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10 March 2011 By Stephen
Lendman On February 21, a Human Rights
Watch (HRW) press release headlined, "Iraq: Vulnerable
Citizens at Risk," announcing its new report titled,
"At a Crossroads: Human Rights in Iraq Eight Years
After the US-Led Invasion." Besides many others, two
previous articles discuss more, accessed through the
following links: http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/09/one-of-historys-greatest-crimes_7099.html http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/10/us-war-crimes-in-fallujah.html The top link explains that over
the past two decades, America devastated Iraq by
genocide, vast destruction, terror, occupation, and
contamination - a monstrous combination of unspeakable
ongoing crimes. At issue is: -- controlling the region's oil,
gas and other strategic resources; -- remaining permanently in the
Middle East and Central Asia, besides all other parts
of the world; and -- achieving unchallengeable full
spectrum global dominance over all land, sea,
subsurface, space and information. As a result, in the last decade
alone, millions died from Washington's imperial wars,
other violence, disease, depravation, torture,
unimaginable human misery, and starvation. Hundreds
more daily increase the numbers. Yet no one has been
held accountable, despite outrageous crimes of war and
against humanity - clear violations under
international and US law. The regional people await
justice so far not forthcoming. Today, HRW said women,
journalists, detainees, and marginalized groups are
especially at risk in Iraq. During 2010, it conducted
research in seven cities, interviewing activists,
lawyers, journalists, religious leaders, former and
current detainees, security officers, victims of
violence, and others. According to its Middle East
director, Joe Stork: "Today, Iraq is at a crossroads -
either it embraces due process and human rights or it
risks reverting to a police state." Of course, it's been that
throughout America's occupation, the puppet Iraqi
government and local security forces taking orders
from Washington. As a result, "(b)eyond the
continuing violence and crimes associated with it (for
eight years), human rights abuses are commonplace,"
ones Iraqi satraps commit and/or ignore. HRW says after years of US
occupation, "the country's transition to a functioning
and sustainable democracy built on the rule of law is
far from accomplished." In fact, America tolerates
democracy nowhere, including at home. Nonetheless, HRW says Iraq's
future as a human rights respecting society depends on
its government defending them "and establish(ing) a
credible national criminal justice system embodying
international standards with respect to torture, free
expression, and violence against women and other
vulnerable sectors of society." In fact, Washington won't
tolerate all or most of these standards. Iraqi satraps
get orders they must obey or be replaced. HRW also
claims that "tens of thousands of Iraqi lives" have
been lost in the past eight years when, in fact, it's
been millions from war, violence, disease, starvation
and other factors. Gideon Polya's February 25
article titled, "Western Media Ignore Iraqi Freedom"
can be accessed through the following link: http://www.countercurrents.org/polya250211.htm According to UN data, medical
literature, and other authoritative sources, he cites
the following "Iraqi Holocaust" data from 1990 -
2009: -- "1.6 million violent deaths; -- 2.8 million non-violent excess
deaths;" -- among them, "1.8 million
avoidable under-5 year old infant deaths;" and -- "five to six million"
internally and externally displaced persons. Overall, it's an "Iraqi
Holocaust," according to the UN Genocide Convention
definition. In addition, a climate of
pervasive fear exists, as well as mass impoverishment
and few basic services, including enough food, clean
water, sanitation, electricity, health care and
education. In fact, pre-Gulf War Iraq no longer
exists. America effectively destroyed it. Though Washington and Iraq are
parties to relevant international human rights
treaties, including the Convention Against Torture and
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women, their principles have
been ignored. Focusing heavily on the rights of
women and girls, HRW cites how lack of security
adversely effects them, "both inside and outside"
their homes. "For Iraq women, who enjoyed some of the
highest levels of rights protections and social
participation in the region before 1991," it's a heavy
blow. For example, misogyny promoting
militias target women and girls for assassination, and
intimidate them to stay out of public life. They're
also victimized by family members, including fathers,
brothers and husbands "for a wide variety of perceived
transgressions that allegedly shame the family or
tribe." Outside homes, they're harassed
and abused by the virtually all-male police and
security forces. Moreover, Iraq's penal code protects
perpetrators of violence against women for "honorable
motives," including murder. Husbands are also
empowered legally to discipline wives. Other abuses include sexual
trafficking of women and girls in and out of the
country. Yet, "no reported convictions" are known,
"and a long-awaited anti-trafficking bill is on hold
in the parliament, awaiting revisions." Except for
Kurdistan, no government-run shelters exist, and
virtually no other aid is available. Moreover, "victims of sexual (and
other) violence and trafficking have well-grounded
fears of reprisals, social ostracism, rejection or
physical violence from their families, and (no)
confidence that authorities have the will or capacity
to provide the support or protection required." As a
result, most abuses aren't reported and those that are
meet stiff resistance. In addition, many religious
minorities and other "marginalized communities" have
been forced from homes and communities for lack of
security and religious extremism. An ongoing
unaddressed eight-year long humanitarian crisis
exists, exacting an unspeakable toll, including on men
and boys. Free expression and media freedom
are also absent because of legislative measures, other
restrictive barriers, and a climate making Iraq one of
the world's most dangerous countries for journalists.
