Persisting impunity nullifies law giving permanence to lawlessness
Editing, excerpting, re-reporting by
Carolyn Bennett
The trial of former U.S. President George W. Bush and former
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair would greatly contribute to the prevention of wars
and war crimes in the future and would go a long way toward ensuring peaceful
co-existence among the world’s states and nations. Press TV documentaries airs an
insightful and in-depth piece titled “International War Crimes and War
Criminals” in which international law
professor and activist Francis Boyle is a main speaker.
 |
| U.S. in Iraq |
At the documentaries’ website is this overview
“International War Criminals” looks at the legal bases of
the U.S. and UK-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 through an interview with the
renowned international criminal law expert, Francis Boyle.
International War Crimes:
 |
| U.S. in Iraq |
The terrorist events of 9/11 led to
drastic changes in the U.S. foreign policy, especially with regard to the
Middle East.
Under the pretext of fighting
terrorism, the U.S. and UK invaded Afghanistan in 2001.
 |
| U.S. in Afghanistan |
Two years later (March 20, 2003),
they launched a military invasion on Iraq.
Apart from the fact that these
invasions were illegitimate under international law, the war crimes committed
by occupying troops in these countries gave new dimensions to international law
violations by the United States, its key ally the United Kingdom, their senior
officials; and above all, George W. Bush and Tony Blair.
“D
|
espite the wide range of war crimes during the U.S. and UK’s
invasion on Iraq and Afghanistan,” the United Nations Security Council took no measures
toward prosecuting “the main criminals, Bush and Blair.”  |
| U.S. in Afghanistan |
UNSC note in 2011 Global
Research article “The United Nations Security Council: An Organization for
Injustice” by international journalist Kourosh Ziabari
“Since its very inception in 1946,” Kourosh Ziabari wrote, “the United Nations Security Council has
demonstrated that it cannot be trusted as a podium of justice for the world countries
─ especially the oppressed and defenseless nations ─ as it merely pursues the
interests of its small bloc of five permanent members, and undemocratically
discriminates against a multitude of countries that have no say in policies directly
affecting them.
“T
|
he United Nations Security Council has five permanent
members ─ China, Russia, Britain, France and the United States ─ who are free
to exercise their right of veto whenever they wish, and nobody can question the
legitimacy or justifiability of this approach. 
Several international
organizations, lawyers and lawmakers, journalists, politicians and even
statesmen have put forward alternatives to the right of veto wielded by the Big
5, but all of their efforts have been in vain, as the UNSC has showed the least
flexibility with regards to the reformation of its autocratic and undemocratic
structure.
“Interestingly,” Ziabari observes, “all of the permanent
members of the UNSC are the countries from whom we have long gotten used to
hearing claims of being ‘pioneers of democracy and freedom’. However, in their approaches
implemented over the past fifty years and in the manner of their interactions
with other countries of the world, one can hardly trace the footsteps of
democratic and civilized behavior.
Unfortunately, the United Nations
Security Council has become an instrument for the five superpowers to further
their political will in the arena of international politics and to alter the
political equations according to their interests.
They veto the resolutions in which
the interests of their allies are endangered and put forward a draft resolution
whenever their interests are jeopardized; they pressure the rest of the members
to vote their way.
“The impunity of UN Security Council members should be
abolished. [Members] should not be able to make any decision they want, and get
away with it.” Without significant reform, the UNSC “will forever remain an
organization of injustice and bias.”
Press TV’s International War Crimes and War Criminals’ documentary
overview continues
“P
|
olitical considerations and the interests of governments are
determining factors in conducting criminal investigations and holding court
sessions. And while it cannot be denied that the establishment of such courts
plays a significant role in the development of contemporary international law ─
The trial of Bush and Blair would
greatly contribute to the prevention of wars and war crimes in the future and to
ensuring peaceful co-existence among states and nations.
International Law Professor Francis Boyle
 |
| Professor Francis Boyle |
Over his career, Professor Boyle has written and lectured
extensively in the United States and abroad on the relationship between
international law and politics. He has represented national and international
bodies including the Blackfoot Nation (Canada), the Nation of Hawaii, and the
Lakota Nation, as well as numerous individual death penalty and human rights
cases. He has advised numerous international bodies in the areas of human
rights, war crimes and genocide, nuclear policy, and biological warfare.
