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A people's court has pronounced
the US government Haider Rizvi, May 9, 2004 A 'jury of conscience' declared Sunday after scores of witnesses testified before a 'World Tribunal on Iraq' that "the U.S. government is guilty of committing a war of aggression against Iraq." It also held the United States guilty of committing war crimes. The tribunal set up by about 50 civil society groups supporting the anti-war movement drew testimonies from doctors, lawyers, academics and activists who have been in Iraq over the past year. They presented eyewitness accounts, photographs, and documentary evidence to illustrate how the U.S. military has caused death and destruction in Iraq. The 14-member jury comprised peace activists, scholars, writers and labour leaders. "Frankly, there is no respect for the Geneva Convention," Geert van Moorter, a Belgian physician who specialises in emergency treatment told jurors. "I have seen with my own eyes U.S. troops shooting at civilians, at ambulances." Dr. Moorter, who was in Iraq in March this year, said many children died "in my own hands simply because there was no medicine available. Nothing is arriving in the hospitals. A large part of the health-related infrastructure has been destroyed as a result of bombing." Much of the material presented to the tribunal had never before been made public. This includes the documentary 'About Baghdad' made by the U.S.- based Incounter Production. Still pictures taken by peace activists showed
half-scarred bodies of children lying in broken hospital beds and under
the debris of homes Several witnesses said it was common for
U.S. troops to target civilians. "During the siege in Falluja I saw
American troops shooting at an Human rights law experts said such acts amounted to clear violation of the Geneva Protocol which says medical units shall be respected and protected at all times. Rights advocates said the U.S. military had used incendiary (napalm-like) bombs and depleted uranium munitions that killed civilians and caused severe burn injuries to people in areas close to what the U.S. army considered enemy targets. "These are deliberate and criminal acts," said Jennifer Rida, a New York-based lawyer. "Deliberate attack on civilians constitutes a war crime." Journalist Dahr Jamail gave a statement over phone from Baghdad. "I know a 55 year-old man named Sadiq," he said. "He was detained without any explanation. For more than a month, his family and friends did not know where he was being kept. They found him in a Tikrit hospital after somebody saw his picture in the hands of an aid worker. He was in coma. He had electrocution burns all over his body." A video film showed U.S. troops storming into a civilian home at night. The soldiers are seen breaking doors, dragging an old man from his bed, tying his hands, covering his head with a black hood, and pushing women around. Children cry, and women ask why he is being taken away, but soldiers take him away without giving any reason. In addition to the U.S. conduct in Iraq, the jurors were asked to give their verdict on the legality of the U.S. military action. "This is an unjust war of aggression,"
the jurors said. The Bush administration failed to find any weapons of
mass destruction, they pointed "That's arrogance," John Burroughs, executive director of the New York-based Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy told the jury. "It doesn't seem to be a war between two states. This a superpower smashing an adversary." The jurors said the invasion of Iraq and
the treatment of the civilian population ought to go before the International
Criminal Court (ICC), but "We know there is no official institution
of international law that can hold the U.S. accountable," says Ayca
Cubukcu, one of the organisers of the tribunal. "That's why we set
up this tribunal. The promise of justice belongs not to a state, the system
of states or to its institution, but to The anti-war movement plans to hold similar tribunals around the world up to March next year. (END/2004) Reproduced with the permission of IPS. All
rights reserved. IPS is the world's leading provider of information on
global human security, is backed by a network of journalists in more than
100 countries with satellite telecommunications links to 1,200 media outlets.
Founded in 1964 in Rome as a communications bridge between the countries
of the North and the South, IPS quickly expanded, first throughout Latin IPS is a non-governmental organization structured as a non-profit International Association of Journalists. It enjoys Category I NGO consultative status with the United Nations. IPS Association President is Oscar Arias, former President of Costa Rica and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Director General of IPS operations is Roberto Savio. The IPS news service is delivered daily in English, Finnish, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Today human beings of
whatever country they belong, should on the one side propagate an anti-exploitation
sentiment (exploitation does not mean exploitation in the economic sphere
only, it includes all sorts of exploitation), and form a strong nation
in their respective countries; and on the other side they should preach
the theory of one spiritual inheritance - that every living being is the
child of the Supreme Entity and that all the people of the world belong
to the same family.....Along with the theory of spiritual inheritance
one Cosmic Ideology will also have to be adopted and that ideology is
that one Supreme Entity - the Cosmic Entity - is the goal of all living
beings. This spiritual sentiment will keep human beings united for all
time to come." |
