- Established by the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court on July 1, 2002, it's mandated to prosecute individuals
for genocide and aggression, as well as crimes or war and against humanity.
-
- Much earlier, the UN Charter was created "to save
succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our life
time has brought untold sorrow to mankind." Its Chapter I states:
-
- "To maintain international peace and security, (member
states shall respect the) principle of the sovereign equality (of other
members), settle their international disputes by peaceful means, (and)
refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force
against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
-
- In fact, since established in October 1945, its leadership
did nothing to deter war, human rights abuses, or other high crimes of
powerful member states, notably Western ones and Israel, repeatedly committing
crimes of war and against humanity with impunity.
-
- Neither has the ICC, functioning solely as an imperial
tool, targeting outlier states Western powers designate, notably America
whose leaders commit the worst of high crimes, acting lawlessly with impunity
because no international body or court holds them accountable.
-
- Like accusations against Yugoslavia/Serbia's Slobodan
Milosevic, Liberia's Charles Taylor, Sudan's Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Saddam
Hussein (by Washington's Iraqi Special Tribunal) and others, Muammar Gaddafi
now faces similar charges.
-
- On May 16, New York Times writer Marlise Simons headlined,
"International Court Seeks Warrant for Qaddafi," saying:
-
- ICC chief prosecutor Jose Luis Moreno-Ocampo "sought
arrest warrants" for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and brother-in-law
intelligence chief, Abdullah Al-Sanous, on "charges of orchestrating
systematic attacks against civilians (amounting to) crimes against humanity."
-
- Calling Saif his "de facto prime minister"
and Al-Sanousi his "right-hand man, his executioner," Moreno-Campo's
announced evidence was alleged intelligence from other governments and
"a lot of phone calls from (outside and) inside Libya."
-
- True or false, he claimed:
-
- Gaddafi's "forces attacked Libyan civilians in their
homes and in public spaces, shot demonstrators with live ammunition, used
heavy weaponry against participants in funeral processions, and placed
snipers to kill those leaving mosques after prayers."
-
- "The (alleged) evidence shows that such persecution
is still ongoing as I speak today in the areas under Gaddafi's control.
(His) forces have prepared a list with the names of alleged dissidents,
and they are being arrested, put into prisons in Tripoli, tortured and
made to disappear."
-
- As a result, he claimed enough alleged evidence for trial,
sounding more like witch-hunt than legitimate justice. Notably, Washington
pressured the Security Council last February to investigate "widespread
and systematic attacks" against Libyans it instigated by enlisting,
arming and funding insurgent fighters.
-
- They, not Gaddafi, incited violence. Justifiably, he
responded to stop it. Victimized by imperial intervention, he's now targeted
for doing his job.
-
- Moreover, Libya isn't a Rome Statute signatory. As a
result, the ICC has no jurisdiction to act. Nonetheless, a three-judge
panel will decide whether to issue warrants, no matter the obvious political
motive behind doing so.
-
- Moreno-Ocampo is an imperial tool, following orders.
Claiming ample evidence shows Gaddafi "personally ordered attacks
on unarmed Libyan civilians" is gross hypocrisy with no credibility
whatever. He's regurgitating lines given him to read.
-
- In fact, no humanitarian crisis existed until America
and its imperial partners showed up lawlessly. Planned many months, perhaps
years, in advance, their grand scheme includes:
-
- -- replacing one despot with another;
-
- -- preventing any democratic spark from emerging;
-
- -- colonizing Libya;
-
- -- balkanizing the country;
-
- -- establishing new Pentagon bases;
-
- -- using them to intimidate neighboring states;
-
- -- dominating the Mediterranean Basin and entire African
continent; and
-
- -- carving up Libya for profit by stealing its wealth,
controlling its money and resources, exploiting its people, turning workers
into serfs, and privatizing its state enterprises under Western control,
no matter how many corpses and mass destruction it takes to do it.
-
- In his new book, Michael Parenti defined "The Face
of Imperialism" as:
-
- "the process whereby the dominant investor interests
in one country bring to bear military and financial power upon another
country in order to expropriate the land, labor, capital, natural resources,
commerce, and markets of that other country....There are real material
interests at stake, fortunes to be made many times over.(Intervening) is
intended to enrich the investors and keep the world safe for them."
