War Crimes
There seems confusion these days about what exactly a war crime is. Here's and example of that confusion in the Iraqi infamous jail of Abu Ghraib. There are quite a few photos of what happened and is likely still happening in this overfilled prison. Alleged illegal combatants or persons of knowledge were treated terribly and were tortured in this prison and photographs have proved some of the war crime here. Believe it or not most victims of torture and degradation are never photographed and never written down. One can only understand that much is hidden below the surface.
Before WWII crimes of war were almost totally ignored and were considered just a result of the fighting. With the ending of WWII, with the horrors spilling over about the mass killings, enslavement, and starvation of 6 million of Jews along with homosexuals, Gypsies and the like the world was brought to attention about the terrible price upon ordinary people were paying in a world congested with war. Men women and children were routinely murdered because of a fascist egomaniac who stole the souls of a bigoted German society.
At the ending of the war in Europe the Nuremberg tribunals were set up and the trials of war criminals began. By 1946 12 Nazi leaders had been executed for their responsibilities in what was newly assessed as war crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. America was at the forefront of the war tribunals in both Nuremberg and Japan and meted our tough justice in both arenas. In Japan in 1948 seven Japanese were hanged because of their involvement in water boarding. This evil seems to have come home to roosts under the leadership of GW Bush and his cohort Dick Cheney. It is incumbent upon ourselves to mete out punishment in a like manner as we so honourably did in 1948.
With the beginning of The Hague concepts regarding war crime began to develop. The decision was made that individuals can be held responsible for their actions over and above that of orders given by higher ranking officers or by what his/her companions deemed right to do.
The most serious of these crimes is the crime of genocide closely followed by crimes against humanity which would include the mistreatment of civilians or combatants during war.
War crimes are considered under the auspices of the Geneva Conventions and the older Laws and Customs of War.
In Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention war crime is described.
"Wilful killing, torture or inhumane treatment, including wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power, or wilfully depriving a protected person of the rights of a fair and regular trial....taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly."
International lawyers agree that this is the basic definition of War Crimes. The statutes of The Hague tribunal say that the court has the right to try suspects alleged to have violated the laws or customs of war.
It would seem that the USA, in Iraq at least, has fulfilled the acts of violation of International Law:
* wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages or devastation not justified by military necessity.
* attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of undefended towns, villages, dwellings or buildings.
* seizure of, destruction of or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated to religion, charity and education, the arts and sciences, historic monuments and works of art and science.
* plunder of public or private property.
Crimes Against Humanity are crimes committed in armed conflict but directed against a civilian population....
* Murder
* Extermination
* Enslavement
* Deportation
* Imprisonment
* Torture
* Rape
* Persecutions upon political, religious of racist grounds.
Genocide is defined as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group.
Added in 2001 is the consideration of mass rape or rape used as a tool of war as a crime against humanity. This is most especially true in Muslim countries because a woman or girl violated by rape can no longer function in these countries.
However, the laws considered by The Hague are not water tight. For instance, the displacement of population by an armed force may be considered an act of aid toward the civilian population if the move was truly to move these people away from a very dangerous area.
Military attacks upon the nation's infrastructure of roads, bridges, electrical, water can be considered legitimate targets. It is stated that such attacks only become war crimes if the extent of collateral damage to civilians and civilian interests would be excessive compared to the military advantage gained by the attack.
Even though the Americans try people as war criminals, on its own behalf, they haven't the professionalism or the basic human instinct to be fair (as they hold suspects for years without charge and hide their crimes of torture from a gullible Red Cross) and they, along with Russia, China, India amoung the major players that won't sign a treaty against war crimes.
It is really quite sick that the USA would arrest, hold and torture individuals the USA has determined to be war criminals. Hundreds of so-called terror suspects are horribly crowded into Abu Ghraib prison and others and are, in reality bakers, plumbers electricians and are only tortured innocent men trying to survive in a country ravaged by a war which began as an illegal invasion many years before. Many, many families will be without their husbands, fathers and wage earners because the USA has no compunction about destroying peoples' lives.
It's more than time for the international community to take the USA to task.
