What Solution For Iraq: A Bad War Tribunal Or A Good Guerilla Attack?
By Agustin Velloso
20 March, 2007
Countercurrents.orgIn March 2003, the acute suffering of the Iraqi people, due to the sanctions imposed by the international community in 1991, was made worse by the US led coalition invading armies. The inhuman character of those responsible for the comprehensive blockade was made clear in the words of the then US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright in 1996. Journalist Leslie Stahl asked Albright on 60 Minutes: "We have heard that half a million [Iraqi] children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"Secretary of State Albright replied: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it."
(http://iraqpundit.blogspot.com/2006/03/
why-iraqis-hit-mute-when-albright.html)The blockade, the aggression and the occupation of Iraq are the pillars of a policy designed and carried out in a coordinated way by several Western countries led by the US. We are talking about untold and endless injustice. On the other hand, the rape of Iraq is not the only one to be condemned: Afghanistan, Palestine and Lebanon have also been attacked and Iran is in the list.
Some facts clearly reflect the extreme cruelty of the treatment accorded to Muslim countries by Western powers. Amongst the first ones, members of the US Congress -and the Spanish Parliament also- applauding as Bush and Aznar respectively announced the invasion of Iraq. The sadism sported by people who perfectly understood the meaning of a campaign of "shock and awe" and knew the destructive power of Western armies cannot be found even in the Apocalypse.
Shortly after the aggression was launched, a picture in the newspapers gave an accurate warning of events to come: it showed an Iraqi man holding in his arms a little girl, whose left leg was a blood soaked stump. Then, more gruesome pictures arrived: tortured prisoners, corpses under the rubble, destruction everywhere, small children with strange cancers caused by depleted uranium weapons.
One question was inescapable: why these children who know nothing, who have done no harm to the US, are made over into monsters and condemned - if they survive - to a terrible life? Dante did not picture a hell like this for sinners.
Later on, elections were held in the US -and in Israel. Voters supported their governments' policies when they re-elected the very same people who ordered the crime. One can understand that the masters of the world are heartless, that is why they got the power and the benefits, but what makes an average citizen, with family and normal empathy for others, support policies contrary to humanity?
Of course there has been a lot of criticism by people opposed to the blockade and the occupation. Some voices have been raised to demand a tribunal to judge those Western leaders and a new Nuremberg Tribunal is mentioned.
Nowadays, discussions about Iraq revolve around the new strategies made public by the same leaders who originated the disaster. Together with think-tank experts, they announce several ways to leave Iraq's quagmire, such as untimely and absurd plans like staying the course, increasing security in Bahgdad, talking to neighbouring countries and so on. These plans are the new version of the weapons of mass destruction, the al-Qaeda connection and the like: poor, uninteresting tricks of latterday sorcerer's apprentices.
On the other hand: Do proposals about war tribunals have any interest? Not much really, because two basic conditions can not be guaranteed. Firstly: all leaders involved should be judged without delay. Secondly: all victims should be compensated and all harm made up, no matter the cost.
An arrest warrant impeded by legal or political reasons, would be simply a new injustice. Besides, history shows that neither the US nor Israel pay reparations for their aggressions. The mere proposal of taking US or Israel leaders to a war crimes tribunal are nothing but empty threats and do not comfort their victims. If there is no punishment, no reparations, and no
measures to prevent new aggressions, the crime remains unpunished and victims unprotected.It is unreasonable to think Commanders-in-Chief will ever sit in the dock at a war crimes tribunal. This proposal amounts to nothing, unless a massive international popular campaign is carried out. What we are seeing is that fewer and fewer people are really concerned - beyond mere words - about Iraq's fate.
Nobody but the victims themselves will try and redress the situation. However, living under occupation and with no means to establish such a tribunal, they will not get justice without violence. The way forward is to make the invaders pay a high price for the damage they cause. Vietnam and Lebanon are handy precursors in this respect.
It is more than somewhat ironic that all the laws enacted since the United Nations were established and the huge resources of the international community have been unable to achieve what small rocket-propelled grenades, human-bombs and improvised explosive devices are working hard to achieve: put an end to the Occupation and get justice for the victims
The reaction to the crimes that are perpetrated in Iraq and in the Middle East should change from asking for war tribunals if there is not enough power to establish them, to support the Iraqi, Palestinian and Lebanese resistance against the aggressors and the occupiers. It is not certain that the resistance will achieve justice, but it is certain that the aggressors will not bring justice. Any effective support given to the resistance is far better than words without action.
Every helicopter brought down, every tank destroyed, every element of the occupation attacked, is an act in favour of the victims. Hence, the satisfaction, the comfort and the hope felt by these and their supporters when the resistance reaches its targets.
At the same time, each attack on the invading armies is a step towards the "re-humanization" of the aggressors. Only by making them share the pain, will they be able to understand other people's pain and recover their humanity. There is no evidence of signs of regret by the aggressors or concern for their victims. Hence the urgency of forcing them to do so.
English version reviewed by toni solo.
Agustín Velloso es profesor de la Universidad Nacional de Educación a
Distancia (UNED).
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