MEXCAN
10th January 2003, 23:39
On December 3, 1996, the US Justice Department issued a list of
16 Japanese citizens who would be barred from entering the United
States because of "war crimes" committed during the Second World
War. Among those denied entry were some who were alleged to have
been members of the infamous "Unit 731", which, said the Justice
Department, "conducted inhumane and frequently lethal pseudo-medical experiments -- on thousands of ... prisoners and
civilians," including mass dissections of living humans.{1}
Oddly enough, after the war the man in charge of the Unit 731
program -- whose test subjects included captured American
soldiers -- General Shiro Ishii, along with a number of his
colleagues, had been granted immunity and freedom in exchange for
providing the United States with details about their experiments,
and were promised that their crimes would not be revealed to the
world. The justification for this policy, advanced by American
scientists and military officials, was, of course, the
proverbial, ubiquitous "national security".{2}
Apart from the hypocrisy of the Justice Department issuing
such a list, we are faced with the fact that any number of
countries would be justified in issuing a list of Americans
barred from entry because of "war crimes" and "crimes against
humanity". Such a list might include the following:
William Clinton, president, for his merciless bombing of the
people of Yugoslavia for 78 days and nights, taking the lives of
many hundreds of civilians, and producing one of the greatest
ecological catastrophes in history; for his relentless
continuation of the sanctions and rocket attacks upon the people
of Iraq; and for his illegal and lethal bombings of Somalia,
Bosnia, Sudan, and Afghanistan.
General Wesley Clark, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, for his
direction of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia with an almost
sadistic fanaticism ... "He would rise out of his seat and slap
the table. 'I've got to get the maximum violence out of this
campaign -- now!'"{3}
George Bush, president, for the murder of hundreds of thousands
of innocent Iraqi civilians, including many thousands of
children, the result of his 40 days of bombing and the
institution of draconian sanctions; and for his unconscionable
bombing of Panama, producing widespread death, destruction and
homelessness, for no discernible reason that would stand up in a
court of law.
General Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for
his prominent role in the attacks on Panama and Iraq, the latter
including destruction of nuclear reactors as well as plants
making biological and chemical agents. It was the first time
ever that live reactors had been bombed, and ran the risk of
setting a dangerous precedent. Hardly more than a month had
passed since the United Nations, under whose mandate the United
States was supposedly operating in Iraq, had passed a resolution
reaffirming its "prohibition of military attacks on nuclear
facilities" in the Middle East.{4} In the wake of the
destruction, Powell gloated: "The two operating reactors they had
are both gone, they're down, they're finished."{5} He was just
as cavalier about the lives of the people of Iraq. In response
to a question concerning the number of Iraqis killed in the war,
the good general replied: "It's really not a number I'm terribly
interested in."{6}
And for his part in the cover up of war crimes in Vietnam by
troops of the same brigade that carried out the My Lai
massacre.{7}
General Norman Schwarzkopf, Commander in Chief, U.S. Central
Command, for his military leadership of the Iraqi carnage; for
continuing the carnage two days after the cease-fire; for
continuing it against Iraqis trying to surrender; for burying soldiers alive, deliberately.
Ronald Reagan, president, for eight years of death, destruction,
torture, and the crushing of hope inflicted upon the people of El
Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Grenada by his policies; and
for his bombings of Lebanon, Libya and Iran. He's forgotten all
this, but the world shouldn't.
Elliott Abrams, assistant secretary of state under Reagan, for
rewriting history, even as it was happening, by instituting lying
as public policy. He was indispensable to putting the best
possible face on the atrocities being committed daily by the
Contras in Nicaragua and other Washington allies in Central
America, thus promoting continued support for them; a spinmeister
for the ages, who wrestled facts into ideological submission.
"When history is written," he declared, "the Contras will be folk
heroes."(8)
Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defense for seven years under
Reagan, for his official and actual responsibility for the
numerous crimes against humanity perpetrated by the United States
in Central America and the Caribbean, and for the bombing of
Libya in 1986. George Bush pardoned him for Iran-Contra, but he
should not be pardoned for his war crimes.
