Guest Editorial from the Freedom Liberation Movement
What is the difference between a war or a bombing campaign launched by America or Britain and a terrorist attack, often conducted in response to these attacks in the first place? The answer to this question is very pertinent in the wake of the recent London bombings and is also very simple. Whenever America and Britain, the politically correct “good guys”, attack and bomb, killing tens of thousands of civilians around the world, it is a justified “war” in “self-defence” against often exaggerated or phantom enemies. Whenever others in response give them a taste of what they readily dish out to many others, it is a different story. The most horrific aspect of the London bombings from the West’s point of view is not so much the carnage itself. It is the fact that Britain, the great imperialistic warmonger, has been attacked at all, despite being immune for centuries from the hatred they have generated among the people they have attacked and oppressed.
A conventional war of course, cannot be regarded as “terrorism”. By conventional war, we mean a clash between two armies on a battlefield. If this conflict occurs in the midst of towns and population centres, and civilians are killed, then it still does not necessarily become terrorism. However, this is not what America and Britain have done over the years. They have attacked and bombed countries at will, with impunity, with no risk of legal consequences – until now. These attacks haven’t been “wars”, but one-sided slaughters where the weak are brought back into line and crushed by aerial bombardment, with little risk to their own military personnel and certainly no risk to their own civilian population. Yugoslavia in 1999 and Iraq in 1991 are two previous examples.
The invasion of Iraq provides a good example of how the West is run by double standards. It undoubtedly makes the responsible political and military leaders of America and Britain guilty of the first three indictments handed down by the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal against the principle Nazi defendants: 1) Conspiracy to wage aggressive war; 2) A crime against peace: the planning, preparation, initiation and waging of a war of aggression; and 3) War crimes: violations of the laws or customs of war, including, but not limited to - murder and ill-treatment of members of the civilian population in occupied territory; murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war; plunder of public or private property; and wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity.
These war criminals from America and Britain should therefore be the principle defendants at an international war crimes tribunal. We can also see that the Nuremberg Tribunal considered the waging of an illegal war of aggression to be a supreme international crime. There can be no doubt that this applies also to the American and British war of aggression against Iraq. However, the Iraqis have shown considerable bravery and defiance in the face of American and British terrorism by fighting a justified war of resistance against the occupiers. Their acts of nationalistic bravery should be celebrated. The American and British aggression and terrorism should be condemned.
The American and British use of cluster bombs was another disturbing facet of their war of aggression against Iraq. Cluster bombs are truly an evil terrorist weapon of staggering destructive powers. Of the 9 251 “dumb” bombs dropped, some 300 were cluster bombs, in addition to the use of 908 guided cluster bombs. The first major report of civilian deaths from cluster bombs occurred on the second day of the invasion in Basra, when between 50 and 77 people were slaughtered and 266 wounded. The next day 10 people were killed in Nassiriya. A few days later 26 people were killed in Najaf. On 1 April 33 people were dead at al-Hilla south of Baghdad and two days later 27 were killed in Baghdad. On 19 April, 11 days after Baghdad was “liberated’, three people were killed by a cluster bomb that was “disturbed by children”. These are just some very select examples of the incidents that found there way into media reports. Najaf for example reported between 224 and 358 deaths from bombs, including cluster bombs, between 20 March and 15 April.
Also on the second day of the invasion, between 57 and 100 people were killed by missile strikes in northern Iraq. Between 20 March and 6 April, 633 people were killed at the southern city of Nassiriya alone. In Basra, at least 300 people were killed between 20 March and 9 April and in the same period between 1 473 and 2 000 people were reported killed in Baghdad. A scan through the records maintained by the Iraq Body Count Database reveals starkly the wilful death and destruction America and Britain brought to Iraq for no good reason.1
The latest study of the “murderous carnage” unleashed by America and Britain in Iraq has documented 39 000 Iraqi deaths as a direct result of their invasion.2 “Murderous carnage” was how Tony Blair recently described the London bombings. This was not the first attack on Britain in revenge for its attack on Iraq: recall that in November 2003, the British consulate in Istanbul was bombed.3
The bombings give Britain a small taste of what Britain has given to Iraq and Afghanistan many times over by supporting America’s unconscionable acts of international terrorism. Tony Blair should be held responsible for these bombings: Britain has reaped the seeds it sowed by joining America’s campaigns of terrorism against Muslim countries. It is further confirmation of their lies: the so-called “war on terror” is supposed to make the world a safer place. The police state that America and Britain are creating to control their populations are supposed to make their countries safer. However, this will only provide another convenient pretext to further the police state to “protect” the people from a threat they themselves have created.
