Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 38 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 10/21/21

Powell Lied, People Died: Justice Delayed Was Justice Denied

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   4 comments
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Thomas Knapp

Fallujah 2004 M1A1 Abrams.
Fallujah 2004 M1A1 Abrams.
(Image by Wikipedia (commons.wikimedia.org), Author: Lance Corporal James J. Vooris, (USMC); uploaded by Signaleer at en.wikipedia.org)
  Details   Source   DMCA

On October 19, 96-year-old Irmgard Furchner appeared in a German court to answer charges of aiding and abetting 11,412 murders. The murders took place between 1943 and 1945 at the Stutthof concentration camp, where a much younger Furchner worked as secretary to the camp's commandant.

A day before Furchner's indictment, Colin Powell, the US government's 16th national security advisor, 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and 65th Secretary of State, died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center from complications related to COVID-19.

Seventy-six years after the end of World War Two, governments are rounding up the last few living Nazi war criminals -- nonagenarians and even centenarians who played minor roles in the Holocaust -- and hauling them to court for their crimes against humanity.

Eighteen years after the US invasion of Iraq, the ringleaders of THAT crime against humanity are beginning to die off, in bed, surrounded by their loved ones, eulogized in the press as "leaders" and "statesmen." Powell was preceded in death this year by former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The process of seeking justice for the victims of Nazism has been long, difficult, and spotty in application, but at least it's still pursued.

The process of seeking justice for the victims of Powell, Rumsfeld and other architects of the Iraq war -- hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, thousands of US troops -- hasn't even begun.

Like Powell, Rumsfeld lied to the American public -- and to the world -- about Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction, providing a pretext for war as trumped-up as Hitler's excuse for Germany's 1939 invasion of Poland.

Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi (famous for throwing his shoes at then-president George W. Bush during a 2008 Baghdad press conference) puts it bluntly: "I am saddened by the death of Colin Powell without being tried for his crimes in Iraq. But I am sure that the court of God will be waiting for him."

Assurances of a final judgment in the afterlife aside, Powell's life since 2003 has been a case of justice delayed, his death a case of justice denied.

Other Iraq war criminals, however, remain at large.

Bush fancies himself an artist these days, when he's not hobnobbing with Ellen DeGeneres at football games.

Former national security advisor (and Powell's successor as Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice teaches at Stanford.

Former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz went on to head the World Bank and currently enjoys a sinecure at the American Enterprise Institute.

And there are others.

They're not paying for their crimes. They're not absconding to non-extradition countries one step ahead of arrest and trial. They're enjoying the good life, seemingly unworried at the prospect of ever facing justice.

That's something that can, and should, change.

Well Said 4   Must Read 3   Valuable 3  
Rate It | View Ratings

Thomas Knapp Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Thomas L. Knapp is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.


Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

2020: I'm So Sick of Superlatives

America Doesn't Have Presidential Debates, But It Should

Hypocrisy Alert: Republicans Agreed with Ocasio-Cortez Until About One Minute Ago

Chickenhawk Donald: A Complete and Total Disgrace

The Nunes Memo Only Partially "Vindicates" Trump, But it Fully Indicts the FBI and the FISA Court

Finally, Evidence of Russian Election Meddling ... Oh, Wait

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend