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Total Failure of International Courts - NATO/US immune from war crimes charges
by judd - CommonDreams Monday, May 14 2012, 9:12am
international / injustice/law / other press

The number of times the US and NATO have been directly involved in willful civilian slaughters, war crimes and other heinous crimes against humanity are too numerous to list here; however, simple searches in the public domain furnish numerous instances of NATO/US war crimes and offer abundant evidence.

The many instances of war and other crimes recorded by numerous NGOs and other reputable organisations should have led to the prosecution of the culpable, however, in perhaps the most glaring historical example of corrupt legal institutions, not one allied perpetrator has ever been held accountable or placed on trial for their crimes! That fact alone clearly indicates a thoroughly corrupted and partial judiciary, a situation the WORLD cannot continue to tolerate.

The fact that Russia and China remain inert and passive in the face of such flagrant systemic corruption leads independent analysts and commentators to the obvious conclusion; the most powerful nations on earth are either complicit or have been persuaded to ignore these crimes in exchange for certain 'benefits.'

Nevertheless, the enormous social injustices of the 21st century cannot hope to continue unchallenged. Too many nations and peoples have been affected by the crimes of NATO, the US and allies. The strategy of the culpable to date is to involve other nations in their war crimes; however, this tactic only serves to delay the inevitable.

Allowing corrupt State institutions to function and serve criminal interests over an extended period undermines the foundations of society; faced with inaction citizens either take matters into their own hands and restore corrupted institutions or they follow the example of their leaders, a situation which leads to rapid social disintegration/collapse.

Report follows:

War and other crimes against humanity must be addressed and Responsibility taken.

Human Rights Watch says 72 Libyan civilians were killed during NATO's assault on Libya last year, including 20 women and 24 children.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has failed to acknowledge dozens of civilian casualties from air strikes during its 2011 assault on Libya, and has not investigated possible unlawful attacks, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 76-page report, “Unacknowledged Deaths: Civilian Casualties in NATO’s Air Campaign in Libya,” examines in detail eight NATO air strikes in Libya that resulted in 72 civilian deaths, including 20 women and 24 children. It is based on one or more field investigations to each of the bombing sites during and after the conflict, including interviews with witnesses and local residents.

“Attacks are allowed only on military targets, and serious questions remain in some incidents about what exactly NATO forces were striking,” said Fred Abrahams, special adviser at Human Rights Watch and principal author of the report.

NATO officials told Human Rights Watch that all of its targets were military objectives, and thus legitimate targets. But it has not provided specific information to support those claims, mostly saying a targeted site was a “command and control node” or “military staging ground.” Survivors of the airstrikes denied those charges.

“I’m wondering why they did this; why just our houses?” said Muammar al-Jarud, who lost his mother, sister, wife, and 8-month-old daughter. “We’d accept it if we had tanks or military vehicles around, but we were completely civilians, and you can’t just hit civilians.”

Agence France-Presse reports:

HRW reported a higher death toll than an investigation conducted by Amnesty International, which said in March that 55 people, including 16 children and 14 women, were killed in strikes in Tripoli and the towns of Zliten, Majer, Sirte and Brega.

The NATO campaign, which was authorised by the United Nations, played a key role in helping rebels bring down dictator Moamer Kadhafi, but it left a deep rift in the UN Security Council.

Russia, China, South Africa and India all say NATO's tactics breached UN resolutions, but the Western alliance insists that its action were legal and saved civilians from a massacre.

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Associated Press adds:

The deadliest attack recorded by the rights group was in the rural village of Majer, south of the former rebel stronghold of Zlitan.

The first bomb hit a large, two-story house owned by Ali Hamid Gafez, a 61-year-old farmer. It was crowded with people who had fled the fighting in nearby areas. That was followed by three more bombs that killed 34 people killed, including many who had rushed to the site to help after the earlier explosions.

Human Rights Watch said it visited the area the day after the Aug. 8, 2011, strikes and found no evidence of military activity, although it did find one military-style shirt in the rubble.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/14-0