Lt. Col. Oliver North, assigned to Reagan's National Security
Council, for being a prime mover behind the Contras of Nicaragua,
and for his involvement in the planning of the invasion of
Grenada, which took the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians.
Henry Kissinger (who has successfully combined three careers:
scholar, Nobel peace laureate, and war criminal), National
Security Adviser under Nixon and Secretary of State under Nixon
and Ford, for his Machiavellian, amoral, immoral roles in the US
interventions into Angola, Chile, East Timor, Vietnam, and
Cambodia, which brought unspeakable horror and misery to the
peoples of those lands.
Gerald Ford, president, for giving his approval to Indonesia to
use American arms to brutally suppress the people of East Timor,
thus setting in motion a quarter-century-long genocide.
Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense under presidents Kennedy
and Johnson, a prime architect of, and major bearer of
responsibility for, the slaughter in Indochina, from its early
days to its extraordinary escalations; and for the violent
suppression of popular movements in Peru.
General William Westmoreland, Army Chief of Staff, for the
numerous war crimes under his command in Vietnam. In 1971,
Telford Taylor, the chief US prosecutor at the post-World War II
Nuremberg Tribunal, cited the "Yamashita" case as grounds for
indicting Westmoreland. Following the war, a US Army Commission
had sentenced Japanese General Tomayuki Yamashita to be hanged
for atrocities committed by his troops in the Philippines. The
Commission held that as the senior commander, Yamashita was
responsible for not stopping the atrocities. The same ruling
could of course apply to General Powell and General Schwarzkopf.
Yamashita, in his defense, presented considerable evidence that
he had lacked the communications to adequately control his
troops; yet he was still hanged. Taylor pointed out that with
helicopters and modern communications, Westmoreland and his
commanders didn't have this problem.{9}
http://members.aol.com/superogue/warcrime.htm
16 Japanese citizens who would be barred from entering the United
States because of "war crimes" committed during the Second World
War. Among those denied entry were some who were alleged to have
been members of the infamous "Unit 731", which, said the Justice
Department, "conducted inhumane and frequently lethal pseudo-medical experiments -- on thousands of ... prisoners and
civilians," including mass dissections of living humans.{1}
Oddly enough, after the war the man in charge of the Unit 731
program -- whose test subjects included captured American
soldiers -- General Shiro Ishii, along with a number of his
colleagues, had been granted immunity and freedom in exchange for
providing the United States with details about their experiments,
and were promised that their crimes would not be revealed to the
world. The justification for this policy, advanced by American
scientists and military officials, was, of course, the
proverbial, ubiquitous "national security".{2}
Apart from the hypocrisy of the Justice Department issuing
such a list, we are faced with the fact that any number of
countries would be justified in issuing a list of Americans
barred from entry because of "war crimes" and "crimes against
humanity". Such a list might include the following:
William Clinton, president, for his merciless bombing of the
people of Yugoslavia for 78 days and nights, taking the lives of
many hundreds of civilians, and producing one of the greatest
ecological catastrophes in history; for his relentless
continuation of the sanctions and rocket attacks upon the people
of Iraq; and for his illegal and lethal bombings of Somalia,
Bosnia, Sudan, and Afghanistan.
General Wesley Clark, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, for his
direction of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia with an almost
sadistic fanaticism ... "He would rise out of his seat and slap
the table. 'I've got to get the maximum violence out of this
campaign -- now!'"{3}
George Bush, president, for the murder of hundreds of thousands
of innocent Iraqi civilians, including many thousands of
children, the result of his 40 days of bombing and the
institution of draconian sanctions; and for his unconscionable
bombing of Panama, producing widespread death, destruction and
homelessness, for no discernible reason that would stand up in a
court of law.
General Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for
his prominent role in the attacks on Panama and Iraq, the latter
including destruction of nuclear reactors as well as plants
making biological and chemical agents. It was the first time
ever that live reactors had been bombed, and ran the risk of
setting a dangerous precedent. Hardly more than a month had
passed since the United Nations, under whose mandate the United
States was supposedly operating in Iraq, had passed a resolution
reaffirming its "prohibition of military attacks on nuclear
facilities" in the Middle East.{4} In the wake of the
destruction, Powell gloated: "The two operating reactors they had
are both gone, they're down, they're finished."{5} He was just
as cavalier about the lives of the people of Iraq. In response
to a question concerning the number of Iraqis killed in the war,
the good general replied: "It's really not a number I'm terribly
interested in."{6}
And for his part in the cover up of war crimes in Vietnam by
troops of the same brigade that carried out the My Lai
massacre.{7}
General Norman Schwarzkopf, Commander in Chief, U.S. Central
Command, for his military leadership of the Iraqi carnage; for
continuing the carnage two days after the cease-fire; for
continuing it against Iraqis trying to surrender; for burying soldiers alive, deliberately.
Ronald Reagan, president, for eight years of death, destruction,
torture, and the crushing of hope inflicted upon the people of El
Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Grenada by his policies; and
for his bombings of Lebanon, Libya and Iran. He's forgotten all
this, but the world shouldn't.
Elliott Abrams, assistant secretary of state under Reagan, for
rewriting history, even as it was happening, by instituting lying
as public policy. He was indispensable to putting the best
possible face on the atrocities being committed daily by the
Contras in Nicaragua and other Washington allies in Central
America, thus promoting continued support for them; a spinmeister
for the ages, who wrestled facts into ideological submission.
"When history is written," he declared, "the Contras will be folk
heroes."(8)
Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defense for seven years under
Reagan, for his official and actual responsibility for the
numerous crimes against humanity perpetrated by the United States
in Central America and the Caribbean, and for the bombing of
Libya in 1986. George Bush pardoned him for Iran-Contra, but he
should not be pardoned for his war crimes.
Lt. Col. Oliver North, assigned to Reagan's National Security
Council, for being a prime mover behind the Contras of Nicaragua,
and for his involvement in the planning of the invasion of
Grenada, which took the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians.
Henry Kissinger (who has successfully combined three careers:
scholar, Nobel peace laureate, and war criminal), National
Security Adviser under Nixon and Secretary of State under Nixon
and Ford, for his Machiavellian, amoral, immoral roles in the US
interventions into Angola, Chile, East Timor, Vietnam, and
Cambodia, which brought unspeakable horror and misery to the
peoples of those lands.
Gerald Ford, president, for giving his approval to Indonesia to
use American arms to brutally suppress the people of East Timor,
thus setting in motion a quarter-century-long genocide.
Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense under presidents Kennedy
and Johnson, a prime architect of, and major bearer of
responsibility for, the slaughter in Indochina, from its early
days to its extraordinary escalations; and for the violent
suppression of popular movements in Peru.
General William Westmoreland, Army Chief of Staff, for the
numerous war crimes under his command in Vietnam. In 1971,
Telford Taylor, the chief US prosecutor at the post-World War II
Nuremberg Tribunal, cited the "Yamashita" case as grounds for
indicting Westmoreland. Following the war, a US Army Commission
had sentenced Japanese General Tomayuki Yamashita to be hanged
for atrocities committed by his troops in the Philippines. The
Commission held that as the senior commander, Yamashita was
responsible for not stopping the atrocities. The same ruling
could of course apply to General Powell and General Schwarzkopf.
Yamashita, in his defense, presented considerable evidence that
he had lacked the communications to adequately control his
troops; yet he was still hanged. Taylor pointed out that with
helicopters and modern communications, Westmoreland and his
commanders didn't have this problem.{9}
http://members.aol.com/superogue/warcrime.htm