America's Best Kept Secret (Justice For US War Crimes)

[Disco_Destroyer]

AMERICA’S BEST KEPT SECRET
Malcom Lagauche

September 2, 2007

The most powerful forces in Desert Storm were not the bombs or missiles dropped on Iraq. Without firing a shot, the U.S. media ensured the destruction of Iraq. Their acquiescence to U.S. government demands stopped all discussion of a negotiated settlement of the crisis. Schwarzkopf said it all on the day after the cease-fire. At a press conference, he laughed as he told the journalists, "You printed everything just the way we said it."

If the media tried to find the truth, or gave both sides a chance to be heard, there is a possibility that there would have never been a Desert Storm. The U.S. public had no idea of why Iraq went into Kuwait, or the history of the area. To this day, because of biased media coverage, the American public, for the most part, thinks Saddam Hussein was attempting to take over the world.

During Desert Shield, the buildup to the massacre, there was much talk about impending military action. For months, we heard many voices, however, those who supported military action dominated the debate. Occasionally, an opponent of a military solution was given a chance to speak, but the message was usually negated by the opposition and the moderators of radio and TV shows.

Politicians were allowed to tell the U.S. public outrageous lies about the situation. The press was remiss in challenging these untruths, so more and bigger lies followed. The media, the military, politicians and administration officials were exempt from having to tell the truth.

It would take thousands of pages to chronicle the deficiencies of the media in their lapdog role during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, but one portion of history was totally ignored by the U.S. press — former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark’s formation of a war crimes tribunal and the following trial and judgement against the U.S. government.

In February 1991, Ramsey Clark visited Iraq during the height of allied bombing. He did not see a pretty sight. Clark returned with much videotape and tales of horror of Iraq’s civilian population being bombed, despite the U.S. government’s denial. No videotape was shown on U.S. television and Clark’s message went unheard and unseen.

Shortly after the cease-fire, Clark formed a Commission of Inquiry to travel to Iraq to see if there was enough evidence to put the U.S. government on trial for war crimes and crimes against peace. The Commission found a wealth of evidence and returned to the U.S.

For the next nine months, Clark and various members of the Commission traveled worldwide to gather further evidence of war crimes. The results were overwhelming. People came forward to give evidence of atrocities perpetrated against Iraq’s population, its military, the environment, and citizens of other countries. Whenever the Commission took evidence, whether in Europe, Asia, Africa or the Middle East, the media of many countries were in attendance. Despite the large attendance at meetings, the U.S. media were absent.

On February 29, 1992, in New York City, the International War Crimes Tribunal convened to try George Bush, Dan Qualye, James Baker, Dick Cheney, William Webster, Colin Powell, Norman Schwarzkopf and others on 19 charges of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and other criminal acts and high crimes. The Martin Luther King High School auditorium was filled to capacity (more than 1,500) and many others lined up outside to hear the proceedings over loudspeakers. The broadcast media of various countries carried the trial live, but, despite the attendance and international coverage, the event was totally ignored by the U.S. press.

The panel consisted of 21 people from assorted countries and it ruled on the following 19 counts:


The U.S. engaged in a pattern of conduct beginning in or before 1989 intended to lead Iraq into provocations justifying U.S. military action against Iraq and permanent U.S. military domination of the Gulf.
President Bush from August 2, 1990, intended to prevent any interference to his plan to destroy Iraq militarily and economically.

President Bush ordered the destruction of facilities essential to civilian life and economic productivity in Iraq.

The U.S. intentionally bombed and destroyed civilian life, commercial and business districts, schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, shelters, residential areas, historical sites, private vehicles and civilian government offices.

The U.S. intentionally bombed indiscriminately throughout Iraq.

The U.S. intentionally bombed and destroyed Iraqi personnel, used excessive force, killed soldiers seeking to surrender and in disorganized flight, often unarmed and far from any combat zones and randomly and wantonly killed Iraqi soldiers and destroyed materiel after the cease-fire.

The U.S. used prohibited weapons capable of mass destruction and inflicting indiscriminate death and unnecessary suffering against both military and civilian targets.

The U.S. intentionally attacked installations in Iraq containing dangerous substances and forces.

President Bush ordered U.S. forces to invade Panama resulting in the deaths of 1,000 to 4,000 Panamanians and the destruction of thousands of private dwellings, public buildings and commercial structures.

