Iraq war: A Crime against Peace

Iraq war: A Crime against Peace 12-23-2005 7:00:00 PM GMT

The United States violated international rules governing the use of force. Those rules, enshrined in the UN charter, limit the use of force to self-defense in case of an armed attack or military actions authorized by the Security Council to maintain or restore international peace and security.

According to an editorial on CounterPunch.org, the U.S.'s war on IRAQ is a Crime against Peace as defined by the Nuremberg Charter (1945), the Nuremberg Judgment (1946), and the Nuremberg Principles (1950) as well as by paragraph 498 of the U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 (1956).

On March 19, 2003, the U.S. President GEORGE W. BUSH launched this illegal war by ordering the so-called decapitation strike against the former Iraqi president despite a 48-hour ultimatum he had given to SADDAM HUSSEIN and his sons to leave the country. This deceptive behavior violated the international laws of war outlined in the 1907 Hague Convention on the Opening of Hostilities to which the United States is a signatory.

The following step was the U.S.'s military strategy of inflicting "shock and awe" upon the Iraqi capital. Article 6(b) of the 1945 Nuremberg Charter states that "War crimes" include: ". . . wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity. . ." The U.S.'s invasion of Baghdad consbreastuted the wanton destruction of the city, and it was certainly not justified by "military necessity". Such terror attacks on residential cities have been clbuttified as a criminal behavior under international law before World War II.

On May 1, 2003, BUSH announced that "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended." Behind him was a banner reading: "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED." As of that date, the United States government became the belligerent occupant of IRAQ in defiance of international law. This illegal status was officially recognized by the UN Security Council Resolution 1483 of May 22, 2003, which declared the United States of America and the United Kingdom as "occupying powers under unified command", subject to Four Geneva Conventions of 1949, the 1907 Hague Regulations on land warfare.

The U.S. and the UK pledged to the Security Council that: "the states participating in the Coalition will strictly abide by their obligations under international law, including those relating to the essential humanitarian needs of the people of IRAQ." Obviously both states didn't respect their pledge. (Their war crimes, crimes against humanity, and grave human rights violations in Iraq need a book to be documented.)

Then came the U.S.'s installation of the so-called interim Iraqi government in the summer of 2004. According to the laws of war, this interim government is nothing more than a "puppet government," which the U.S. remains fully responsible for its behavior. As the belligerent occupant of Iraq, the U.S. must ensure that its puppet government follows the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the 1907 Hague Regulations on land warfare, as well as the customary international laws of war.

Furthermore, it was a big lie and outright propaganda for the U.S. to say that it transferred "sovereignty" to its puppet government. According to the laws of war, military occupation doesn't transfer the sovereignty to the occupant, it simply gives it the authority or power to exercise some of the rights of sovereignty. Paragraph 358 of the U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 (1956) makes this fact crystal clear: Occupation Does Not Transfer Sovereignty.

Therefore the U.S. never had any "sovereignty" in the first place to transfer to the interim Iraqi government. This illegal situation will continue as long as the United States remains the belligerent occupant of IRAQ. Only when the U.S. ends it occupation, can the Iraqis have the opportunity to exercise their international legal right of sovereignty by means of free, fair and democratic elections.

This leads us to the so-called Consbreastution of IRAQ that was written by the puppet government under the impetus of the United States government. The 1907 Hague Resolutions on land warfare prohibits any change in a basic law such as a state's Consbreastution during the course of a belligerent occupation. However, the U.S. showed great disrespect toward every law in Iraq that stood in the way of its imperial ambitions, including the pre-invasion 1990 Interim Consbreastution for the Republic of IRAQ. The UN Security Council is also complicit in the U.S.'s and the UK's war crimes in IRAQ as outlined in paragraph 500 of U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 (1956): ". . . complicity in the commission of, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes are punishable."

There is an overwhelming prima facia evidence to indict BUSH and his accomplices with war crimes and crime against humanity. There were no weapons of mbutt destruction (WMD) in IRAQ, and IRAQIS have never posed a threat to the Americans. The invasion of IRAQ is rightly described by Noble laureate, Harold Pinter, as: "An act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law".