How to Get the Media to Pretend You’re Not a War Criminal

(ANTIMEDIA Op-ed) — One won’t find much mention of it in the corporate media, but in 2011 a Malaysian court found George W. Bush and Tony Blair guilty of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and genocide as a result of their roles in the Iraq war. According to the Telegraph, such a damning verdict meant their names were to be entered into a symbolic “Register of War Criminals.”

Shortly after the Iraq war was launched, then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan publicly admitted the invasion was illegal and a complete breach of the U.N. Charter. In the days leading up to the invasion, France, Germany, and Russia made a joint declaration stating they would not allow passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing an invasion of Iraq. In other words, the Iraq war had no legal basis.

There are only two ways a country can launch a war against another. One is in self-defense. The other is with authorization from the U.N. Neither of these requirements were satisfied, and the result of this criminal act should shock us to the core.

At the end of May, the Washington D.C.-based Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) released a study concluding that the death toll from the American-led “War on Terror” could be as high as two million since the years following the 9/11 attacks — and that over one million of these deaths took place within Iraq. Even if one took into account those killed by enemy forces, PSR found that despite “all the inaccuracies…the answers still allowed for the conclusion that approximately one-third of all victims of violence had been directly killed by the occupation forces.” [emphasis added]

In its totality, the Bush administration did a lot more than simply rain bombs down on an innocent civilian population in contravention of international law. As early as May 2003, the U.S. made the single largest policy blunder of the decade by deciding to completely disband Iraq’s police and military, putting close to 400,000 servicemen out of jobs. As TIME has explained, the effects of this decision alone are still affecting the world to this day:

“It’s a jarring reminder of how a key decision made long ago is complicating U.S. efforts to fight ISIS and restore some semblance of stability to Iraq. Instead of giving Iraq a fresh start with a new army, it helped create a vacuum that ISIS has filled. Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine general and chief of U.S. Central Command from 1997 to 2000, said keeping the Iraqi army intact was always part of U.S. strategy. ‘The plan was that the army would be the foundation of rebuilding the Iraqi military,’ he says. ‘Many of the Sunnis who were chased out ended up on the other side and are probably ISIS fighters and leaders now.’ One expert estimates that more than 25 of ISIS’s top 40 leaders once served in the Iraqi military.”

In summary, the Bush administration invaded a sovereign nation without a legal basis, a decision that killed over one million people (one-third of that total was caused directly by American forces) and helped fuel the rise of ISIS and extremism in general.

It is mind-boggling that George W. Bush has not only been hailed as some sort of anti-Trump warrior recently but that countries who don’t engage in this sort of behavior (think North Korea, Iran, and Syria) are universally branded as unstable risks to global security. It’s as if Bush’s illegal wars are now forgotten about by the media because he has become vocal against Donald Trump.

According to AlterNet, Benjamin Ferencz, a former chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials who successfully convicted 22 Nazi officers for their role in killing more than one million people once said a “prima facie case can be made that the United States is guilty of the supreme crime against humanity, that being an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign nation.”

Ferencz’s words directly referenced international legal doctrine. Specifically, it was the judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg that stated:

“[T]o initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.”

Donald J. Trump may be one evil, twisted, and dangerous man. But if we want to send a message to him that there are limits to what one president can do, we should surely start with Bush and Obama before him, both of whom were found to have been guilty of some of the worst crimes imaginable.

As the Guardian explained:

“And he [Bush] caused far more harm to the country and planet than Trump has so far, and maybe ever will. It was under Bush that America invaded Iraq, murdered hundreds of thousands of civilians, and destabilized the Middle East so thoroughly that it may take the entire 21st century to recover.

“More than 4,000 American soldiers died. He stocked his cabinet with warmongering neoconservatives far more cunning and apocalyptic in outlook than any of the amateurs who populate Trump’s gang. These were men who dreamed of civilization-annihilating wars and found a president willing to transform their dreams into crackling reality.

“The blood on Bush’s hands will never dry. Under the guise of spreading democracy, his administration brought suffering to the world and strangled civil liberties at home.”

Op-ed / Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Tony Blair an Unindicted War Criminal

Britain is complicit in virtually all US wars of aggression, a special partnership in high crimes.

