We the undersigned demand the Gloucestershire Police instigate investigations on the A-10 ground attack planes that will be on display at the forthcoming Fairford Air Tattoo for violation of the Geneva convention.

 We demand that the Police determine if these planes and their pilots have been engaged in depleted uranium attacks in either Afghanistan or Iraq, that they ascertain the command structure, and determine who under the supreme responsibility (as defined by the Rome Stature of International Law) hold responsibility for these attacks.

We believe that adherence to the Geneva convention is essential to avoid a world-wide decent into chaos and disorder.

The use of depleted uranium weapons in recent wars represents the ultimate manifestation of the rich declaring war on the poor.

We believe that the following breaches of international law have occurred and therefore must be investigated by the police:

Article 35 of Protocol I, a 1977 amendment of the Geneva Conventions, prohibits any means or methods of warfare that cause superfluous injuries or unnecessary suffering among 168 signatory nations. Article 35 also prohibits those nations from resorting to means of war that could inflict extensive and long-term damage on human health and the environment. The observed impacts of DU in Iraq suggest that DU weapons fall under Article 35 as prohibited weapons, by the very nature of their suspected long-lasting effects on human health and the environment.

Article 36 (of Protocol 1) also obliges any state studying, developing, or acquiring a new weapon to hold a legal review of that weapon. This binding law also requires the 168 signatory states to ensure that any new weapon or means of warfare does not contravene international law, which thereby prohibits the use of weapons that cause widespread, long-term damage, as is being experienced in the aftermath of DU weapons usage in Iraq.

Article 51 (of Protocol I) prohibits indiscriminate attacks “which employ a method or means of combat” of which the effects “cannot be limited as required,” which certainly characterizes attacks involving DU.

Further more, Nations who are party to the Geneva convention, must enact and enforce legislation penalizing any of these crimes. Nations are also obligated to search for persons alleged to have committed these crimes, or ordered them to be committed (Rome Statute of International Criminal Court, Article 28). If a person has been ordered to commit the crime, that does not negate their responsibility under Rome Statute of International Criminal Court, Article 33