Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 11. december 2004 / Time Line December 11, 2004
Version 3.510. December 2004, 12. December 2004
12/11/2004
Pacifisten Geert
Grønnegaard fylder 70 år.
12/11/2004
My Meeting with Pastor Martin Niemoeller
by Kurt Singer
The year was 1950. Martin Niemoeller visited New York, gave several
talks and sermons at a German Gemeinde Kirche. I had the
opportunity to interview the man who had been imprisoned by Hitler
in the Concentration Camps of Sachsenhausen und Dachau. He had
witnessed the executions, admitted he had spoken against the Nazis
far too late. He was grey haired, aged but optimistic. ...Yes, he
was a Pacfist. How did it happen.The son of a Lutheran Pastor was a
well decorated submarine commander in the German Imperial Navy. "It
was a sad, tragigic situation toward the end of World War I.
As U-boat commander we were able to sink an Allied ship and
hundreds of sailors were swimming helpless in the Atlantic. I
wanted to save some of their lives and take them on board. But I
received an order to shoot all survivors. This was the moment of
truth when I realized that I was not a murderer of helpless enemy
marines. Somehow I felt God's finger on me and it changed my life.
I decided that after the war I would follow in my father's
footsteps and become a Pacifist pastor."
During the cold war, Niemoeller went into the Soviet Union to try
to build bridges between the faithful of both countries. He was
called a traitor but maintained his belief in God, Peace and
Pacifism.
It was an unforgettable meeting for me coming from a country where
militarism was once a virtue. He felt sorry that he had not helped,
Hitler's victims in time. But he had protested agains the murder
gangs of Nazism.
12/11/2004
World Tribunal on Iraq : Premeditated Death and Destruction
Unleashed Against a Sovereign Nation and People
Opening statement before the Iraq tribunal hearings at Tokyo,
http://207.44.245.159/article7475.htm
By: Niloufer Bhagwat
Honorable Judges , Prosecutors, Amici Curiae, witnesses of the
satanic death and destruction of the people of Iraq, of homes and
livelihood, of hospitals, schools and places of worship; concerned
citizens of Japan.
We live in strange times. For even as a war rages fiercely in Iraq
which in epic terms can be compared to a "Mahabharat", a fierce war
between the forces of right and wrong, justice and injustice,
occupation and national liberation; we resume this trial in the
dark shadows of an "Apocalypse" which is the continuing military
occupation and the reduction of the entire population of Iraq into
the inmates of a vast concentration camp unmonitored even by the
Red Cross and other UN and other International humanitarian
organizations. Unprecedented in the annals of legal history,
evidence is being recorded in this trial even as crimes continue to
be committed with impunity, bringing home to us the reality of
human existence, that words are never enough to defeat a brutal
tyranny and even those of us who use words as tools are speechless
in the face of the deliberate and premeditated death and
destruction unleashed against a sovereign nation and people, a
member state of the United Nations waged solely to capture its oil
resources and with that objective to subjugate and eliminate its
population through one strategy or another.
Millions of people in the world including in the United States,
even before the aggression and military occupation commenced, much
before we commenced our slow and painstaking examination of
evidence and precedents, sensing imminent and unprecedented danger
to the peoples of the entire world including to soldiers recruited
to defend Republics and parliamentary democracies proceeded to
pronounce their verdict against the doctrine of "continuous war "
against one nation or another; against the conversion of domestic
economies into "war economies" even as thousands and thereafter
millions were rendered unemployed. The people across continents
opposed the policy of "blood for oil" and declared their rejection
of this strategy of pre-emptive war for the control of resources of
other societies and nations.