-
- Moreover, whether democrats or despots, blaming victims
facilitates the process, claiming intervention for humanitarian reasons,
the last refuge of scandalous liars.
-
- As a result, Gaddafi, his son Saif, intelligence chief
Al-Sanous, and perhaps other top officials are being victimized to advance
Western planned plunder and dominance.
-
- Moreno-Ocampo's complicit, a Western favorite because
earlier he assured Washington they'd be no Iraq or other US war crimes
prosecutions. In fact, a July 2003 WikiLeaks-released State Department
cable said:
-
- "Privately, Ocampo has said that he wishes to dispose
of Iraq issues (i.e., not investigate them)." By implication, he meant
all US war crimes everywhere.
-
- In fact, since appointed on June 16, 2003, he abstained
from any imperial prosecutions, exposing himself as complicit with horrific
Western crimes of war and against humanity, leaving America, Israel, and
other culpable states unaccountable.
-
- Instead, he chose soft targets, Western designated ones,
including outlier officials in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
the Central African Republic, Sudan, Kenya, and Libya, absolving the most
culpable big fish, notably Bush II, Cheney, Obama, key people under them,
and top Pentagon commanders.
-
- Moreover, he avoids prosecuting rogue Western-allied
MENA country (Middle East/North Africa) allies, including:
-
- -- Egypt's military junta;
-
- -- Iraq's puppet leaders;
-
- -- Afghan ones;
-
- -- Bahrain;
-
- -- Saudi Arabia;
-
- -- other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states;
-
- -- Yemen;
-
- -- Morocco;
-
- -- Algeria;
-
- -- Tunisia; and
- -- most notably of all, Israel, by far the region's most
culpable state for over six decades, responsible for horrendous crimes
of war and against humanity.
-
- Absolving Israel, America and its complicit partners
mocks the notion of a legitimate tribunal. Worse still is targeting their
victims, making them pay for imperial crimes.
-
- A Final Comment
-
- Thomas Mountain is an independent Eritrea-based journalist,
providing firsthand reports on regional events. On May 16, he headlined,
"Libya Charges NATO Massacre of Religious Leaders," saying:
-
- On May 14, ahead of Moreno-Ocampo's accusations, Libyan
"spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim presented strong evidence" that
NATO massacred Libyan religious leaders at Brega.
-
- On May 13, "over 150 of Libya's most senior Imams"
assembled there for a peace conference. "Brega was chosen....because
it is the closest government held town to the rebel held stronghold of
Benghazi, and the Imams planned to send a delegation (there) following
the conference."
-
- However, early on May 13, NATO bombed their site, killing
at least 10, injuring over 40 others severely enough to require hospitalization.
"Libyan television showed the site, which was clearly demolished."
-
- Two Imans traveled to Tripoli, held a press conference
and condemned the attack. NATO confirmed it, claiming it targeted a "command
and control center," a deliberate lie. The structure was a "temporary
residential complex or guest quarters," unrelated to Libya's military.
-
- Mountain believes NATO forces are "desperate,"
despite calling "the present military situation (a) 'stalemate.' "
In fact, government forces "continue to tighten their control over
most of the south and are regaining control of the eastern oil producing
region, effectively" preventing rebels from exporting significant
amounts of oil.
-
- They also regained control of Libya's Great Man Made
River (GMMR) system, its ocean-sized aquifer pipeline project.
-
- Killing Imams at Brega shows how peace threatens NATO,
potentially disrupting their imperial plans. Moreover, Benghazi-based western
journalists report rebel factions squabbling over leadership control.
-
- As a result, Moreno-Ocampo's announcement was strategically
timed to justify war by accusing government victims of crimes, portraying
NATO lawlessness as a noble initiative to deter them.
-
- In fact, Gaddafi officials are right saying:
-
- "It is the rebels who took up arms in the middle
of our peaceful cities and caused the death of many people (by recruiting
foreign mercenary) fighters from several nationalities."
-
- Of course, Western media airbrush that notion from regurgitated
managed news, reporting everything but the truth.
-
- 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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