Mohammed ElBaradei: Iraq war killed “a million innocent civilians.” Bush & Blair war criminals?

[Karmadillo]

What can he be thinking? Doesn't he know "we need to look forward and not backwards" when it comes to crimes committed by the leaders of the Free World? And while it would be fun to go after Bush & Blair, once one starts that sort of thing, one might stumble over war criminals in the wrong party and that wouldn't be any fun, at all. Best to ignore the slaughter and wait until someone writes a novel or releases a documentary some decades down the road and then we'll all feel bad and promise not to let such a thing happen ever again.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/bara-a03.shtml

Former IAEA chief: Iraq war killed “a million innocent civilians”
By Patrick Martin
3 April 2010

The former head of the UN’s chief nuclear agency, Mohammed ElBaradei, said in an interview with the British newspaper Guardian Wednesday that those who launched the war in Iraq were responsible for killing a million innocent people and could be held accountable under international law. He was clearly referring to US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and their top military and security aides.

It was his first interview with an international publication since ElBaradei returned to his native Egypt, after a decade heading the International Atomic Energy Agency, where he won the Nobel Peace Prize, in large measure because of his opposition to the efforts by the Bush administration to use concocted charges about “weapons of mass destruction” as an all-purpose pretext for military intervention throughout the Middle East.

“I would hope that the lessons of Iraq, both in London and in the US have started to sink in,” he told the Guardian. “Sure, there are dictators, but are you ready every time you want to get rid of a dictator to sacrifice a million innocent civilians? All the indications coming out of are that Iraq was not really about weapons of mass destruction but rather about regime change, and I keep asking the same question―where do you find this regime change in international law? And if it is a violation of international law, who is accountable for that?”

This suggestion that Bush and Blair were guilty of war crimes, coming from a high-ranking former UN official, would ordinarily be considered major news. The Guardian interview was reported by the main British and French news agencies, Reuters and AFP, but the entire American corporate media gave it zero coverage. Not a single major American newspaper or television network mentioned it.

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[BeFree]

1. Gawd

I look back on Iraqi invasion and wonder: How in the hell did we let that happen?

And what are we going to do about it now?

This is some bad karma we have brewing.

[patrice]

6. Re karma: Yes! Even if no one ever gets even with us, we MUST live with the fact that a murderous

precedent has been established and even if that doesn't result in another War of Choice, think of the implications to an infinitude of day-to-day decisions and other choices in that context: Children are accessories to our delusions; Autonomy is not to be respected; Killing people for what they could do is wise; Lying for the right cause is good; never question MIC . . . . What Horrendous future will be built on these assumptions!!!

[yellowwood]

7. We're Being Softened Up Now to Attack Iran

As we "look forward," be on guard. The people who got us into Iraq are anxious to get us into some kind of confrontation in Iran.

It will probably happen this way. Israel will drop some missiles on Iran. Iran will retaliate. Then we'll "have" to support Israel.

If we let ourselves get sucked into this, it will be no walk in the park.

[patrice]

8. Yes!! As Unions become stronger, Trans-Nat Cos have a major interest in insuring our Slavery. We

are useful dupes in their drive to stabilize their resources in the MidEast.

[RKP5637]

15. I share the same concern as you expressed. n/t

[beardown]

2. Darn, took the words right out of my mouth.

I was going to start with the looking forward thing, but you nailed it right out of the gate.

Constitution. No one is above the law. Christian nation. Liberators. Democracies don't start wars. Hell, democracies as I thought the Congress was supposed to declare wars, but this gets back to the Constitution.

So many myths about the USA were exposed with the Iraqmire and yet the apple pies keep getting bigger and the flag waving keeps speeding up for a sizable group of Americans and there has been no slowdown is throwing out those myths as debate points time and again.

I suppose most nations have this blind spot, but the USA is one of the few to have the military might to execute actions that expose the myths.

[ixion]

3. This is why war criminals must be held accountable

if they're allowed to do this with no fear of repercussion, it will simply get worse.

[G_j]

5. an absolute guarantee that it will happen again nt

[patrice]

4. K & R

[Karmadillo]

9. Kick

nt

[happy_liberal]

10. He should KNOW they are war criminals

He the one that recieved their laughable forgery. He knows they were making the whole thing up. And he should know it wasn't really about removing a dictator, what a joke.

The next time we decide to 'remove a dictator' at the expense of a million innocent people(that number was from 5 years ago BTW) maybe we should ask them first? I don't think the Iraqis would have approved or appreciate our 'help'.

[G_j]

12. and do they now have a stable government?

has the bloodshed ceased?


no and no

[Greyhound]

11. We failed (or more accurately Bill Clinton failed) to learn this same lesson

from the 80's. He let the criminals from past administrations walk away scotfree and they all came back to destroy this nation. Carter also refused to prosecute any of additional crimes from the Nixon administration. Makes you wonder, don't it?
:kick: & R

[Thothmes]

21. Nixon refused to prosecute any additional crimes

from the Johnson administration. Makes you wonder, don't it?

[Greyhound]

23. I didn't know that (before my time), but there does seem to be a pattern here.

:kick:

[G_j]

13. k

[malaise]

14. We should send this to KO and Rachel

They are war criminals.

[amborin]

16. why aren't they being prosecuted?

[beardown]

18. It's not a crime if they aren't white christians.

Crime? For killing brown Muslims? How pre-9/11 of you.

There's a reason why many of us call it the Bill of RIGHT now, instead of rights. International law, UN resolutions, the Congress declares war, etc. are all quaint ideas and the longer the democratic party ignores this huge violation of Constitutional law (treaties are binding on us) and international law the more they are guilty of abetting Bush's war crimes. Look forward my ass.

The congress and president can't even get a health reform bill with a public option. A war crimes tribunal is less realistic than the Lord of the Rings saga.

[moondust]

17. K/R

[slipslidingaway]

19. knr nt

[whatchamacallit]

20. Bush, Blair, and any president that continues the war (n/t)

[Martin Eden]

22. "I would hope that the lessons of Iraq, both in London and in the US have started to sink in"

Sorry Mr ElBaradei, but that lesson has already sunk.

A major chunk of the American public never learned the lesson in the first place, and if CheneyBush is prosecuted for war crimes in the ICC the effect will be to greatly reinforce the antipathy towards the UN and international law.