In July 2002, the notorious “Downing Street memo” was leaked, later publicly revealed, its authenticity never challenged.

Secret Washington/UK collusion was exposed. So-called intelligence claiming justification for war on Iraq was cooked to fit already agreed on policy.

Smoking gun evidence proved it. Bush, Blair and others around them lied. They falsified evidence for war on Iraq. So-called WMDs didn’t exist.

Then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz later was asked why fictitious WMDs became a casus belli. “It was the only thing we could all agree on,” he said.

Blair’s so-called 2003 “Dodgy Dossier” included more incriminating evidence. Dr. David Kelly’s death followed proof he revealed about sexing up the document to justify unjustifiable war on Iraq.

Subsequent Hutton report misinformation claimed Kelly committed suicide. He was murdered. Coverup tried to conceal it. Ravaging Iraq continues.

In January 2014, London’s  Independent headlined “Exclusive: Devastating dossier on ‘abuse’ by UK forces in Iraq goes to International Criminal Court.”

It’s titled “The Responsibility of UK Officials for War Crimes Involving Systematic Detainee Abuse in Iraq from 2003 – 2008.”

“A devastating 250-page dossier” detailed evidence of beatings, burnings, electrocutions, mock executions, sexual assaults, cultural and religious humiliation, as well as threats of rape, death and other forms of torture.

High-level UK officials were complicit with their US counterparts, accountability never forthcoming.

Former Iraqi general Abdul Wahed Shannan Al Rabbat accused Blair, former foreign minister Jack Straw and former attorney general Peter Goldsmith of “aggression” for invading Iraq in 2003.

All three are untouchable, immune from criminal prosecution – because exposing their high crimes would reveal details kept undisclosed under Britain’s Official Secrets Act.

Rabbat’s lawyers sought Supreme Court judicial review of a 2006 House of Lords ruling, claiming aggression isn’t a crime under English law.

It’s the highest of high crimes under international law, Britain responsible for upholding it.

Two London High Court justices dismissed the appeal, saying “no prospect” of it succeeding exists.

The Chilcott Inquiry into Britain’s role in the 2003 Iraq war was damning, released in July 2016 – after seven years of protracted investigation.

It said Saddam posed no threat to UK interests. Faulty intelligence on (nonexistent) WMDs justified the unjustifiable. Peaceful alternatives to war weren’t considered.

America and Britain undermined exclusive Security Council authority to permit war. Waging it was unnecessary and illegal.

Blair deliberately misrepresented a nonexistent threat, disregarding warnings of devastating consequences of military actions.

War on Iraq was based on disinformation and Big Lies. No justification existed. Blair promised Bush he’d ally with him against Iraq no matter how unjustifiable.

Efforts to prosecute him for war crimes were blocked. Millions of lost lives and mass destruction aren’t enough to hold him accountable – nor US officials for waging naked aggression against multiple countries.

Rare George Michael Video Resurrected Post-Mortum Shows He Opposed the War Before it Was Cool

Fans, critics, followers, and haters may not know that the late George Michael, UK pop singer who passed away on Christmas Day (2016), was an outspoken anti-war activist. Michael, whose album “Faith” sold 20 million copies, shared his anti-war opinions in an interview with the BBC (2003) just three weeks before the controversial preemptive invasion of Iraq, the contents of which have recently resurfaced.

Speaking with BBC interviewer Tim Sebastian, Michael shared his fears that the U.S. was using the events of 9/11/01 for the purposes of revenge to get back at those who had destroyed the World Trade Center towers. He also targeted former Prime Minister Tony Blair with his criticisms as well. “I’m scared about Mr. Blair and his attitude to the future….September 11^th was so obviously directed at America to provoke a response, and the response was supposed to be revenge,” he said. Michael intimated that the UN coalition against Saddam Hussein was simply a delayed “knee-jerk” reaction, something he considered “pointless.”

Michael, who initially supported and voted for Blair, lost faith in the man after the singer says he “removed idealism from politics”.  Michael stated to go to war with Iraq wasn’t a Christian action to take. “This is not ethical is it? This is a Christian country, with supposedly a Christian leader who somehow thinks the answer to the future is preemptive action,” against Hussein, something Michael likened to the creation of the atomic bomb. Michael told Sebastian that Blair was “bullying the UN” by saying the “UN needs to prove its relevance”, a supposed quote Blair made of the UN.

