ASSAD'S WAR CRIMES—SHELLING OF CIVILIANS IN SYRIA

I realize that the government of Russia does not want to see another Libya ending in Syria.  The capture, torture and killing of Col. Gaddafi was disgusting and barbarous.  However, Bashar al Assad's shelling of Syrian cities and towns is also revolting.


In his quest to hang on to power, Assad shows himself to be the Butcher of Damascus.  Shelling and bombing of civilian homes and dwellings—certainly these things constitute disgusting war crimes.

BASHAR AL ASSAD NOW PLEADS FOR KOFI ANNAN'S PEACE PLAN

Bashar al Assad now calls the UN general, Robert Mood, pleading for a ceasefire, this according to a report in today's The Guardian on line, written by Ian Black and Luke Harding.

Report Harding and Black:

"Diplomats revealed that Assad had phoned the head of the UN monitoring mission, General Robert Mood, pledging to implement Kofi Annan's peace plan shortly after Wednesday's devastating bomb attack in Damascus, which killed four senior members of his military-security command. The UN says Assad and the rebels have failed to observe a ceasefire."

By the way, yesterday, one of Iran's ministers complained that the United States has a double standard, complaining about some assassinations and not others. (Sorry, no cite for this.)  Why, for example, had the U.S. not condemned the bombing assassination of the four senior members of the Syrian government's defense department?

This criticism seems misplaced and totally not germane.  The men who were killed in Syrian Defense headquarters were the very ones responsible for ordering and putting into effect the shelling of civilian populations in Homs and Idlip and many other cities where there have been anti-government demonstrations.  They approved bombing civilian homes and killing civilians indiscriminately.  These were war crimes.  The fact that they were the targets of a bombing planted by the insurgents prompts musings that they themselves received justified punishment for their egregious war crimes.

As to the progress of the insurgents in fighting the Syrian government, Harding and Black write:

"The capture of Syria's borders by the opposition was an important moment, analysts said, and showed Syria's 16-month conflict was now a fast-moving guerilla war. Fawwaz Traboulsi, a Beirut-based historian and columnist, said the tactics and strategy of the Free Syrian Army had improved, in contrast to the early days of the uprising.

"It's conducting a war that is very close to a guerrilla war. The FSA can move very easily. It can withdraw. It is taking whole regions and holding them," he said."

WHY WON'T OBAMA ACCEPT JUDGE GOLDSTONE'S REPORT ON WAR CRIMES COMMITTED BY HAMAS AND ISRAEL'S IDF?

I don't understand why Pres. Obama gives access to Israel's prime minister Bibi Netanyahu to come to the White House for talks, yet Obama refuses to talk with leaders of Hamas.

Both Hamas and Israel's IDF have been cited by Judge Goldstone as committing atrocities and war crimes. Hamas, by allowing Palestinians to fire rockets aimed at Israeli villages and towns. The IDF because of all of its anti-civilian actions during the three-week war this past January. Specifically, the Goldstone Report found that the IDF randomly shot at and killed civilians, including women and children. Bombed U.N. food distribution centers and schools. Used white phosphorous bombs and shells against a civilian population. Refused to allow civilians to flee the conflict. Destroyed homes and apartments that had no military purpose.

So why should Obama allow someone like Netanyahu who defends the actions of the IDF as necessary and proportionate? Come on, Obama, stand up to the bully Netanyahu and say publicly that Judge Goldstone's report should be accepted.

WHAT WORLD WAR II TEACHES ABOUT WAR AS TOOL OF POLITICIANS

Today is the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II, September 1, 1939. That war cost over 50,000,000 souls lost, counting not only soldiers but also civilians.

And was it worth it? Please don't justify WWII on the basis that it was waged to against the war crimes of the Nazis against the Jews. No one even thought of the Jews and their plight until after the war came to a close and the allies found the deplorable conditions in the German camps. Not the British, not the Soviets, not the Americans. The whole world was blind to the holocaust that was occurring behind German and Polish camp walls.

Yes, there were six million Jews and other victims of the Holocaust who lost their lives. But there were also up to 27,000,000 Russians, Estonians, Latvians and Byelorussians, 8,000,000 Ukrainians, 6,000,000 Poles and more than 6,000,000 Germans. These figures come from No Simple Victory (P 366, Viking, 2007) by the British historian Norman Davies.

