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Fake Faith And Epic Crimes
By John Pilger

 
These are extraordinary times. With the United States and Britain on the verge of bankruptcy and committing to an endless colonial war, pressure is building for their crimes to be prosecuted at a tribunal similar to that which tried the Nazis at Nuremberg. This defined rapacious invasion as "the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." International law would be mere farce, said the chief US chief prosecutor at Nuremberg, Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson, "if, in future, we do not apply its principles to ourselves."

That is now happening. Spain, Germany, Belgium, France and Britain have long had "universal jurisdiction" statutes, which allow their national courts to pursue and prosecute prima facie war criminals. What has changed is an unspoken rule never to use international law against "ourselves", or "our" allies or clients. In 1998, Spain, supported by France, Switzerland and Belgium, indicted the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, client and executioner of the West, and sought his extradition from Britain, where he happened to be at the time. Had he been sent for trial he almost certainly would have implicated at least one British prime minister and two US presidents in crimes against humanity.. Home Secretary Jack Straw let him escape back to Chile.

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 Israel’s Crimes, America’s Silence

by John Dugard
 
John Dugard is a professor of law, a former UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the chairman of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza.
 
The Nation   June 17, 2009
 
President Obama’s recent speech to the Muslim World failed to address allegations that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. Palestinians and people throughout the region were shocked at the firepower Israel brought to bear against Gaza’s civilians and do not want Palestinians’ ongoing misery to be further ignored. Many were surely waiting to hear from President Obama that the way to peace does not lie through the devastation of civilian life and infrastructure in Gaza.
 
To date, too little mention has been made of investigations that show there is sufficient evidence to bring charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Israel’s political and military leadership for their actions in Gaza. Recently, two comprehensive independent reports have been published on Gaza, and earlier this month a mission mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, and chaired by South African Richard Goldstone, visited Gaza to conduct a further investigation into Israel’s offensive.

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By Ibrahim Vawda – Media Review Network

The Media Review Network expresses its concern at the latest atrocities carried out by the Indian Government in Indian Held Kashmir. An amnesty international letter to the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh in 2008 listed his country’s human rights abuses in Kashmir and called for an independent inquiry claiming that unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and the rape of women persists in the state of Kashmir.

The struggle for self-determination by the Kashmiris began six decades ago. The Indian Government invaded the territory in 1947 and to this day has controlled it with an iron fist, through draconian laws such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Jammu and Kashmir Disturbed Areas Act and the Public Safety Act. The provisions of these Acts enable the Military to operate with impunity. 800 000 security forces are deployed in the region with a population of 7 million.

Kashmir remains a disputed territory, awaiting the referendum promised by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1947/48. The Government of India remains intransigent and will not recognise this.

The recent uprising, which began in June of this year, has seen scores of civilians killed, hundreds wounded, many detained, many women gang raped, widowed and children orphaned.

With crimes committed by states friendly to the West, atrocity fatigue hastily sets in. Similarly, daily home demolitions, rape of women, and theft of land and detention of Palestinians by Israel is ignored. Is it because Israel trains the Indian military in the art of “counter terrorism”?

The MRN urges the South African Government to immediately impress upon the Indian Government to revoke all draconian laws which promote human rights violations. Also, to withdraw all its armed forces from populated areas and to release all Kashmiri leaders and activists languishing in Indian jails and in Indian Occupied Kashmir prisons. Furthermore the Government should call upon the Indian Authorities to honour all United Nations Resolutions, thereby securing a rapid solution to the problem.

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