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War had
estimated before the military onslaught that a fresh attack against
Iraq would result in the deaths of anywhere between 48,000 to
260,000 Iraqi citizens and that post-war effects could take the
lives of an additional 200,000 Iraqis excluding those killed in the
1991 attack on Iraq and those dead because of illegal sanctions
imposed on the civilian population of Iraq by the Security Council
and issue which I had dealt with in detail at Kyoto, quoting
extensively from the statements of Mr. Dennis Halliday a former
International Civil Servant of rare integrity who had resigned on
the issues of sanctions claiming that it amounted to an illegal
declaration of war on the civilian population.
Now in the 19 month of the occupation by the military forces mainly
drawn from the United States and UK along with other smaller
contingents all members of the coalition of the aggressors; Lancet
Online Medical Journal based in the UK has published a study by
American health experts and researchers at the John Hopkins School
of Public Health, Columbia University and al Mustansiriya
University Baghdad on the deaths of Iraqi civilians under the
military occupation. The study confirms that: " Violent deaths were
widespread… and were mainly attributed to coalition forces.
Most individuals reportedly killed by coalition forces were women
and children…".
The report went on to say that: "Making conservative assumptions,
we think that about 100,000 excess deaths, or more have happened
since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Violence accounted for most of the
excess deaths and air strikes of coalition forces accounted for
most violent deaths."
Les Roberts and Gilbert Burnham who collaborated on the research
published informed the media that they had evidence of the use of
air power in populated urban areas. Richard Horton editor of the
Lancet in an editorial emphasized that the "findings also raise
questions for those far removed from Iraq – in the
governments of the countries responsible for launching a pre
–emptive war". The mounting evidence of the human catastrophe
in Iraq not seen since the days of the Second World War prima facie
indicates that the death toll may be more but not less than 100,000
and even the Lancet report however sincere has underestimated the
death toll from all facets of the Occupation.
In assessing the extent of Genocide it is necessary to focus on the
destruction and attack on hospitals and health clinics to deny
medical relief to those who could be saved if the Iraqi health
service was not destroyed . This strategy was visible in the policy
of organized looting and destruction of Iraqi hospitals in the
weeks and months after the attack .The deliberate bombing of water
pipes, the cutting off of water supplies to cities and town under
siege by US, UK and other forces, destruction of sewage pipes and
sanitary facilities, of electricity and heating have condemned
millions in Iraq to consume contaminated water and food, as a
consequence the old, the feeble, and the children have been dying
of diarrhea and related diseases caused by contamination of food
and water with lack of medicines and health care leading to an
increase in mortality. This is an indicator that apart from death
by violence the Occupation has condemned people to death from
malnutrition and lack of food , and water and food borne diseases
with inadequate health care directly caused by the Occupation.
The intrepid reporter Dahr Jamail reporting for a weekly in Alaska
has disclosed that from what he had seen in six months in Iraq at
close quarters , it was difficult to find any family in Iraq who
had not had a member killed on account of the conditions arising
from the Occupation. And what of the heroic city of Fallujah which
dared to resist the mercenaries of US and UK Security Companies and
Agencies, who have no combatant status under the Geneva Convention
in any armed conflict, yet are today high profile in one war after
another in Bosnia, in Kosovo, in Afghanistan and other theatres,
including in the trafficking in human beings as slaves. On 14th
October 2004 sensing that the city of 300,000 was to be singled out
for destruction as it had become a symbol of Resistance against the
Occupation ; the people of Fallujah through several organizations
of Teachers, Tribal Leaders, the Shura Council, the Bar
Association, through the President of the Study Centre of Human
Rights and Democracy forwarded an urgent appeal to the Secretary
General of the United Nations in these words:
"Your Excellency, It is obvious that the American forces are
committing crimes of genocide every day in Iraq. Now while we are
writing to Your Excellency, the American warplanes are dropping
their most powerful bombs on the civilians in the city, killing and
injuring hundreds of innocent people. At the same time their tanks
are attacking the city with their heavy artillery…". "On the
night of 13th October alone American bombardment demolished 50
houses on top of their residents. Is this a genocidal crime or a
lesson about democracy? It is obvious that the Americans are
committing acts of terror against the people of Fallujah for one
reason only: their refusal to accept the Occupation."