Was this huge waste of life worth it? Where were those who proposed alternatives to the blood bath? How about religious figures? Where was the Pope? Where were leaders of the Islamic world? Why was this crazy war allowed to happen?

There is a lesson in this 70th anniversary. The war in Iraq was wrong, Bush was a war criminal. And the war in Afghanistan is wrong. Obama risks being classified with Bush as an enemy of humanity.

Looking back at WWII, we see Churchill in diminished form. He ordered the carpet bombing of the German cities that killed hundreds of thousands. The same goes for Roosevelt and Truman. American bombing killed 50,000 in Dresden on one night. Nagasaki and Hiroshima each had 100,000 incinerated souls. These government actors committed war crimes against humanity.

I call upon Pres. Barack Obama to stop the foolish and deadly war in Afghanistan, pull out all American war planes and troops, and solve political problems not by war but by political and diplomatic means.

BBC REPORTS ON CLAIMS BY 26 ISRAELI SOLDIERS OF WAR CRIMES IN GAZA

The BBC reports today on a group of 26 Israeli soldiers who claim that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) committed war crimes against civilians in Gaza during Israel's three-week offensive last January.

Writes the BBC on its web site:

"The troops said they had been urged to fire on any building or person that seemed suspicious and said Palestinians were sometimes used as human shields."

Of course, the IDF denies the plausibility of the charges, saying that the accusers are anonymous and that their claims are "hearsay."

The BBC writes:

"Reacting to the report, Israeli military spokeswoman Lt Col Avital Leibovich said:

""The IDF [Israel Defence Forces] regrets the fact that another human rights organisation has come out with a report based on anonymous and general testimony - without investigating their credibility."

"She dismissed the document as "hearsay and word of mouth"."

The testimonies of the 26 soldiers was taken by Breaking the Silence, an Israeli group dedicated to exposing the cruel policies of the IDF towards Palestinians.

Reports Paul Wood, Middle East correspondent of the BBC:

"Until now, Israel always had a ready answer to allegations of war crimes in Gaza. Claims were, they said, Palestinian propaganda. Now the accusations of abuse are being made by Israeli soldiers.

"The common thread in the testimonies is that orders were given to prevent Israeli casualties whatever the cost in Palestinian lives.

"The Israeli military says past allegations of wrong-doing in Gaza were the result of soldiers recycling rumours.

"But Breaking the Silence has a long - and to many, credible - record in getting soldiers to talk about experiences which might not reflect well on the army."

The BBC quotes the report on soldiers' experiences in Gaza vis-a-vis the Palestinian population. Writes the BBC:

"The report says testimonies show "the massive and unprecedented blow to the infrastructure and civilians" was a result of Israeli military policy, articulated by the rules of engagement, and encouraged by a belief "the reality of war requires them to shoot and not to ask questions".

"One soldier is quoted saying: "The soldiers were made to understand that their lives were the most important, and that there was no way our soldiers would get killed for the sake of leaving civilians the benefit of the doubt.""

Here's the BBC on the testimony of another soldier:

""People were not instructed to shoot at everyone they see, but they were told that from a certain distance when they approach a house, no matter who it is - even an old woman - take them down.""

How then can Israel and the IDF escape the tarnish of these reports? It will take more than claiming that the reports hold no validity or that they are merely hearsay to make the world change its opinion that Israel went into Gaza last January with the clear intention of showing Hamas and the Palestinians that the whole population would pay in lives and blood for its opposition to Israel and its harsh policies.

TAMANAHA ON BALKINIZATION: WHAT IF TALIBAN WATERBOARDED U.S. SOLDIERS?

I just read a post by Brian Tamanaha on Balkinization in which he theorizes about the scenario where members of the Taliban capture U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and subject them to waterboarding. The Bush administration especially Dick Cheney claim that waterboarding is not torture, so there is no violation of any Geneva Convention provisions. Furthermore, Tamanaha "quotes" the Taliban as saying that eminent legal scholars (one thinks of former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, John Yoo, David Addington, Jay Scott Bybee and Steven Bradbury) have opined that waterboarding is not torture, therefore the Taliban are not committing war crimes.

OBAMA TRIES TO CONCEAL WAR CRIMES SHOWN IN PHOTOS OF TORTURE IN IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN

The photos of abuse and torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan are no doubt hard to look at and say a lot about the cruel character of Americans in Iraq. However, that is no reason to suppress them, as Barack Obama now seems to want to do.

