Rich Scheck / State of the Nation & Paul Craig Roberts / Information Clearing House – 2018-04-29 00:01:53
Trump/May/Macron Attack On Syria: A Naked Criminal Act of Military Aggression
Trump/May/Macron Attack On Syria:
A Naked Criminal Act of Military Aggression
Rich Scheck / State of the Nation
(April 26, 2018) — The Trump/May/Macron attack on Syria constituted a naked act of aggression in violation of the Nuremberg prohibitions making them prospective war criminals.
Sadly, the world has become conditioned to such transgressions and barely raises its collective voice to protest the use of force under the most suspicious of circumstances.
The UN was created to avoid the scourge of war and yet has proven inept in stopping them as we are poised for a global conflagration. Flash points abound in Ukraine/Donbass; Pakistan/India; Greece/Turkey; trouble with North Korea and in the South Chins Sea; and the unending mess in the Middle East that saw a major escalation 2 weeks ago following the dubious claim that Assad used gas on his own citizens.
Even if 100% true, President Trump had no legal authority to launch missiles against a sovereign nation that had not attacked America and posed no threat to us. Doing so breached the UN Charter, the US Constitution and the Nuremberg proscription against wars of aggression. The fact that he was joined in this endeavor by May and Macron only added to the level of venality.
Congress could barely muster the energy to warn Trump prior to his anticipated use of force. Afterwards it merely slapped him on the wrist with a few disparaging words for the media expressing concern about what he did in concert with the French and Brits. They then submitted feeble attempts at new AUMF bills that on closer inspection actually endorsed future misconduct.
No calls for impeachment issued from such leading antiwar Senators as Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders! After decades of imperial excess by presidents of both parties, these legislators show minimal interest in preserving the constitutional integrity for their branch of the government.
A triumphant National Security State is what they accept even while kidding themselves that they oppose such abuses of executive power. The disproportionality between what they say and do compared to the seriousness of the offense involved speaks volumes to the domination of the Military-Industrial Complex in our affairs.
With Israel in control of American foreign policy, Trump has abandoned his campaign promise to Put America First to the outrage of his political base including Roger Stone, Michael Savage, Pat Buchanan, Steve Pieczenk and Alex Jones. [http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=98564]
It’s not as if we don’t have a wealth of evidence implicating our leaders in these war crimes. We have known for over a decade from Gen. Wesley Clark of the Pentagon’s plans to take down 7 nation in 5 years:
“The US will attack 7 countries in 5 years” (Video)
Similarly, the Project For A New American Century told us what would happen once a “new Pearl Harbor’ attack provided them with the pretext they needed to achieve Pax Americana. After 9/11, they have been unwavering in relying on grandiose notions of American Exceptionalism and Global Manifest Destiny in quest of their goal of world hegemony. [https://www.newstatesman.com/node/192545]
The impotence of high-level officials at the UN, as well as in Washington, London and Paris to constrain these rogue leaders is once again on full display. What is required now in the face of such dereliction of duty is a “Citizen’s Tribunal” to hold these individuals fully responsible.
There is much precedence for such an endeavor. Bertram Russell sponsored a war crimes tribunal regarding Viet Nam. A few years ago, there was a People’s Tribunal to deal with alleged Gulf War war crimes.
Prior to that, Alfred Webre and other concerned activists held a Truth and Reconciliation Tribunal that addressed war crimes associated with the 9/11 attack: 9/11=truth and reconciliation.
Perhaps the Democratic World Federalists will rise to the occasion and sponsor a similar inquiry in light of their strong commitment to the rule of law in the international arena. Or maybe some other group will emerge as well.
Whatever form it takes, something far more serious than what has transpired by a fawning press and indulgent Congress is required under current circumstances. Hopefully that can serve as an appeal to the conscience of these rogue leaders. As things now stand, there is little in the way to stop their march towards tyranny.
Rich Scheck, author of this article, has a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. His background includes a brief stint with Nader’s Raiders. A political activist, he specializes in analyses of national and international politics.
Where Is The Shame?
Paul Craig Roberts / Information Clearing House
(April 25, 2018) — Now that the Trump, May, and Macron regimes have proven beyond all doubt that they are lawless war criminal regimes, what is next?
Will the Russian president and foreign minister continue to speak of “our Western partners” and seek common ground with proven lawless war criminals? What would that common ground be?
How can other governments accept the US, UK, and French governments that intentionally lied about a Russian chemical attack on the Skripals and about a Syrian chemical attack on Douma, risking a third world war, and then themselves attacking Syria on the basis of a transparent lie unsupported by any evidence? How exactly do you conduct diplomatic relations with war criminals?
You don’t. You put them on trial. Why aren’t Trump, May, and Macron on trial?
The reason is that the world has been conditioned, like Pavlov’s dogs, to expect and accept the West’s war crimes as ordinary common features of life. The West’s crimes are protected by precedents established by decades of failing to hold the West accountable. The West has squatters rights in committing unaccountable war crimes.
Stymied in the effort to overthrow Syria, Netanyahu is now focusing the Trump regime on renewing Washington’s conflict with Iran. Will Washington’s vassals continue to provide cover for Washington’s crimes, or are some of the Europeans beginning to understand that the risks they assume for Washington exceed the money that Washington pays them?
Where will Russia stand if Washington renews its assault on Iran?
Despite the air attacks carried out on its Syrian ally by the US, NATO, and Israel, the Russian government still has not found the decisiveness to sell Syria its S-300 air defense system. Syria intercepted 70% of the US missiles in the last attack using obsolete Soviet-era air defense systems. The S-300 would allow Syria to protect itself from air attack and thus reduce the chance of war resulting from Israeli and US attacks on Syria.
Russian indecisiveness combined with the rest of the world’s toleration of ongoing US war crimes suggests that more provocations will be orchestrated, that more lawless attacks will take place, and that eventually a fatal conflict will be brewed.
Think about it. The British are caught in the Skripal lie. Washington, the British, and the French are caught in the Douma chemical attack lie, and there are no consequences for those governments who orchestrated hoaxes and then used the hoaxes to justify their war crime.
How can it be that the American people are undisturbed by their government’s 17 years of wars based entirely on blatant lies? How can it be that the American people and the Evangelical churches are unmoved by the millions of innocent peoples in seven countries who have been murdered, maimed, orphaned, and displaced by the profit-driven US military/security complex and by the neoconservative ideology in service to Israel?
How can it be that the US media is as effective a propaganda ministry for Washington as the German press was for the Nazis?
How can it be that the European, Canadian, and Australian governments and the citizens of these countries are not ashamed of their participation in these never-ending crimes?
Where is India’s voice? China’s? South America’s?
Why is the world silent in the face of massive, long-term, ongoing war crimes?
Why does the Russian government think it can have a partnership with a war criminal regime? Why would Russia want such a shameful and demeaning association?
Where is Russia’s counterpart to NATO?
Where is there any determination to put a halt to the West’s criminality?
Why is the world content with Washington’s path to world war?
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. Roberts’ latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West, How America Was Lost, and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
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