dollars a day.


Judge: Ladies and gentlemen of jury what is your verdict?

Jury: We the jury find the defendant Karl Rove, former Chief Strategist to President George W. Bush, Guilty As Charged.

Bailiff: In the year of 2002, Karl Rove used the Justice Department to selectively prosecute Democratic officials, such as the unlawful political persecution of Alabama Governor. Don Siegelman.

Judge: Ladies and gentlemen of jury what is your verdict?

Jury: We the jury find the defendant Karl Rove, former political advisor to President George W. Bush, Guilty As Charged.

Bailiff: In the year of 2003, Karl Rove was responsible for the appointment of GOP political cronies to no bid contracts in Iraq with no oversight or accountability, resulting in shoddy work. Notable examples include as many as 24 soldiers who have been electrocuted while showering due to faulty water pumps. If that's isn't horrific enough, many have been bathing with unpurified, contaminated water, unknowingly exposing themselves to deadly bacteria and parasites. Billions of taxpayer money goes unaccounted for with no work to show for those dollars spent.

Judge: Ladies and gentlemen of jury what is your verdict?

Jury: We the jury find the defendant Karl Rove former Chief Strategist to President George W. Bush, Guilty As Charged.


Bailiff: In the year of 2004, Karl Rove was part of a conspiracy to perpetrate a cover-up in the investigation of the 9-11 tragedy, including coercion and manipulation of 9-11 Commission executive director Philip Zelikow.

Judge: Ladies and gentlemen of jury what is your verdict?

Jury: We the jury find the defendant Karl Rove, former political advisor to President George W. Bush, Guilty As Charged.

Bailiff: In the year of 2004, in Ohio, Karl Rove was the co-conspirator, along with GOP Lt. Governor Kenneth Blackwell, in vote caging, vote manipulation, voter suppression, voter disfranchisement, and voter intimidation, all of which resulted in George W. Bush’s falsely winning the State of Ohio in the 2004 presidential election.

Judge: Ladies and gentlemen of jury what is your verdict?

Jury: We the jury find the defendant Karl Rove, former Chief Strategist to President George W. Bush, Guilty As Charged.

Bailiff: In the year of 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, Karl Rove steered FEMA federal aid to Mississippi which had a Republican governor, while denying FEMA federal aid to the poor and disenfranchised in the State of Louisiana which had a Democratic governor. Thus, Karl Rove placed political party affiliation before caring for the common good.

Judge: Ladies and gentlemen of jury what is your verdict?

Jury: We the jury find the defendant Karl Rove, former political advisor to President George W. Bush, Guilty As Charged.

Bailiff: In the year of 2006: In the year 2006, Karl Rove politicized the Federal Justice System by conspiring in the firing of honest U.S. Attorneys who placed the law before their affiliation to the Republican Party.

Judge: Ladies and gentlemen of jury what is your verdict?

Jury: We the jury find the defendant Karl Rove, former political advisor to President George W. Bush, Guilty As Charged.

Bailiff: As of July 10, 2008, Karl Rove failed to heed the subpoena to testify before Congress, showing not only contempt of Congress by leaving the country and ignoring the subpoena, but also blatantly committing obstruction of Justice.

Judge: Ladies and gentlemen of jury what is your verdict?

Jury: We the jury find the defendant Karl Rove, former Chief Strategist to President George W. Bush, Guilty As Charged.

Bailiff: In the year of 2003, Karl Rove outed CIA operative, Valerie Plame, in retaliation against her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson, for exposing George W. Bush's State of the Union Address lies about Saddam Hussein’s having acquired uranium (yellow cake) from Niger, Central Africa. Thus, the outing of Valerie Plame also served as a threat to other 'whistle blowers’ who might challenge the lies offered by the Bush administration to cover illegal actions.

Judge: This Court will now hear the testimony of Valerie Plame Wilson

Valerie Plame Wilson:

My name is Valerie Plame Wilson. I am honored to have been invited to testify to this Court of Concerned Citizens on the critical issue of safeguarding classified information.

I am also grateful for this opportunity to set the record straight. I served the United States loyally and to the best of my ability as a covert operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. I worked on behalf of the national security of our country and on behalf of the people of the United States, until my name and true affiliation were exposed in the national media on July 14th, 2003, after a leak by an Administration official.

In the run-up to the war with Iraq, I worked in the Counter Proliferation Division of the CIA as a covert officer whose affiliation with the CIA was classified. I was dedicated to discovering solid intelligence for senior policymakers on Iraq’s presumed weapons of mass destruction program.

I loved my career, because I love my country. I was proud of the serious responsibilities entrusted to me as a CIA covert operations officer. And I was dedicated to this work. But all of my efforts on behalf of the national security of the United States, all of my training, all the value of my years of service were abruptly ended when my name and identity were exposed irresponsibly and illegally to the media.

I ask the court to recall the quote from George Bush Sr. who stated: “I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.”

I also ask the court to note the commuted sentence of Scooter Libby, and the president’s claim of executive privilege this past Wednesday to block testimony on my case. Today I seek justice in this court as I so far have not received justice elsewhere.

I thank the Court of Concern Citizens for hearing my testimony.

Judge: Thank you, Ms. Valerie Plame Wilson, for your Testimony. Ladies and gentlemen of jury what is your verdict?

Jury: We the jury find the defendant Karl Rove, former political advisor to President George W. Bush, Guilty As Charged.

Judge: To the defendant Karl Rove and to this court, Karl Rove may never have to face justice in a court of law. But there is a greater justice which will in the end judge him and find Karl Rove guilty of high crimes not only against the people of the United States, the rule of law, the Constitution, but of all of humanity. May God have mercy on Karl Rove. May we all endure and in the end triumph over these the darkest of times. May God have mercy on us too, the citizens of the United States of America, and forgive us for our silence for so long in not defending this Democracy and the Constitution on which it is based and which has been so badly damaged by the likes of Karl Rove.

Bailiff, do your duty.

Bailiff: This Court of Concerned Citizens of Humanity is concluded. These proceedings stand adjourned.