Better to release all the dirty linen to fresh air, admit profound mistakes, and tell the world that the United States is on a different course.

Surely these photos will in due course come out. No one can hide the truth, as momentous as these photos are.

By not releasing the photos, Obama is trying to have the U.S. government cover up war crimes. This will not succeed.

SRI LANKA'S RULERS TRY TO ERADICATE ALL TAMILS

The government of Sri Lanka needs to stop the shelling of Tamil civilians caught on a tiny section of northeast Sri Lanka. This is genocide and ethnic cleansing by the majority Sinhalese against the dark-skinned Tamils. Hundreds of civilians, mostly children, are being maimed, wounded and killed everyday by the government's fanatical desire to destroy all the Tamils.

AMNESTY INTL. CONDEMNS BOTH ISRAEL & HAMAS FOR WAR CRIMES

The BBC reports that Amnesty International has condemned both the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas for targeting civilians, in flagrant violations of the humanitarian laws of war.

Writes the BBC:

"The human rights group said it had evidence both Israel and Hamas had used weapons sourced from overseas to carry out attacks on civilians.

"It called for the UN Security Council to impose the embargo on all parties.

"Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the conclusions of the report, in which Amnesty accuses each of war crimes."

Amnesty specifically cites Israel's use of shells containing white phosphorous which causes severe and deep burns once it attaches to human flesh. And Amnesty condemns Hamas for allowing rockets to be fired indiscriminately at Israeli towns and villages, thereby causing civilian deaths and casualties.

Reports the BBC:

"Donatella Rovera, the head of an Amnesty fact-finding mission to southern Israel and Gaza, said: "Israeli forces used white phosphorus and other weapons supplied by the USA to carry out serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes.

""Their attacks resulted in the death of hundreds of children and other civilians and massive destruction of homes and infrastructure.

""At the same time, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired hundreds of rockets that had been smuggled in or made of components from abroad at civilian areas in Israel.

""Though far less lethal than the weaponry used by Israel, such rocket firing also constitutes a war crime and caused several civilian deaths.""

Many politicians in Israel as well as AIPAC here in the U.S. are always blaming Iran for supporting Hamas as well as Hezbollah. But almost all of the weapons used by Israel and the IDF come from the United States. And when they are used with such devastating effect against people, especially children, in Gaza, the Palestinians must believe that America and Americans hate them and stand with Israel in trying to eradicate them from the homeland.

The BBC reports:

"The [Amnesty] report said fragments and components of artillery, tank shells, fins from mortar rounds and aircraft-launched missiles and bombs were found in school playgrounds, hospitals and homes in Gaza.

"Israel's weaponry predominantly came from the US, the report said.

"About 1,300 Gazans and 13 Israelis died in 22 days of fighting last month."

ISRAEL'S MILITARY ATTACK ENFLAMES HATRED, DOES NOT STOP ROCKETS

The arguments of Israelis defending their attack upon the Palestinians in Gaza is truly puzzling. We all know that Israel has suffered rocket attacks emanating out of Gaza for many years. But the issue is how most Israelis justify military bombing and shelling as an intelligent response.

Surely Israelis don't think that they can solve a vexing political question by armed military conflict. If the goal is to stop the rocket attacks, then the means has to be something other than killing more Palestinian children. Why? Because that is what caused the rocket attacks in the beginning.

Furthermore, severe military punishment by means of tanks and war planes does not and will not cause a targeted population to stop an insurgency or to begin treating Israelis as friends or brothers. All it does is exacerbate the hatred and blind retaliation that ratchets up the conflict.

So how come most Israelis supported the war crimes against the Palestinians?

ISRAEL'S PUBLIC RELATIONS DISASTER: ITS CRUEL WAR AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN GAZA

The BBC's website shows many photos of the ruin caused by the Israeli attack on the Palestinians in Gaza. Here are some photos of white phosphorous used by Israelis in some of their bombs and shells. What a public relations disaster for Israel! Are Israelis really that dismissive of Palestinian life that they would use weapons of such cruelty?

Juan Cole gives us a link in his Informed Comment to Max Blumenthal's filming of a pro-Israeli demonstration several days ago in New York. Cole rightly condemns many of the sentiments of those participating in the rally. Here is the Blumenthal film on You-Tube. You be the judge.

So what has Israel accomplished by its attack on Gaza?

Has it ended rockets being fired into Israeli towns?
Has it caused Palestinians to reject their elected government, Hamas?
Has it pacified the Palestinians in Gaza and made them friends of Israel?
Has it sowed the seeds for more desperate Palestinian suicide bombers in the future?

Has it guaranteed peace between Israelis and Palestinians?
Has it guaranteed continued hostility and enmity between Israelis and Palestinians?
Has Israel shown itself to the world as bombers of schools, UN depots, hospitals, safe houses, not to mention killers of over 1200 Palestinians, some 300+ of whom were children under 16?

BRITISH LAWYERS/ACADEMICS CONDEMN ISRAEL FOR WAR CRIMES IN GAZA

Here's a letter appearing in The Times Online (The Sunday Times) from lawyers and academics in the U.K. that considers Israel's attack on Palestinians in Gaza to constitute war crimes. Thanks to Juan Cole of Informed Comment for bringing it to my attention.

"ISRAEL has sought to justify its military attacks on Gaza by stating that it amounts to an act of “self-defence” as recognised by Article 51, United Nations Charter. We categorically reject this contention.

"The rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas deplorable as they are, do not, in terms of scale and effect amount to an armed attack entitling Israel to rely on self-defence. Under international law self-defence is an act of last resort and is subject to the customary rules of proportionality and necessity.

"The killing of almost 800 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and more than 3,000 injuries, accompanied by the destruction of schools, mosques, houses, UN compounds and government buildings, which Israel has a responsibility to protect under the Fourth Geneva Convention, is not commensurate to the deaths caused by Hamas rocket fire.

"For 18 months Israel had imposed an unlawful blockade on the coastal strip that brought Gazan society to the brink of collapse. In the three years after Israel’s redeployment from Gaza, 11 Israelis were killed by rocket fire. And yet in 2005-8, according to the UN, the Israeli army killed about 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children. Throughout this time the Gaza Strip remained occupied territory under international law because Israel maintained effective control over it.

"Israel’s actions amount to aggression, not self-defence, not least because its assault on Gaza was unnecessary. Israel could have agreed to renew the truce with Hamas. Instead it killed 225 Palestinians on the first day of its attack. As things stand, its invasion and bombardment of Gaza amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s 1.5m inhabitants contrary to international humanitarian and human rights law. In addition, the blockade of humanitarian relief, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and preventing access to basic necessities such as food and fuel, are prima facie war crimes.

"We condemn the firing of rockets by Hamas into Israel and suicide bombings which are also contrary to international humanitarian law and are war crimes. Israel has a right to take reasonable and proportionate means to protect its civilian population from such attacks. However, the manner and scale of its operations in Gaza amount to an act of aggression and is contrary to international law, notwithstanding the rocket attacks by Hamas."

Ian Brownlie QC, Blackstone Chambers

Mark Muller QC, Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales

Michael Mansfield QC and Joel Bennathan QC, Tooks Chambers

Sir Geoffrey Bindman, University College, London

Professor Richard Falk, Princeton University

Professor M Cherif Bassiouni, DePaul University, Chicago

Professor Christine Chinkin, LSE

Professor John B Quigley, Ohio State University

Professor Iain Scobbie and Victor Kattan, School of Oriental and African Studies

Professor Vera Gowlland-Debbas, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

Professor Said Mahmoudi, Stockholm University

Professor Max du Plessis, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban

Professor Bill Bowring, Birkbeck College

Professor Joshua Castellino, Middlesex University

Professor Thomas Skouteris and Professor Michael Kagan, American University of Cairo

Professor Javaid Rehman, Brunel University

Daniel Machover, Chairman, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights

Dr Phoebe Okawa, Queen Mary University

John Strawson, University of East London

Dr Nisrine Abiad, British Institute of International and Comparative Law

Dr Michael Kearney, University of York

Dr Shane Darcy, National University of Ireland, Galway

Dr Michelle Burgis, University of St Andrews

Dr Niaz Shah, University of Hull

Liz Davies, Chair, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyer

Prof Michael Lynk, The University of Western Ontario

Steve Kamlish QC and Michael Topolski QC, Tooks Chambers

ISRAELIS -- IT'S ALL THE FAULT OF HAMAS USING PALESTINIANS AS "SHIELDS" IN GAZA

The government of Israel is always trying to blame Hamas for deaths and injuries caused to Palestinian civilians, many of them children. In fact, even Israeli citizens adopt this line and spin.

