Sorcha Fall / What Does It Mean.com – 2005-10-15 22:55:34
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index839.htm
International Committee of the Red Cross Opens Portfolio against US President, Vice President and Defense Secretary Charging “Crimes Against Humanity”
Sorcha Faal / What Does It Mean.com
RUSSIA (October 15, 2005) — Kremlin sources are reporting today that the International Committee of the Red Cross, based in Switzerland, has opened a War Crimes Portfolio charging the United States President, Vice President, Defense Secretary, United States Military Commanders and the majority of United States Senators and Congressmen with “Crimes Against Humanity‚” over what the United Nations has declared as an illegal‚ war in the Middle Eastern Country of Iraq, and where the innocent civilian death toll is nearing 30,000.
This is reported to be only the second time in the International Committee of the Red Cross‚s history where a War Crimes Portfolio has been opened against the Civilian and Military Leadership of a sovereign country, with the first being opened in 1943 against the Nazi German Empire and its Chancellor, Adolph Hitler, and various other civilian and military leaders of that country.
The specific ŒCrimes Against Humanity‚ that these Americans are being charged with are violations of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, specifically Articles 3 and 4 which state:
Article 3
In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:
• 1. Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) Taking of hostages;
(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
• 2. The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.
An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.
The Parties to the conflict should further endeavour to bring into force, by means of special agreements, all or part of the other provisions of the present Convention.
The application of the preceding provisions shall not affect the legal status of the Parties to the conflict.
Article 4
A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:
• 1. Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.
• 2. Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:
(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
• 3. Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.
• 4. Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews, war correspondents, supply contractors, members of labour units or of services responsible for the welfare of the armed forces, provided that they have received authorization from the armed forces which they accompany, who shall provide them for that purpose with an identity card similar to the annexed model.
• 5. Members of crews, including masters, pilots and apprentices, of the merchant marine and the crews of civil aircraft of the Parties to the conflict, who do not benefit by more favourable treatment under any other provisions of international law.
• 6. Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war.
B. The following shall likewise be treated as prisoners of war under the present Convention:
• 1. Persons belonging, or having belonged, to the armed forces of the occupied country, if the occupying Power considers it necessary by reason of such allegiance to intern them, even though it has originally liberated them while hostilities were going on outside the territory it occupies, in particular where such persons have made an unsuccessful attempt to rejoin the armed forces to which they belong and which are engaged in combat, or where they fail to comply with a summons made to them with a view to internment.
• 2. The persons belonging to one of the categories enumerated in the present Article, who have been received by neutral or non-belligerent Powers on their territory and whom these Powers are required to intern under international law, without prejudice to any more favourable treatment which these Powers may choose to give and with the exception of Articles 8, 10, 15, 30, fifth paragraph, 58-67, 92, 126 and, where diplomatic relations exist between the Parties to the conflict and the neutral or non-belligerent Power concerned, those Articles concerning the Protecting Power.
Where such diplomatic relations exist, the Parties to a conflict on whom these persons depend shall be allowed to perform towards them the functions of a Protecting Power as provided in the present Convention, without prejudice to the functions which these Parties normally exercise in conformity with diplomatic and consular usage and treaties.
C. This Article shall in no way affect the status of medical personnel and chaplains as provided for in Article 33 of the present Convention.”
Red Cross Concerns over Prisoner Treatment
The impetus for the starting of this War Crimes Portfolio, according to these reports, was the United States continued torture of Prisoners of War, and to which the International Red Cross had previously made a rare public comment about their concerns, and as we can read as reported by the United Press International News Service in their article titled “Gitmo hunger strike worries Red Cross” and which says:
“An ongoing hunger strike by detainees at Guantanamo Bay is raising concerns and questions. The BBC reports the International Committee of the Red Cross has made a rare move and gone public with their concern about the strike. ICRC spokeswoman Antonella Notari said her group was worried but wouldn`t give any details of what recent visits to Guantanamo Bay uncovered.”
According to Russian Intelligence sources, when presented with the findings of the International Red Cross about their concerns, they were ordered deported from the United States, but not before their findings were leaked‚ from the United States National Security Council to members of the United States Congress who, understanding the grave implications of these findings, immediately enacted new laws forbidding the torture of Prisoners of War, but to which their President has quashed, and as we can read as reported by the Houston Chronicle News Service in their article titled “Veto Torture Ban? What Is This President Thinking?” and which says:
Get this: President Bush — who says he wants to improve the US image around the world — is threatening to veto legislation that would ban torture of prisoners of war. What can he be thinking?
Fortunately, he is finding that many lawmakers in his own party see the shame of it all, even if he doesn’t. The Senate has voted 90 to 9 in favor of a bill pushed by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that would restrict “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment of prisoners in military custody.
In pushing the bill, McCain had the strong backing of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has served in the military, and Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee. The White House objects to the anti-torture legislation on the basis that it “would limit the president’s authority and flexibility.” Tough.
Last summer when McCain and others tried to pass a similar measure, Vice President Dick Cheney went to Capitol Hill and undertook a major lobbying campaign to stop the McCain move.
Not just to the mass torturing, and murdering, of Prisoners of War either are these Americans being charged, but also to the murdering by starvation of innocent civilians, and as we can read as reported by the BBC News Service in their article titled “US Troops ‘Starve Iraqi Citizens’ and which says: “A senior United Nations official has accused US-led coalition troops of depriving Iraqi civilians of food and water in breach of humanitarian law. Human rights investigator Jean Ziegler said they had driven people out of insurgent strongholds that were about to be attacked by cutting supplies. Mr Ziegler, a Swiss-born sociologist, said such tactics were in breach of international law.”
Being kept from the American people by their Military Leaders, and propaganda laden media organs, is that the United States unprovoked invasion of another sovereign nation was in violation of International Law, and as we can read as reported by England’s Guardian Unlimited News Service in their article titled “Iraq War Was Illegal and Breached UN Charter, Says Annan” and which says:
The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, declared explicitly for the first time last night that the US-led war on Iraq was illegal. Mr. Annan said that the invasion was not sanctioned by the UN Security Council or in accordance with the UN’s founding charter. In an interview with the BBC World Service broadcast last night, he was asked outright if the war was illegal. He replied: “Yes, if you wish.” He then added unequivocally: “I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view and from the charter point of view it was illegal.
Many International Organizations are reportedly assisting in the compiling of evidence for War Crimes Trials against the United States Military Leadership, including the Global Policy Forum, and who have documented the numerous acts of aggression and violations of International Laws in their report titled “International Law Aspects of the Iraq War and Occupation” and which says:
Shortly before the outbreak of hostilities, UN Secretary General stated that the use of force without Council endorsement would “not be in conformity with the Charter” and many legal experts now describe the US-UK attack as an act of aggression, violating international law.
Experts also point to illegalities in the US conduct of the war and violations of the Geneva Conventions by the US-UK of their responsibilities as an occupying power. The section also looks at wartime violations on the Iraqi side.
Also included in this War Crimes Portfolio are War Crimes Charges against all members and associates‚ of the Ruling Party in the United States called The Republicans, who in these reports are stated as being fully supportive of the United States Military Leadership and control the vast bureaucracy of the American political system.
To the presentation of this War Crimes Portfolio before an International War Crimes Tribunal however, and like the War Crimes Portfolio against the Nazi German Empire’s Leaders, will not take place until the defeat of the United States and its occupation by United Nations Peacekeepers, but to whose outcome has not been determined as the Military Leaders in the United States have stated their intentions to not only continue, but to broaden this wars battlefields, and across the entire globe if need be.
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Sorcha Faal sorchafaal@fastmail.fm
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