Though currently a lecturer in international law at the
University of Illinois’s College of Law, Professor Francis Boyle is an
internationally recognized expert who serves as counsel to Bosnia and
Herzegovina and to the Provisional Government of the State of Palestine. He
also represents two associations of citizens within Bosnia and was instrumental
in developing the indictment against Slobodan Milosevic for committing
genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Professor
Boyle is Attorney of Record for the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, conducting
its legal affairs on a worldwide scale.
From 1991-92, Professor Boyle served as Legal Advisor to the
Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations. He also has
served on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International and as a consultant
to the American Friends Services Committee and on the Advisory Board for the
Council for Responsible Genetics.
He drafted the U.S. domestic implementing legislation for
the Biological Weapons Convention, known as the Biological Weapons
Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 that was approved unanimously by both Houses of the
U.S. Congress and signed into law by U.S. President George H.W. Bush. (Story told
in his book Biowarfare and Terrorism, 2005).
His books include: Breaking
All the Rules: Palestine, Iraq, Iran and the Case for Impeachment; Protesting Power: War, Resistance and Law;
and Foundations of World Order: The
Legalist Approach to International Relations (1898-1922)
International journalist Kourosh Ziabari
 |
| Kourosh Ziabari |
As an international journalist, Kourosh Ziabari’s “main
concern,” according to his website, “is to portray a realistic and unbiased
image of Iran to the global public as opposed to the prejudiced and partial
depiction of his country by the Western mainstream media. He is opposed to the
unilateral and unjustifiable sanctions of the United States and European states
against Iran, which he believes are taking a heavy toll on the ordinary Iranian
citizens and making their daily life more throbbing and painful every day. He
is an advocate of Persian culture and civilization and believes that Iran
enjoys a rich cultural heritage which is matchless and unparalleled in the
world.”
Kourosh Ziabari has interviewed several high-ranking
politicians, academicians, media personalities and writers; and his articles
and interviews have appeared in a variety of international newspapers,
magazines, journals and news websites including Press TV, Tehran Times, Iran
Review, Al-Arabiya,Your Middle East, Silvia Cattori, Counter Currents, Voltaire
Network, Strategic Culture Foundation, Veterans Today, Foreign Policy Journal,
Global Research, The 4th Media, Online Opinion, Counter Punch, Istanbul
Literary Review, Turkish Weekly Journal, Ovi Magazine, Baltimore Chronicle,
Fars News Agency, Arab News, The Nation (Pakistan), Arab Media Internet
Network, Compass Culture, Asian EFL Journal, Rebelion, Middle East Online,
Foreign Policy In Focus, New Age Islam, Salem News, Information Clearing House,
Intrepid Report, United Progressives, Dissident Voice, Media Monitors, Arab
Online, International Policy Digest, Mehr News Agency, Info Palestine, QW
Magazine, DeLiberation, The Public Record and many others.
Since 2009, Ziabari has started to conduct exclusive
interviews with prominent scientists of the world for Daneshmand magazine and
has so far published his interviews with more than 20 Nobel Prize laureates in
physics, chemistry and medicine.
Kourosh Ziabari worked temporarily with the Spain-based
Tlaxcala international translators’ network for linguistic diversity and also
worked with the World Student Community for Sustainable Development when he was
an undergraduate student. He also joined the European Association for the
Teaching of Academic Writing and has been its member since 2008. He was born April
27, 1990, in the northern Iranian city of Rasht and was involved in
journalistic activities from an early age.
Sources and notes
“International War Crimes, International War Criminals,” Press
TV Documentaries, http://www.presstv.ir/doc/InternationalWarCrimes-IRAQ.html#Intl.
War Criminals
At “Bush to the Hague,” http://www.bushtothehague.org/francis-a-boyle/
Professor Francis A. Boyle has requested that the
International Criminal Court Prosecutor obtain International Arrest Warrants
for George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza
Rice, and Alberto Gonzales.(Wikipedia article)
“The United Nations
Security Council: An Organization for Injustice” (Kourosh Ziabari, Global
Research), January 20, 2011, http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-united-nations-security-council-an-organization-for-injustice/22875
About Kourosh Ziabari, http://kouroshziabari.com/about/; Welcome
to Kourosh Ziabari’s world! http://kouroshziabari.com/
_______________________________________
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
_______________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment