By Afshain Afzal

The latest statement by formerƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ USƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ secretary of state Madeleine Albright that the war onƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ IraqƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ was theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ US’s “biggest mistake” has not surprised anyone. She said to the media, “AmericaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ attackedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ AfghanistanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ as a direct result of September 11 bombings. However, the war onƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Iraqwas the biggest mistake we could make and are still hurt because of it.” Her claim that America attacked Afghanistan as a direct result of September 11 bombings is absurd as no one canƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ point out a single Afghan national who participated in the attacks of September 11 on United StatesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ military Headquarters, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-PentagonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and Intelligence hub of Twin Tower. All the persons involved in the protest attacks wereƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ United States nationals and had links with Americans. If we peep into the history, we would come to the conclusion that in Iraq United States and its over three dozen allies countries failed to take over the Arab country and eliminate its nationals as it did in American lands some couple of centuries back. Probably, the mistake Ms Madeleine Albright was mentioning was failure to achieve the objective of turningƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ IraqƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ into a new country for the intruding forces by eliminating Iraqis in the same manner as Indians were ruthlessly eliminated from present dayƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ USA,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ CanadaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and elsewhere ie by announcing head money on patriots.

If we recall, the British were quite experienced in this business. During the occupation of Indians land by Whites in present dayƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ USA,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Canada and and other territories, same principal was adopted to control the Indian population. It was a big business at that time; patch of skin used to be scalped off from the top of the head of each Indian men, women and children for bounty money. James Johnson, the famous bounty collector used gun fire to kill as many Indian as possible to collect scalps for the bounty. The bounty money was $100 for braves Indians, $50 any male or female Indian and $25 for children under fourteen. There was bounty on all the coloured people especially Mexicans. Hannah Duston was first American, who in 1697, got involved in scalps business was able to kill and scalps ten Indians with knife inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ MassachusettsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ for the bounty money. She was the first women inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ USAƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to have a statue erected in the honour of her bravery. Hannah Duston Memorial was erected in 1874 and is the first publicly-funded statue inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ New Hampshire. Similar bounty laws were also enforced to encourage French, British and Portuguese to hunt coloured population, especially the Indian. President Martin Van BurenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s historic wordings are preserved in golden words, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-No state can achieve proper culture, civilization and progress as long as Indian are permitted to remain.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Governer Edward Cornwallis ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Treaties with Indians are nothing, nothing but force will prevail.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ President Thomas Jefferson letter to Samuel Kercheval dated 12 July1816, is an important document which reflectsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ USƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ policy towards original inhabitants of US.

In another recent development, formerƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ USƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ President Jimmy Carter has accused President Barack Hussain Obama of sanctioning the widespread abuse of human rights by authorizing drone strikes to kill suspected terrorists. He pointed out that US is violating 10 of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ironically, this gentleman who happened to beƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ USƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ 39th President pointed out that theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ United StatesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights. One wonders when this happened thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ United StatesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ was global champion of human rights. One wonders if he is referring to the bounties business, nuclear attack on civilians ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ JapanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ during World War-II or the mass graves inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Iraq,AfghanistanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pakistan. We have so far over 1.5 million dead inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ AfghanistanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ PakistanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ only as result of US and alliesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ missile and drone attacks on these people. Among these majority comprises of women, old men and children. It is interesting to note that despiteƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ PakistanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s repeated demands of unconditional apology byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ WashingtonƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ overƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ United StatesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and its alliesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ missile strikes inside Pakistani territories that resulted in the martyrdom 24 Pakistani personnel atƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Salala Post,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ United StatesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ is least concerned as nothing happened. Naturally, when governments of AfghanistanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ PakistanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ kept quiet on the cold blooded murders of 1.5 million innocent civilians byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ United StatesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in both the countries, figure of 24 is negligible for any any war criminal and human right violator.

WashingtonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s claim that drone attacks are being carried out with the consent ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ PakistanƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ is not justified under the International Law. Article 20 of the United NationsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful ActsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ states, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Valid consent by a state to the commission of an act by another state precludes the wrongfulness of the act in relation to the former state to the extent that the act remains withinƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the limitsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of that consent.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ The drone attacks by theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ USƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ violate the Charter of United Nations, Rome Statue and the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which prohibit willful killing. Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. The attacks also violates articles of the Additional Protocol I; Article 51(2) prohibits the civilian population from being the object of the attacks under any circumstances; Article 51(5) talks about the principle ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ discriminationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and regards an attack to be indiscriminate when bombarded by any means or methods which may lead to an incidental loss of civilian life. Similarly, InternationalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ CovenantƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ on Civil and Political Rights (ICC-PR), which has been ratified by US, prohibits extrajudicial executions. According to its Article 6(1) ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-every individual has the inherent rightƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to lifeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ According to Article 6(2) of ICC-PR theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ penaltyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ of death can only be rendered by a competent court of law.

Washington and its allies are also guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity as per Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It is quite clear that if US guilty of committing one or more of these grave offences,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ WashingtonƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ is guilty of war crimes and crime against humanity. Drone attacks on suspected targets, in which civilians are killed accounts to state sponsored terrorism. One wonders why human right organizations and activists are silent on such grave human rights violations and if this is the law, can any other country carryout similar drone attacks on targets in other countries. It is high time that US should be prevented from putting drones in operation against other countries, without openly announcing war against that country. There is a need to carryout trial in International Court of Justice against all those countries which participated in attacks onAfghanistan,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pakistan,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Somalia,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ YemenƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and other sovereign nations. afshainafzal@yahoo.com