Michael said he supported Blair until the public simply disagreed with the former prime minister. “I want somebody who leads on his convictions until 90 percent of the public disagrees with him,” he said when asked by Sebastian what kind of Prime Minister Michael would want. Going further Michael said, “You’re not paid to put people’s lives in danger and ignore their opinion on that very subject. No one is paid to do that,” he said remarking the majority consensus in the UK was against the preemptive war against Iraq. “You cannot do this at the moment when the entire fundamentalist terrorist network around the world is waiting for this to legitimize what they want to do,” Michael said sounding a lot like others who said the terrorists were simply attempting to draw major world powers into their idealistic jihadi struggle.

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Sebastian questioned whether or not Michael wanted a serious debate on the subject. Michael responded by saying that was precisely the reason why he wrote the song “Shoot The Dog” and created the animated music video. All he said was done to use humor to be able to engage in conversation about the misguided motives for war in the Middle East. Michael denied his actions were “anti-war” but rather done with the intention to bring the subject “into the mainstream” conversation.

Michael said his lightbulb moment occurred when he was “absolutely aware” after he watched President George W. Bush speaking from Capitol Hill on 9/11/02 when the World Cup was being played and everyone breathed a sigh of relief that no more attacks had taken place. Michael apparently knew he had to speak out against such preemptive attacks and plans for revenge in Arab countries.

When the musician turned activist did eventually come out and speak out against Blair, Bush, the planned Gulf War II, he also got criticized, as Sebastian mentioned, by other musicians. Noel Gallagher, (UK musician) was quoted by the BBC interviewer as saying, “George is now trying to make social comment. This is the guy who hid who he actually was from the public for 20 years. Now all of a sudden he’s going to say something about the world. I find it laughable. That’s before you get to the song (Shoot the Dog) which is diabolical.”

Michael responded by defending his sexual preferences as well as his rights to think for himself. He said, “I think that’s a laughable statement. What the fact that I did not want to share my sexuality with the world in this current media atmosphere…the fact that I did not want to share my sexuality with the world means that I have no right to talk about politics?”

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Michael then called Gallagher an unintelligent man and said his criticisms were lacking credibility. “He’s not someone you should throw quotes at me from really,” but added if they really wanted to get better source criticisms they wouldn’t have to look far. Michael stated Rupert Murdoch, owner of FOX, had repeatedly attacked Michael on a number of occasions, across continents, and in various FOX owned newspaper outlets. “Mr. Murdoch attacked me solidly on SkyNews, in The New York Post, and in The Sun. And what he would do would be he would print these slurs in the New York Post in such a way that when they reprinted them in The Sun…I could only sue on the basis of it being reprinted from the American Source,” a source which was protected by the Freedom of Speech made much harder to sue. Michael said he was upset being called a “pervert” simply for getting caught “cruising” (looking for a sexual partner).

Michael said of his anti-war activism, “This is something that threatens the lives and the lifestyle of people I love. This is a lot more important that trying to discourage people from taking drugs and telling them that they really should pay for their CDs.”

In what is now over a decade old interview, Michael stated the American media was in collusion with the Bush administration to conceal from the American people, facts related to the preemptive strike against Iraq. He said Americans are, “not anywhere nearly as informed by their media as we are.” Michael called for pause in dealing with Saddam Hussein, and for coalition countries to not take action. He also stated that citizens of the UK really did not want a war in their own homeland and said, “I honestly think that the majority of British people have no idea what we’re doing here, on our own with the Americans.”

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Of course, history would show that Michael’s comments against the coalition’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 fell on deaf ears. The U.S. invaded Iraq, conquered the Iraqi army killing thousands in the process, removed Saddam Hussein, and touched off a civil war both in Iraq and Afghanistan. The conflict gave rise to millions of jihadi motivated individuals, and when Barack H. Obama encouraged the Arab Spring, Islamic revolutions commenced in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Qatar, and Syria, resulting in the millions strong mass migration of displaced refugees. Who knew one act of retaliation would have created so much chaos? Apparently, George Michael did. Rest in peace George.