{"id":187,"date":"2013-03-10T19:32:56","date_gmt":"2013-03-10T16:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iransview.ir\/?p=187"},"modified":"2013-04-14T11:32:36","modified_gmt":"2013-04-14T07:02:36","slug":"what-is-the-ohchr-doing-about-usnato-atrocities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iransview.com\/what-is-the-ohchr-doing-about-usnato-atrocities\/187\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is the OHCHR doing About US\/NATO Atrocities?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"nato\"<\/a>By Shenali Waduge<\/span><\/p>\n

Eurasiareview<\/a>:\u00a0The British medical journal Lancet reported that the US-led unprovoked 2003 bombing, invasion and military take-over of Iraq\u2014which NATO officially joined in 2004 in a \u2018training\u2019 capacity\u2014had resulted in over 665,000 civilian deaths by 2006, and 200,000 in the UN-authorized, 1991 Desert Storm massacre led primarily by the US with several NATO allies. No cries for accountability, no Resolutions, no fact-finding missions and no Pillai statements. That is to be expected. We would all honor fair play. That however is lacking in Sri Lanka\u2019s case.<\/span><\/p>\n

Libya was said to be a humanitarian operation to free the people of Libya from Gaddafi. In reality it turned out not so and Libya was said to have been bombed to the stone age. The quickly compiled 200page UNHRC report on US\/NATO intervention lacked clarity and avoided NATO war crimes. On February 15, 2012, NATO\u2019s Legal Adviser Peter Olson wrote a strong letter to the Chair of the Commission that NATO\u2019s \u201cviolations\u201d during the conflict was not to be mentioned \u201c\u201cWe would be concerned, however, if \u2018NATO incidents\u2019 were included in the Commission\u2019s report as on a par with those which the Commission may ultimately conclude did violate law or constitute crimes.\u201d and Navi Pillay says naught.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why has our Foreign Minister not brought these arguments at least to the forefront of discussions? Sri Lanka knows it is targeted but we must fall with dignity not through servility which the foreign minister always advocated. It is a humiliation to the entire nation and an insult to our armed forces. Every area that we have been unjustly targeted we should have shown by examples how the UN\/UNHRC has done otherwise in relation to bigger and more powerful states.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the creation of the UNHRC in 2006, 32 Resolutions have been brought against Israel (comprising 48% of all Resolutions). By 2007, 9 Resolutions even condemned Israel but then US is there to veto Resolutions against Israel. While films get VIP status against Sri Lanka on the halls of the UN\/UNHRC the decision to allow a Hamas politician to address a NGO event was responded to critically by Israel\u2019s PM \u201c\u201dHe represents an organization that indiscriminately targets children and grown-ups, and women and men. Innocents \u2013 is their special favorite target.\u201d Israel has now severed ties with the UN and not a hum.<\/span><\/p>\n

Headlines chronicle US\/NATO\u2019s crime spree \u2013 NO Resolutions have been brought against the US or NATO states and UNHRC report after Libya\u2019s intervention will reveal the hypocrisy that prevails.<\/span><\/p>\n

US\/NATO crimes in Iraq<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

US used 120,000 sorties and 265,000 bombs dropped in Iraq in 1991. From 1991 to 200341,000 sorties<\/a>\u00a0and 27,000 bombs dropped. US bombing of Iraq has left a legacy of deformed Iraqis. In 1991 Radioactive residue from the 800 tons of bombs and 1 million rounds of ammunition used was soon showing up in babies born with huge heads, abnormally large eyes, stunted arms, bloated stomachs and defective hearts. In 2010, the University of Ulster reported that increases in congenital birth defects, leukemia and infant mortality in Falluja were higher than in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. While insurgents are armed to ensure there will never be peace in Iraq whilst private paramilitaries guard all foreign investments as they plunder Iraq.<\/span><\/p>\n