War crimes of US and its allies
Posted on February 2nd, 2014

S. Akurugoda

Addressing a gathering  in Mathugama, President Rajapaksa has said ” If one were to probe the last days of Wold War II, you could bring war crimes charges” referring to efforts by the US to move a resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC.

President’s reference to  the days of Wold War II has quite correctly expressed the silent question of the right thinking people, living anywhere in the world,   have in their mind although many of the new generation may not aware of the devastation caused by the US bombing of Hiroshima on 6th August 1945 and  followed in Nagasaki , just three days later, in Japan.

Unlike many other bombing raids, the goal for this raid had not been a military installation but rather an entire city. The atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima killed civilian women and children in addition to soldiers. Hiroshima’s population has been estimated at 350,000; approximately 70,000 died immediately from the explosion and another 70,000 died from radiation within five years. Two-thirds of Hiroshima was entirely destroyed.

The bomb was created using uranium-235, a radioactive isotope of uranium and the product had never been tested before although US spent billions for its research.  It is said that some scientists and politicians pushed for not warning Japan of the bombing in order to save face in case the bomb malfunctioned.

The bombing destroyed approximately 40 percent of Nagasaki.  With a population of 270,000, approximately 70,000 people died by the end of the year.

Apart from the World War II, the whole world is aware of the extent of war crimes committed and continue to process crimes , not only war crimes, since World war II.  

US has committed war crimes in Vietnam, Laos , Cambodia, Vietnam,  Iraq, Libya,  Afghanistan and the like, the list goes on. 

In 1969, the United States began a four year long carpet-bombing campaign in the skies of Cambodia, devastating the countryside and causing socio-political upheaval that eventually led to the installation of the Pol Pot regime.

During the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese Liberation Front and the PAVN (Vietnam People’s Army) used a network of supply routes that partially ran through Laos and Cambodia. As the War progressed, the U.S. invaded both Cambodia and Laos in order to disrupt these routes.

The United States dropped upwards of 2.7 million tons of bombs on Cambodia, exceeding the amount it had dropped on Japan during WWII (including Hiroshima and Nagasaki) by almost a million tons. During this time, about 30 per cent of the country’s population was internally displaced.

 It was estimated that as many as 500,000 people died as a direct result of the bombings while perhaps hundreds of thousands more died from the effects of displacement, disease or starvation during this period.

From 1964 to 1973, the U.S. dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos during 580,000 bombing missions””equal to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years – making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. The bombings were part of the U.S. Secret War in Laos to support the Royal Lao Government against the Pathet Lao and to interdict traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The bombings destroyed many villages and displaced hundreds of thousands of Lao civilians during the nine-year period.

Up to a third of the bombs dropped did not explode, leaving Laos contaminated with vast quantities of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Over 20,000 people have been killed or injured by UXO in Laos since the bombing ceased.

A UN report notes that Laos is, per capita, the most bombed country on the planet, with .84 tons of explosives dropped per person from the years 1965 to 1974. Over 280 million bombs were dropped on Laos. It’s estimated that up to 80 million of them never exploded. It is estimated that it may take up to 3000 years to clean up all unexploded ordnance in Laos alone.

The above war crimes have been committed  with the fullest support of the US allies. Unfortunately, the whole world is silent  today on the above crimes although the reports with fats and figures  are freely available.  The obvious question we have is what moral rights these perpetrators have to talk about human rights and crimes of any nature  and to pretend that they are they are the world’s guardians of human rights. 

 

4 Responses to “War crimes of US and its allies”

  1. Mr. Bernard Wijeyasingha Says:

    It is estimated that around 50 million people died directly due to World war 2. Most of them were soldiers and civilians both in the Axis powers and the allied powers. Now the shift of power from the western nations who created the UN, the World bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Geneva conference, the UNHRC have also drafted a double standard where they are exempt of human rights violations. The US stands out in this regard.

    Looking at it from the days of the Colonial age, one would come to the conclusion that Colonialism has really not died, it has simply changed colors. The way these fading nations still impose their will on former colonial nations is a mirror image of the Colonial days. However this time the need to stand up to their hypocrisy is proving to be beneficial. Iran has successfully called off the US bluff of an invasion to destroy her nuclear facilities and so has Cuba who now courts Russian and Chinese emissaries proving to the world that the US “Monroe Doctrine” is a fossil.

    In the Asia Times one article addressed the growing power of India and the equally growing nationalism aimed against the US which treats the nations of the sub continent in the most patronizing manner. African nations are shedding the yoke of the European strangle hold who use the very international organizations to extend their “rule”. If one is to look at the world of nations outside of the European nations and the north American continent there is major shift from the UN and these organizations to regional powers. One of the courses of this is the intrusive action of the US secret service agency the NSA.

    The NSA has been so intrusive that major deals have been shifted from the US. A deal to buy US jets by Brazil was scuttled and Brazil bought similar jets from France. The reason given by one her politicians was the effects of the intrusion of the NSA. Trust has been sacrificed for power. Without trust nations will not severe ties. Other areas severely hit by the NSA are any products that include telecommunications, military hardware and software, the Computer industry to name a few.

    As long as Colombo stands up to these fading Western nations she will win. In the upcoming human rights violations both Russia and China are now members. They were not members in the last human rights violations. other nations include the same nations in the region who supported Sri Lanka. I have read articles in the Sri Lankan papers that Colombo is developing her own records of what the LITE did and by that insinuate those who supported them. I personally believe this is but the start of a counter attack by Colombo with the support of China and Russia.

  2. Mr. Bernard Wijeyasingha Says:

    Correction: “without trust nations will sever ties”

  3. gdesilva Says:

    Check out the following videos….

    http://www.youtube.com/embed/gDu-FakVBnU?rel=0&modestbranding=1

    http://www.youtube.com/embed/4hQz-DOtUgc?rel=0&modestbranding=1

    Gives a very good summary of war crimes committed by the West. If the links do not work, just go to http://www.deceptionsusa.com to view the videos.

  4. jayasiri Says:

    Thanks Mr. Akurgoda…………Why investigate ONLY the last 4 months of WAR with the LTTE, is to get India off the hook. INDIA is part & parcele of atrocities commited by LTTE. Becsause India trained & harboured LTTE in Tamil Nadu & other sites in India.

    Continuous efforts to de-stablaze Sri Lanka, because India did not want Sri Lanka to prosper & get ahead of India. NOW our leaders run to India & ake instructions on what to do next. This type of freedom allowed to parties & individuals to CAMPAIGN against a Soveriegn, Independent state should be punished so that others WILL NOT ever utter anything to degrade our Motherland.

    Crtain actions should have been taken to discipline TNA & any LTTE sympathizers long time ago. Now even GOSL is pussyfootting without taking actions against Northern people who want to erect moonuments for DEFEATED TERRORISTS.

    Lets join & form an ANTI- India organization in Sri Lanka, to keep our independence in tact for next 65 + years ……..J

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

 

 


Copyright © 2024 LankaWeb.com. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Wordpress