But once again the media has given saturation coverage to the bombings and the people affected, when they actively cover up and sanitise the many more innocent victims of American and British bombing terror. Emergency personnel were said to have seen “harrowing” scenes and endless “condolences” were sent to family members. That people in the West were spared the “harrowing” scenes in Iraq’s hospitals by a media cheerleading American and British bombing of Iraqi cities has not been noted. London’s experience represents just a fraction of what Iraq’s cities experienced from American and British bombing.
The bombings in London were immediately declared to be “inevitable” and “only a matter of time” – another self-fulfilling prophecy has come to pass. The US Secretary of Homeland Security then linked the bombings to that American mythological creation, the Zarqawi character, in a sickening attempt to further justify America’s actions in Iraq. Tony Blair said the perpetrators “act in the name of Islam”. This is a horrendously evil and dirty lie, which attempts to link Islam to terrorism. Yes, the perpetrators may well be Islamic, but their religion is irrelevant. The terrorists Blair and Bush are never said to be acting in the “name of Christianity” when they commit far worse crimes around the world.
There are terrorists in the world, although unfortunately the worst reside in Washington and London.
Footnotes:
1 See the Iraq Body Count database. Note that IBC give figures only for reported deaths. In the chaos of post-invasion Iraq many deaths go unreported, but a recent study by the Lancet estimated that “98000 more deaths than expected happened after the invasion outside of Falluja and far more if the [far higher per capita] Falluja cluster is included”
2 Reuters, “39,000 Killed In Continuing Violence”, 12 July 2005.
3 CNN, “Warning Of More Attacks In Turkey”, 21 November 2003.
Published Wednesday, July 13th, 2005
What is the difference between a war or a bombing campaign launched by America or Britain and a terrorist attack, often conducted in response to these attacks in the first place? The answer to this question is very pertinent in the wake of the recent London bombings and is also very simple. Whenever America and Britain, the politically correct “good guys”, attack and bomb, killing tens of thousands of civilians around the world, it is a justified “war” in “self-defence” against often exaggerated or phantom enemies. Whenever others in response give them a taste of what they readily dish out to many others, it is a different story. The most horrific aspect of the London bombings from the West’s point of view is not so much the carnage itself. It is the fact that Britain, the great imperialistic warmonger, has been attacked at all, despite being immune for centuries from the hatred they have generated among the people they have attacked and oppressed.
A conventional war of course, cannot be regarded as “terrorism”. By conventional war, we mean a clash between two armies on a battlefield. If this conflict occurs in the midst of towns and population centres, and civilians are killed, then it still does not necessarily become terrorism. However, this is not what America and Britain have done over the years. They have attacked and bombed countries at will, with impunity, with no risk of legal consequences – until now. These attacks haven’t been “wars”, but one-sided slaughters where the weak are brought back into line and crushed by aerial bombardment, with little risk to their own military personnel and certainly no risk to their own civilian population. Yugoslavia in 1999 and Iraq in 1991 are two previous examples.
The invasion of Iraq provides a good example of how the West is run by double standards. It undoubtedly makes the responsible political and military leaders of America and Britain guilty of the first three indictments handed down by the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal against the principle Nazi defendants: 1) Conspiracy to wage aggressive war; 2) A crime against peace: the planning, preparation, initiation and waging of a war of aggression; and 3) War crimes: violations of the laws or customs of war, including, but not limited to - murder and ill-treatment of members of the civilian population in occupied territory; murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war; plunder of public or private property; and wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity.