President Bush obstructed justice and corrupted United Nations functions as a means of power to commit crimes against peace and war crimes.

President Bush usurped the Constitutional power of Congress as a means of securing power to commit crimes against peace, war crimes and other high crimes.

The U.S. waged war on the environment.

President Bush encouraged and aided Shi’ite Muslims and Kurds to rebel against the government of Iraq causing fratricidal violence, emigration, exposure, hunger and sickness, and thousands of deaths. After the rebellion failed, the U.S. invaded and occupied parts of Iraq without authority in order to increase division and hostility within Iraq.

President Bush intentionally deprived the Iraqi people of essential medicine, potable water, food and other necessities.

The U.S. continued its assault on Iraq after the cease-fire, invading and occupying at will.

The U.S. has violated and condoned violations of human rights, civil liberties and the U.S. Bill of Rights in the U.S., in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to achieve its purpose of military domination.

The U.S., having destroyed Iraq’s economic base, demands reparations which will permanently impoverish Iraq and threaten its people with famine and epidemic.

President Bush systematically manipulated, controlled, directed, misinformed and restricted press and media coverage to obtain constant support in the media for his military and political goals.

The U.S. has by force secured a permanent military presence in the Gulf, the control of its oil resources and geopolitical domination of the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf region.

When the trial concluded, there was a verdict. According to the Commission of Inquiry for the International War Crimes Tribunal:

The Tribunal panel concluded an afternoon of testimony by finding U.S. President George Bush and his associates and allies guilty of war crimes, crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. They based this decision on clear violations of international law. The Tribunal panelists included internationally-known civil rights activists, legal workers and freedom fighters. Some have served in the governments of their countries, others in prisons; some have done both. They reflect a diversity of cultures, nationalities and ideologies. When it came time to vote a judgement, they were unanimous. The crowd broke into shouting and applause as Attorney Deborah Jackson of the U.S. read the verdict: Guilty on all 19 counts of war crimes.

How could a trial held in the U.S. against the U.S. government be ignored by the press? The subject matter alone should have piqued the media’s curiosity. The blackout was not due to lack of notice from the International War Crimes Tribunal — many press releases were sent and many phone calls were made in an attempt to gain publicity.

I tried to discover why there was a lack of coverage. First, I talked to Irv Cass, news director of Channel 39, and NBC affiliate in San Diego, California. He explained, "There could be a variety of reasons why we didn’t cover it. We get news from a variety of sources, such as AP, NBC Network and CNN."

Could AP (Associated Press), the agency from which thousands of television stations, radio stations, and newspapers gain their information be the culprit? According to Adrianne Weil Parks of the AP office in New York, the AP has a clean record on this issue. She said, "Sure. I put all their (Tribunal) stuff on the wire. Believe me, I’ve put them out."

Three major wire services (AP, UPI and Reuters) were given much information from the Tribunal. UPI admitted to receiving the information, but could not verify if it was sent over the wires. Reuters did send the story. According to Art Spiegleman of Reuters, "We sent out the story a couple of days before it (the trial) took place."

At least two of the three major wire services announced the War Crimes Tribunal, leaving the media one less excuse for not running the story. Paul Ahuja was the press director for the Tribunal. He mentioned some publications that did not cover the story because of its controversial nature. Ahuja recalled a conversation with Sidney Schanberg of Newsday in which Schanberg told him, "I can’t cover this story. I’d get fired."

The New York Times was just as squeamish. Staff at the publication told Ahuja, "This story is editorial suicide."

Ramsey Clark was critical of the press coverage of Desert Storm and the lack of coverage of the Tribunal. He said, "The press has totally defaulted. It began with Grenada." His reference of Grenada alluded to the U.S. government’s blackout of press coverage of the invasion of the island by U.S. forces in 1983. Clark added, "They (the press) complained for a while, but they soon forgot."

During Desert Storm, Clark was vocal about his opposition; however, he and many other opponents were totally shut out by the media. Clark said, "The press led the American people to celebrate a slaughter."

Clark called the media remiss in attempting to get the facts. He stated:

The morning of January 15, 1991 was the saddest moment for American journalism. There, at the cashier’s desk (at the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad), checking out were the journalists. Here you have the press, whose duty it was to cover the facts for the public, checking out.

According to Clark, the journalists used the excuse of imminent danger for their exit. He said, "It’s like a fireman saying, 'Hell, that’s a big fire. I’m not going in there.’"

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