Griff Witte writes in today's The Washington Post:

"Unlike in 2006, when Israelis grew bitterly split over the war in Lebanon, the invasion of Gaza has produced a rare consensus here. In newspapers and on television, commentators approvingly note that the Israeli military has sown devastation in Gaza without a high toll in Israeli lives. If Palestinians are dying, they say, it is Hamas's fault."

Doctors are reporting horrific injuries to civilians, including burns and lung damage, not to mention many who need amputation of legs and arms.

It is pure spin to claim that the Hamas fighters are using Palestinian civilians as shields. Israel and its army knew full well that any shelling of homes or buildings in Gaza was sure to cause huge numbers of civilian deaths. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas, and there are numerous multi-story apartment buildings.

Israel and Israelis cannot escape liability and condemnation for war crimes by claiming that they don't "intend" to call or target civilians. The very act of bombing Gaza structures has a necessary and proximate connection to the deaths of the Palestinians who just happen to live there.

ISRAEL REJECTS CEASE-FIRE CALLED FOR BY U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL

Even after the U.N. Security Council called upon Israel to halt itss bombing and shelling, the attack on Palestinian civilians goes on.

Surely this is because Barack Obama will not be as sympathetic to Israel's aggression as is George Bush. This makes it all the more difficult for the Palestinians.

Israel is surely committing war crimes. But no one punishes the war crimes of the party winning the war.

U.N. DRIVER KILLED BY ISRAELI TANK SHELL

The United Nations Relief Agency says it is suspending operations in Gaza indefinitely after one of its drivers was killed by an Israeli tank shell. Apparently the driver was in a vehicle clearly marked as belonging to the UNRA.

The BBC reports:

"The UN's move came shortly after it said one person had been killed and two hurt when a fork-lift truck on a UN aid mission came under Israeli tank fire at Gaza's Erez crossing.

"The UN's relief agency Unwra said it was "with great regret" that it had been forced to make a difficult decision.

""We have suspended our operations in Gaza until the Israeli authorities can guarantee our safety and security," said Unwra spokesman Chris Gunness.

""Our installations have been hit, our workers have been killed in spite of the fact that the Israeli authorities have the co-ordinates of our facilities and that all our movements are co-ordinated with the Israeli army."

"The UN said the movements of the truck hit at the Erez crossing had been co-ordinated and cleared with the Israeli military."

This is the trouble with the Israeli attack against Gaza. Indeed this is the trouble with all wars and other actions involving military tanks, war planes and missiles.

Innocent people die. Soldiers indiscriminately fire and kill anything that moves. There is no individuality morality or concern for another's life or welfare.

How many war crimes has Israel committed in the execution of its ridiculous and ill-thought out plan to bomb and invade Gaza?

TONY BLAIR SHAMES HIMSELF BY HIS SILENCE ON ISRAEL

Why have we not heard from Tony Blair on the criminal actions of Israel in trying to destroy Gaza and kill Palestinians there? Blair, supposedly the chief Middle East Envoy for the Quartet, has been silent when all the world expects him to call for an immediate cessation of Israel's bombing and shooting.

Yes, Palestinians are also guilty of war crimes in shooting missiles into Israel's towns and villages. This also must come to an immediate stop.

But Israel's actions are not proportionate. In fact, all the world can see that they are disproportionate and designed to destroy the very social and economic fabric of Gaza. Israel bombs police stations to destroy any semblance of law and order. It destroys the Islamic University in an effort to prevent higher learning and education. It fires missiles into residential areas, unconcerned with how many children or civilians are thereby incinerated and killed.

U.S. A.F. - STOP BOMBING AFGHAN VILLAGES

Once more we see the devastating effect of U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan. A report comes in that insurgents are meeting in some small village. U.S. war planes and choppers rush to the scene, usually in the middle of the night. They fire rockets and drop 500 lb. bombs.

The result? U.S. military spokesmen say they killed so many "insurgents." But the townspeople say 18 civilians, mostly women and children, died in the attack. Even the BBC reports that its correspondent saw bodies of women and children.

"At least 18 civilians have been killed in an air strike by foreign forces in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, reports say.

"A BBC reporter in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah saw the bodies - three women and the rest children - ranging in age from six months to 15."

Stop these inhumane attacks on Afghan villagers. Ground all U.S. war planes. End the practice of dropping bombs and missiles from war planes. Otherwise, more children and innocent civilians will be killed, and the U.S. governement could find itself charged with multiple war crimes.