"Your Excellency and the whole world knows that the Americans and
their allies devastated our country under the pretext of the threat
of the Weapons of Mass Destruction. Now after the destruction and
the killing of thousands of civilians, they have admitted that
there were no weapons found. But they say nothing about all the
crimes they have committed. Unfortunately everyone is now silent
and will not dignify the murdered Iraqi civilians with words of
condemnation. Are the Americans going to pay compensation as Iraq
has been forced to do after the Gulf War..."
"We know we are living in a world of double standards. In Fallujah,
they have created a new vague target: AL ZARQAWI. This is a new
pretext to justify their crimes, killing and daily bombardment of
civilians. Almost a year has passed since they created this new
pretext and whenever they destroy houses ….they said
‘We have launched a successful operation against AL Zarqawi.
They will never say that they have killed him because there is no
such person. And that means the daily killings of civilians and the
daily genocide will continue."
"At the same time the representatives of Fallujah, our tribal
leader has denounced on many occasions the kidnapping and killing
of civilians, and we have no links to any group committing such
inhuman behaviour." " Excellency, we appeal to you and to all the
world leaders to exert the greatest pressure on the American
administration to stop the crimes in Fallujah and withdraw their
army…. The city was quiet and peaceful when its people ran
it…. We simply did not welcome the Occupation. This is our
right according to the UN Charter, International Law and the laws
of humanity. If the Americans believe in the opposite they should
first withdraw from the UN and all its agencies before acting in a
way contrary to the Charter they have signed."
"It is very urgent that your Excellency along with the world
leaders, intervenes in a speedy manner to prevent a new
massacre…." This was the voice of the people of Fallujah
appealing to the UN and to world leaders and what was the response?
After the administration of the United States had taken care of the
African-American voters and others through the Diebold electronic
voting machines on the 8th November commenced the destruction of
Fallujah which to the United States was a symbol of Iraqi
resistance throughout the world. There is hardly a home intact in
the city of Fallujah. The first attack by US forces with the Black
Watch Regiments poised on the highways, was on the Fallujah
hospitals and medical personnel who report the casualty figures and
treat the wounded the messengers of the devastation and loss of
lives. Dr Khamis al-Muhammadi of the Fallujan General Hospital has
informed the media that she was seized and taken away by Occupation
forces even as she was about to cut an unbilical cord during child
birth; several doctors have been reported to have been killed and
all hospitals and clinics destroyed. AL ZARQAWI like BIN LADEN was
never captured despite the destruction of the entire city. Yet who
can destroy the spirit of Fallujah which has survived many attempts
of a whole century to crush it.
Even as use of Depleted Uranium, of napalm, of banned chemicals
spread throughout the world. Mr. Kofi Anan reacted to the appeal of
Fallujah and pronounced what had already been known to millions
that: "The Occupation of Iraq is illegal…" with the Japan
Times subsequently reporting that the Secretary General of the
United Nations would pay the price for this statement with calls
for his resignation despite past services rendered and though the
real price for the fraudulently conceived ‘FOOD FOR
OIL’ program vests with the Security Council and the entire
policy and its implementation was illegal as it sought to impose
control over the resources of anther sovereign country to regulate
production and distribution of Oil.
With the war declared categorically illegal even by the Secretary
General of the United Nations, on what basis does the US
administration plan to increase troop levels. Why has it concealed
from the world that it has already created four military bases in
Iraq with the objective of permanent occupation. And what is the
nature of the liberation of Iraq. Dahr Jamail reports that Baghdad
after 19 months remains in shambles bombed out buildings sit as
insulting reminders of unbroken promises of reconstruction 70 % of
Iraqis at the very minimum are unemployed and there is a five mile
petrol lines in an oil rich country. Engineers and doctors are
unemployed and ply taxis .there are mass graves of innocent
civilians in Fallujah and bodies with skins melted by napalm.
