The U.S. has exempted itself from the new International Criminal Court, not only by refusing to submit to its jurisdiction but also through a series of bilateral treaties with numerous other countries. These countries sign bilateral immunity agreements with the U.S. which exempt Americans from prosecution.(4)
The Genocide Task Force is the most recent and ugly in a series of elite and powerful groups claiming to be concerned with stopping genocide while at the same time led by active participants in past and ongoing acts of genocide. By its list of participants, the Task Force has marked itself as an imperial front engaged in genocide denial. The blindness that comes with a refusal to examine the US destruction in Iraq while bewailing about genocide in Darfur is but one symptom of this ongoing genocide denial, deeply embedded in US society.
In future articles, I will examine the way in which powerful interests have both sanctified and trivialized the Holocaust in order to legitimize their own acts of genocide. I will present evidence that the powerful institutions allegedly designed to promote Holocaust education have been engaged in promoting genocide denial and even Holocaust denial while institutions involved in allegedly stopping genocide are led by those involved in committing genocide and other war crimes.
1. In a now infamous interview on the CBS show 60 Minutes (May
12, 1996) reporter Lesley Stahl asked then Secretary of State Madeline
Albright about the death and suffering caused by sanctions on Iraq:
Stahl: We have heard that a half a million children have died [due to
sanctions on Iraq, imposed because of US pressure]. I mean, that's more
children than died when--wh--in--in Hiroshima. And--and, you know, is
the price worth it?
Ambassador Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the
price--we think the price is worth it.
The clip may be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_QshS2EW8
The sheer straightforward brutality of this statement is shocking. The
U.S. and UK government claimed that Iraqis suffering under sanctions
was the fault of Saddam Hussein. These claims were debunked by among
others former UN officials Dennis Halliday, Hans Van Sponeck. See also
Joy Gordon, ⌠Cool War: Economic Sanctions as a Weapon of Mass
Destruction, Harpers, Nov. 2002. Gordon wrote:
⌠I have acquired many of the key confidential U.N. documents
concerning the administration of Iraq sanctions. I obtained these documents on
the condition that my sources remain anonymous. What they show is that
the United States has fought aggressively throughout the last decade to
purposefully minimize the humanitarian goods that enter the country.
And it has done so in the face of enormous human suffering, including
massive increases in child mortality and widespread epidemics. It has
sometimes given a reason for its refusal to approve humanitarian goods,
sometimes given no reason at all, and sometimes changed its reason three
or four times, in each instance causing a delay of months.
Albright was deeply involved in US Africa policy first as U.S.
ambassador to the U.N. where she supported the invasion of Somalia (1993) and
blocked humanitarian intervention in Rwanda (1994) in order to support
the Rwandan Patriotic Fronts overthrow of Rwandas government.
Contrary to the standard narrative the U.S. was and remains deeply involved
in Africa including the ongoing bloodshed in Democratic Republic of
Congo (Congo). See e.g. keith harmon snow and David Barouski ⌠Behind
the Numbers: Congos Untold Suffering. ZNet March 1, 2006
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=9832
Albrights push for a NATO attack on Yugoslavia is well-known.
Critics and even media commentators repeatedly labeled it ⌠Madeline's
war
A full record of the crimes of M. Albright lie beyond the scope of this
footnote.
2. Iraq was continuously bombed in (and out of) the US/UK No-Fly Zones
from 1991 onwards although only particular campaigns, such as Desert
Fox in 1998, were covered in the media. Sudans pharmaceutical plant
was bombed in August 1998 along with targets in Afghanistan and
(allegedly by accident) Pakistan.
3. The phrase and the reference to the LA Times article come from Dave
McGowan piece, ⌠War Crimes, Genocide and ▒Democratic
Immunity April 9, 2003
http://davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr35.html
4. Diana Johnstone, ⌠The ICC Quandary■ Electric Politics January
20, 2007
http://www.electricpolitics.com/2007/01/the_icc_quandary.html
The Genocide Task Force is the most recent and ugly in a series of elite and powerful groups claiming to be concerned with stopping genocide while at the same time led by active participants in past and ongoing acts of genocide. By its list of participants, the Task Force has marked itself as an imperial front engaged in genocide denial. The blindness that comes with a refusal to examine the US destruction in Iraq while bewailing about genocide in Darfur is but one symptom of this ongoing genocide denial, deeply embedded in US society.
In future articles, I will examine the way in which powerful interests have both sanctified and trivialized the Holocaust in order to legitimize their own acts of genocide. I will present evidence that the powerful institutions allegedly designed to promote Holocaust education have been engaged in promoting genocide denial and even Holocaust denial while institutions involved in allegedly stopping genocide are led by those involved in committing genocide and other war crimes.
1. In a now infamous interview on the CBS show 60 Minutes (May
12, 1996) reporter Lesley Stahl asked then Secretary of State Madeline
Albright about the death and suffering caused by sanctions on Iraq:
sanctions on Iraq, imposed because of US pressure]. I mean, that's more
children than died when--wh--in--in Hiroshima. And--and, you know, is
the price worth it?
Ambassador Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the
price--we think the price is worth it.
The clip may be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_QshS2EW8
The sheer straightforward brutality of this statement is shocking. The
U.S. and UK government claimed that Iraqis suffering under sanctions
was the fault of Saddam Hussein. These claims were debunked by among
others former UN officials Dennis Halliday, Hans Van Sponeck. See also
Joy Gordon, ⌠Cool War: Economic Sanctions as a Weapon of Mass
Destruction, Harpers, Nov. 2002. Gordon wrote:
⌠I have acquired many of the key confidential U.N. documents
concerning the administration of Iraq sanctions. I obtained these documents on
the condition that my sources remain anonymous. What they show is that
the United States has fought aggressively throughout the last decade to
purposefully minimize the humanitarian goods that enter the country.
And it has done so in the face of enormous human suffering, including
massive increases in child mortality and widespread epidemics. It has
sometimes given a reason for its refusal to approve humanitarian goods,
sometimes given no reason at all, and sometimes changed its reason three
or four times, in each instance causing a delay of months.
Albright was deeply involved in US Africa policy first as U.S.
ambassador to the U.N. where she supported the invasion of Somalia (1993) and
blocked humanitarian intervention in Rwanda (1994) in order to support
the Rwandan Patriotic Fronts overthrow of Rwandas government.
Contrary to the standard narrative the U.S. was and remains deeply involved
in Africa including the ongoing bloodshed in Democratic Republic of
Congo (Congo). See e.g. keith harmon snow and David Barouski ⌠Behind
the Numbers: Congos Untold Suffering. ZNet March 1, 2006
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=9832
Albrights push for a NATO attack on Yugoslavia is well-known.
Critics and even media commentators repeatedly labeled it ⌠Madeline's
war
A full record of the crimes of M. Albright lie beyond the scope of this
footnote.
2. Iraq was continuously bombed in (and out of) the US/UK No-Fly Zones
from 1991 onwards although only particular campaigns, such as Desert
Fox in 1998, were covered in the media. Sudans pharmaceutical plant
was bombed in August 1998 along with targets in Afghanistan and
(allegedly by accident) Pakistan.
3. The phrase and the reference to the LA Times article come from Dave
McGowan piece, ⌠War Crimes, Genocide and ▒Democratic
Immunity April 9, 2003
http://davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr35.html
4. Diana Johnstone, ⌠The ICC Quandary■ Electric Politics January
20, 2007
http://www.electricpolitics.com/2007/01/the_icc_quandary.html
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