IRAQ WAR CRIMES: HOLDING BUSH AND BLAIR TO ACCOUNT
Michael Welch and Inder Comar
“Aside from Hitler, I do not know who did what George Bush and Tony Blair have done, in the last century or in the end of the last century and the beginning of this century. It is a very bad start for this century when you have people who are not answering for the crime they have committed, and we are talking about sophisticated nations, nations where the rule of law prevails, and they set the standards for the rest of the world.” -Sabah Al-Mukhtar (from this week’s interview)
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Length (59:31)
Click to download the audio (MP3 format)
It has been more than 12 years since the Bush Administration and its so-called “Coalition of the Willing” launched their war against the nation of Iraq with devastating consequences for the civilian population.
The decade-long conflict was launched on the pre-text of protecting the US and its allies from “weapons of mass destruction” which could get in the hands of Al Qaeda terrorists.
This pre-text has since been proven to be false.
Today, the majority of Americans accept the idea that the war on Iraq was a mistake. Even the former President’s brother and potential Republican candidate for President Jeb Bush is put on the defensive if he attempts to defend the offensive.
The humanitarian disaster that followed the initial invasion serves as a profound indictment of the US Coalition’s callous crusade. As of 2009, it was estimated that the Iraq War generated 4.5 million displaced persons, half of whom were refugees, 1-2 million widows, 5 million orphans and about one million dead. This is a tragedy affecting one in two Iraqis. [1]
There have been numerous attempts to hold President Bush and former Prime Minister Blair accountable for their actions in court. They include a September 2005 declaration from the German Court that the Iraq war violated international law, a war crimes complaint filed against former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld in Germany in 2006, a 2007 call from a Spanish Judge for the architects of the war to be put on trial for war crimes, and the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry into the role of the Tony Blair government in the invasion and occupation in Iraq. [2]
As of this writing, the architects of one of the greatest humanitarian disasters of modern times seem to have suffered no punishment whatsoever. In fact, a recent CNN poll registers a resurgence of popularity for the former US President.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Blair was recently elevated to the esteemed, and undoubtedly ironic position of chairman of the European council on tolerance and reconciliation!
Is there hope for justice for the Iraqi people?
This week’s Global Research News Hour explores the massacre delivered on the people of Iraq and the prospect of one day holding those responsible to account.
Saba Al-Mukhtar is a Iraqi lawyer based in the UK, and President of the Arab Lawyers Association in the United Kingdom. He is a long time critic not only of the 2003 invasion and consequent occupation of Iraq, but also of the previous regime of sanctions which crippled the country. In the first half hour, Al Mukhtar speaks in more detail about the suffering he and is countrymen endured over the last two decades and about the particular culpability of Tony Blair.
Inder Comar is a San Francisco-based attorney. In 2013 he filed a lawsuit on behalf of Iraqi single mother and refugee Sundus Shaker Saleh. The plaintiff alleges that the Iraq war was pre-meditated, planned as far back as 1998, and violated the UN charter as it was not in self defense or authorised by the UN Security Council. Comar is in the process of appealing a December 2014 federal court ruling to dismiss the suit arguing the officials in question were immune from such a suit. Comar is confident, however, that war crimes charges against Bush and five other officials in his Administration will eventually be levelled. He explains his point of view in the second half hour.
LISTEN TO THE SHOW
Length (59:31)
Click to download the audio (MP3 format)
The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM in Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca .
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Notes:
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http://web.mit.edu/humancostiraq/HOW%20MANY%20DIED,%20BUSH.html
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http://www.globalresearch.ca/iraq-war-crimes-holding-bush-and-blair-to-account/5453786