Bodies bloated and rotting devoured by dogs in the street after the
complete destruction of the city of Fallujah, water supply is
frequently cut off from cities and towns targeted for attack
children lie deformed by Depleted Uranium exposure in shattered
hospitals from lack of treatment or even pain medication the Iraqi
Red Crescent, other relief teams and the Red Cross has been
obstructed in rendering aid mosques are bullet ridden with blood
stained carpets."
Even as governments and heads of State continue to deal with war
criminals we must recall that the assault on Fallujah and other
cities, towns and villages of Iraq are covered by article 6 (b) of
the 1945 Nuremberg Charter and in the trials of the Far East or
Tokyo trials among the war crimes defined include the" Wanton
destruction of cities , towns or villages " crimes for which the
Nazi leaders and other Generals and militarists were tried and
executed. The acts perpetrated by US,UK forces in the onslaught on
Fallujah constitutes a clear violation of the laws of Land War
found in the US army Field Manual 27-10. What of the US, UK
soldiers used as one half of the poor to kill the other half;
recruited from working class families, from isolated and
marginalized communities and towns affected by the economic
recession and the downturn sweeping the United States and England
with employment opportunities steadily decreasing. Christian Bollyn
of the American Free Press, Washington D.C asked Lt.Col. Joe Yoswa
if the US was using Depleted Uranium in Fallujah and received the
reply that "DU is the standard round on the M-1 Abraham Tanks"
which have been used in Fallujah. Because of the nature of poison
gas exploded by the exploded DU shells, American Free Press asked
Yoswa if the troops were protected from DU poisoning. Lt.Col. Joe
Yoswa seemed unaware of the dangers posed by DU. Marion Falk a
retired Nuclear scientist from Livermore Lab informed the media
that US troops in DU contaminated battlefields are considered
"throw away soldiers" who are dispensed with once exposed, and
replaced by others who become throw away in their turn with risks
of cancer, deformed children from genetic damage and serious health
problems. There is no higher purpose to fulfil for the "throw away
soldiers" than the war and oil profits of the Corporations at stake
from the continued occupation and the fear and unemployment at
home; the bankrupting of the US economy are two sides of the same
coin of which one side is the Occupation and the other side is the
whipping up of fear and frenzy in the United States.
Uranium Weapons There is a direct connection between the
appropriation sought for the war at the cost of sweeping budget
cuts and the steady elimination of social security funds and post
office savings. There is also a direct connection between the
nature of elections held in the United States, in Kabul where Mr.
Hamid Karzai the representative of the UNOCAL Company cannot stir
out of Kabul, and the elections proposed to be held in Iraq under
conditions of Occupation and coercion.
In all three countries the strategy is the same; coerce the
electorate and declare an election as "won" after which without a
constitutional mandate enslave the majority of the people by
obfuscating political, economic and social rights reducing
countries to garrisons. In recognition of these similarities and
the impact of the illegal war on the people of the United States
that the anti-war coalition has supported the "absolute right of
the people of Iraq to resist the occupation of their country" and
declared their own resistance to re-instate the draft and to
prepare for resistance if conscription returns. In what has far
reaching consequences for International Security the movement has
declared that "it is incumbent on us to reject that notion that
smaller countries must disarm and leave themselves defenseless at
the demand of Bush and the Pentagon. Such demands are not only
hypocritical, irrational and unjust, they amount to little more
than a pretext for more invasions and occupations". In the context
of the fact that the resistance to the Iraq war has more than one
front with the the military front in Iraq and the political front
in the Americas it is necessary in view of the Security Council
having acquiesced to the Occupation despite the fact that it is
illegal that the General Assembly should be moved by a member of
the United Nations to initiate moves for the vacating of the
aggression against Iraq under Article 35 read with article 11 (2).
Any organization in which some powers have the hegemony of the veto
can never fulfill the requirements of a new democratic
international order.
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