These war criminals from America and Britain should therefore be the principle defendants at an international war crimes tribunal. We can also see that the Nuremberg Tribunal considered the waging of an illegal war of aggression to be a supreme international crime. There can be no doubt that this applies also to the American and British war of aggression against Iraq. However, the Iraqis have shown considerable bravery and defiance in the face of American and British terrorism by fighting a justified war of resistance against the occupiers. Their acts of nationalistic bravery should be celebrated. The American and British aggression and terrorism should be condemned.
The American and British use of cluster bombs was another disturbing facet of their war of aggression against Iraq. Cluster bombs are truly an evil terrorist weapon of staggering destructive powers. Of the 9 251 “dumb” bombs dropped, some 300 were cluster bombs, in addition to the use of 908 guided cluster bombs. The first major report of civilian deaths from cluster bombs occurred on the second day of the invasion in Basra, when between 50 and 77 people were slaughtered and 266 wounded. The next day 10 people were killed in Nassiriya. A few days later 26 people were killed in Najaf. On 1 April 33 people were dead at al-Hilla south of Baghdad and two days later 27 were killed in Baghdad. On 19 April, 11 days after Baghdad was “liberated’, three people were killed by a cluster bomb that was “disturbed by children”. These are just some very select examples of the incidents that found there way into media reports. Najaf for example reported between 224 and 358 deaths from bombs, including cluster bombs, between 20 March and 15 April.
Also on the second day of the invasion, between 57 and 100 people were killed by missile strikes in northern Iraq. Between 20 March and 6 April, 633 people were killed at the southern city of Nassiriya alone. In Basra, at least 300 people were killed between 20 March and 9 April and in the same period between 1 473 and 2 000 people were reported killed in Baghdad. A scan through the records maintained by the Iraq Body Count Database reveals starkly the wilful death and destruction America and Britain brought to Iraq for no good reason.1
The latest study of the “murderous carnage” unleashed by America and Britain in Iraq has documented 39 000 Iraqi deaths as a direct result of their invasion.2 “Murderous carnage” was how Tony Blair recently described the London bombings. This was not the first attack on Britain in revenge for its attack on Iraq: recall that in November 2003, the British consulate in Istanbul was bombed.3
The bombings give Britain a small taste of what Britain has given to Iraq and Afghanistan many times over by supporting America’s unconscionable acts of international terrorism. Tony Blair should be held responsible for these bombings: Britain has reaped the seeds it sowed by joining America’s campaigns of terrorism against Muslim countries. It is further confirmation of their lies: the so-called “war on terror” is supposed to make the world a safer place. The police state that America and Britain are creating to control their populations are supposed to make their countries safer. However, this will only provide another convenient pretext to further the police state to “protect” the people from a threat they themselves have created.
But once again the media has given saturation coverage to the bombings and the people affected, when they actively cover up and sanitise the many more innocent victims of American and British bombing terror. Emergency personnel were said to have seen “harrowing” scenes and endless “condolences” were sent to family members. That people in the West were spared the “harrowing” scenes in Iraq’s hospitals by a media cheerleading American and British bombing of Iraqi cities has not been noted. London’s experience represents just a fraction of what Iraq’s cities experienced from American and British bombing.
The bombings in London were immediately declared to be “inevitable” and “only a matter of time” – another self-fulfilling prophecy has come to pass. The US Secretary of Homeland Security then linked the bombings to that American mythological creation, the Zarqawi character, in a sickening attempt to further justify America’s actions in Iraq. Tony Blair said the perpetrators “act in the name of Islam”. This is a horrendously evil and dirty lie, which attempts to link Islam to terrorism. Yes, the perpetrators may well be Islamic, but their religion is irrelevant. The terrorists Blair and Bush are never said to be acting in the “name of Christianity” when they commit far worse crimes around the world.
There are terrorists in the world, although unfortunately the worst reside in Washington and London.
Footnotes:
1 See the Iraq Body Count database. Note that IBC give figures only for reported deaths. In the chaos of post-invasion Iraq many deaths go unreported, but a recent study by the Lancet estimated that “98000 more deaths than expected happened after the invasion outside of Falluja and far more if the [far higher per capita] Falluja cluster is included”
2 Reuters, “39,000 Killed In Continuing Violence”, 12 July 2005.
3 CNN, “Warning Of More Attacks In Turkey”, 21 November 2003.
Published Wednesday, July 13th, 2005
