U.S. and Iraq: Prepared to be Shocked

By: David Model
Published On: 9/19/2008 1:27:59 PM

Most Americans now consider Iraq, as was the case in Vietnam, a strategic and lamentable mistake of the American government.  Their perception of these wars is understandable and to be expected given the limited scope of debate in the corporate media.  Stepping beyond the boundaries of public discourse is difficult given their pride in the laudable ideals for which their country stands and their pride America.
Too suggest any analysis of these wars which even hints of wrongdoing is a very large pill to swallow.  I am hoping that the intelligence of the American people will open their eyes to an analysis that at the very least concludes that American actions in Iraq violate the United Nations Charter.  Article 51 states that "Nothing in the present charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security".  There is no other authorization in the UN Charter for attacking another country without a Security Council Resolution.  Since there was neither an armed attack against the United States by Iraq nor a Security Council resolution, the American government violated the UN Charter when it attacked and occupied Iraq.  Therefore, the actions of the United States constitute a "war of aggression" and the perpetrators, war criminals.

Recognition of the illegality of the war on Iraq is a stepping stone to discovering that the American government has committed many war crimes in Iraq, violating the Geneva Conventions, the UN Convention Against Torture, the UN Charter, and the Hague Conventions.  This leap from a "mistake" to "war crimes" will be a real challenge to the American people but nevertheless, a critical one, if their government is to be prevented from committing war crimes in the future.

To fully understand the severity of the American war crimes in Iraq, it is necessary to take even a large leap to recognition that these crimes meet the criteria for genocide in the Genocide Convention.

My latest book, released May 8, State of Darkness: US Complicity in Genocides since 1945 is bold, shocking, powerful, and authoritative book and is a groundbreaking work which for the first time exhaustively details American complicity in genocide

The book systematically proves that the United States is either guilty of or complicit in genocide in eight different countries since 1945.  Using criteria that is carefully established in the introduction along with documentation based almost exclusively on declassified documents and with rigorous reasoning, State of Darkness demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that since 1945, nine American presidents are complicit in genocide.

For example, American actions against Iraq are undeniably a case of genocide given the death of over two million people, the displacement of five million, the more than one million who are in desperate need of emergency assistance, and the complete destruction of the infrastructure of Iraq.  This level of death and destruction are a direct result of the 1991 bombing, the sanctions imposed between 1990 and 2003, the bombing between 1991 and 2003 in the no-fly zones and the 2003 bombing and occupation.  The impact of American policies in Iraq irrefutably meets the criteria of genocide in the Genocide Convention.

Debate on the issues raised in this book is long overdue and is imperative to filling a gaping lacuna in the historical record of the United States.  Knowledge of the suffering and loss experienced by the victims of American interventions has emboldened me to write this book in the hope that awareness will promote activism.

http://www.stateofdarkness.com

Comments



As nice as it would be to have a conversation on this (Josh - 9/20/2008 7:42:17 AM)
The right has proven that it will stultify any conversation when it holds power.  Ask Bill Maher and Phil Donahue.  They were both fired and replaced with wingnuts in the runup to the war.  

The right will brook no dissent, no reasoned discourse.  They can't afford it, their worldview is based on the "science" that the world was formed 5000 years ago - that's an article of authoritarian faith.