Assailants bomb their bureaus and kill them. Media
workers also have to contend with "emboldened Iraqi
and Kurdish security forces and their respective
image-conscious central and regional political
leaders." As a result, they're harassed,
intimidated, threatened, arrested, physically
assaulted and killed by security forces attached to
government institutions and political parties.
Moreover, senior politicians often sue journalists and
their publications for unflattering articles or
whatever else they dislike. Widespread use of torture also
rages out-of-control, first by America, now mostly
transferred to Iraqi authorities, controlling
thousands of detainees. Interrogations routinely
include torture and abuse to coerce confessions.
Dozens of detainees confirm sodomizing, whippings,
cigarette burns, as well as fingernails and teeth
pulled out and other abusive practices. Investigations, however, aren't
conducted. Confronted with HRW evidence, prime
minister Nouri al-Maliki called it fictitious,
suspended prison inspections, and US authorities
haven't intervened to stop abusive torture and other
abuse even after Washington-based advocacy groups,
including Refugees International, called on the Obama
administration to pressure local officials to "meet
(their) responsibilities to (their) own people." Abuse of marginalized communities
is also severe, despite laws in place to protect them.
As a result, Iraq's most vulnerable are especially at
risk, including minorities, disabled persons, and
millions internally displaced, living in squatter
slums, under bridges, alongside railroad tracks, and
near garbage dumps with no access to essential
services. In addition, armed groups assault
minority communities, "decimating Iraq's indigenous
populations, and forcing thousands to flee abroad with
no plans to return." Local authorities and Washington
have done nothing to intervene, and a climate of
impunity prevails. Further, many thousands of
disabled persons have been stigmatized. As a result,
they've been relegated to the margins of society,
can't find work or receive healthcare, rehabilitation,
prostheses, wheelchairs, or other needed help. In 1990, Iraq ranked 50th on the UN Development Program's Human Development Index. In 2003, it was 126th. Currently it's unrated because accurate data is unavailable on four of the nine Index components. Ranked or not, eight years under US occupation made the once cradle of civilization a dystopian nightmare. An April 2010 Amnesty International report titled, "Iraq: Human Rights Briefing" revealed many outrageous human rights abuses, including: -- thousands detained without charge or trial, some for years in overcrowded conditions, gravely affecting their health and safety; -- torture, ill-treatment and other abuses against men, women and children, including beatings with cables and hosepipes, prolonged suspension by their limbs, electric shocks to sensitive parts of their bodies, breaking of limbs, removal of toenails with pliers, and rapes, among others; -- unfair trials, with low quality court appointed lawyers, using torture extracted confessions to convict; -- the death penalty, increasingly imposed in the last five years; currently, at least 1,100 detainees have been sentenced to death; over 900, including 17 women, have exhausted all means of appeal or clemency; government supplied information on executions is suppressed; many are carried out secretly; -- killings and other human rights abuses by armed groups include kidnappings, torture, bombings, and other attacks; -- impunity for prison guards, US and Iraqi security forces, and security contractors because no investigations of their crimes occur; -- violence against women (domestically and on streets), given little or no protection by authorities as explained above; -- refugees and internally displaced people endure severe hardships as also explained; and -- similar human rights abuses occur in Kurdistan as in other parts of the country. Moreover, democracy is non-existant. Rampant corruption is out-of-control. Paul Bremer's 100 orders turned the country into a cutthroat capitalist laboratory. GMO crops infest the country, and the combination of war, pollution and drought wrecked Iraq's ecosystem, drying up fertile farmland and marshes, turning arable land into desert, killing trees and plants, and making a Garden of Eden a wasteland, much perhaps never to be reclaimed. Last August 31, however, Obama declared an "end to the combat mission in Iraq," outrageously adding: "Through this remarkable chapter in the history of the United States and Iraq, we have met our responsibility." In so doing, he exposed his culpability as a war criminal, matching the worst of George Bush and others preceding him.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/. |
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