{"id":115550,"date":"2021-06-26T17:30:12","date_gmt":"2021-06-27T00:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=115550"},"modified":"2021-06-26T17:30:12","modified_gmt":"2021-06-27T00:30:12","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-20-c8a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/06\/26\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-20-c8a\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 20 C8A"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The west,\nsmarting after its defeat in Eelam war IV, raised a war crimes cry   against the Sri Lanka army. Critics returned\nthe compliment by pointing out the war crimes of the west, starting with USA.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 US armed forces have committed crimes which\nclearly   fall within the war crimes\ndefinitions of the ICC and Geneva Conventions, said critics. They have\ncommitted war crimes, not in just one war, but in many wars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During World\nWar II (1939-1944) US soldiers killed German prisoners of war and surrendering\nNazi soldiers at Dachau concentration camp. \nThis was known as the Fachan massacre. \nEight surviving, captured crewmen from the sunken German submarine U-546<\/em><\/a> were\ntortured by US military. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During World\nWar II the US strafed thousands of survivors  \nof eight sunken Japanese troop transports, who were adrift. USS Wahoo\nhad fired on survivors of the Japanese transport Buyo Maru.  US soldiers killed Japanese soldiers who had\nsurrendered. Since this was affecting intelligence, US thereafter ordered that\nJapanese soldiers be taken live. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In Sicily, in 1943, during World War II US\nkilled about 75 unarmed prisoners, mostly Italian in Biscari massacre.  US killed eight unarmed Italian civilians in\nCanicatti massacre. The town of Canicatti had already surrendered when U.S.\ntroops entered, The Canicatti massacre was hidden until it was brought to light\nin 2005. These are just two of the seven massacres, attributed to the US in\nWorld War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American GIs\ncommitted sexual offences in Europe between 1942 and 1945 during World War II.\nU.S. servicemen committed around 3,500 rapes in France between June 1944 and\nthe end of the war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Korean\nWar (1950-1953) had the No Gun Ri massacre, a mass killing of Korean refugees\nin 1950 by the US soldiers at a bridge near the village of No Gun Ri.  This was exposed by the Agence Presse in\n1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the\nVietnam War (1955-1975) US forces committed horrifying atrocities. These were\ncollected in the Vietnam War Crimes Working group files, compiled by Pentagon\nin the 1970s and held in the US archives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best\nknown of these is the Mai Lai massacre of mass murder of 347 and 504 unarmed\ncitizens, most women and children, in the hamlets of Mai Lai and My Khe in\n1968. Only one American soldier was convicted out of those charged. Americans\nwho criticized this received hate mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US launched a war against Iraq in 2003 which lasted till 2011. .  It is now suggested that US\nshould be charged for launching an illegal war against Iraq. It qualifies as a\n\u2018crime of aggression\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US had a\nhorrifying record of human rights abuses in war, said critics. US soldiers\ncommitted war crimes in a brazen manner. \nIn the US-Iraq war US soldiers in a helicopter gunship, ruthlessly cut\ndown a team of Iraqi journalists, despite the fact that the Iraqis were working\nfor Reuters and therefore protected persons.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA bombed\ncountries, starting with Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. US also bombed\nGuatemala, Korean, Indonesia, Cuba, Congo, Peru, Vietnam, Cambodia, Libya,\nNicaragua, Iran, Bosnia, Sudan, and Afghanistan.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

US biological\nweapons were tested on American prisoners and soldiers, without their\nknowledge.  Agent Orange, used in the\nVietnam war from 1961-1971, was tested on prisoners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United\nStates Army and the CIA committed a series of human rights violations and war\ncrimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, including physical\nand sexual abuse, torture, rape, sodomy, and murder, <\/strong>during the early stages of the Iraq War. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 US set up a military prison   at Guantanamo Bay in 2002. The largest group\n(29 percent), of prisoners were from Afghanistan, followed by Saudi Arabians\n(17 percent), Yemenis (15 percent), Pakistanis (9 percent), and Algerians (3\npercent). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Amnesty International declared this detention\ncamp to be a major breach of human rights. There was indefinite detention\nwithout trial. There was abusive interrogation, stress-inducing procedures,\ncruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, torture, sexual\ndegradation<\/a>, forced drugging, and religious persecution<\/a>. There were\nat least six reported suicides in Guant\u00e1namo <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nGuantanamo, Iraqi soldiers were beaten up, tortured,   threatened with rape and intimidated by\nferocious guard dogs under the supervision of the CIA.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western war\ncriminals are seldom punished, or when punished, the punishment is not\nproportionate to the crimes committed, said critics. In fact, if you expose the\nwar crimes perpetrated by the west, you risk becoming a target. Such is the\nsituation that Julian Assange finds himself in<\/a> today, said\ncritics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US blocks\ninternational investigations into events which reveal US involvement. In 1994\nthe plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and President\nCyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down over Kigali, Rwanda as they\nreturned from a summit of regional leaders in Tanzania. Both men died, as did\ntheir senior aides and the French aircrew. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1997, the\ninvestigation team for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda handed\nover a secret memo to judge Louise Arbour stating that Vice President of\nRwanda, Paul Kagame, was responsible for the shooting down of the presidential\nplane.  Arbour ordered the investigation\nto be shut down. The investigator quit in disgust and reported his findings\nelsewhere. It was rumored that \u2018politics\u2019 played a role in this decision. Paul\nKagame had been trained by the US and was supported in Rwanda by the US. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The western\ncountries have made sure that they cannot be prosecuted in international\ncriminal courts. USA and UK have openly stated that there is no danger of\nthat.  USA has prohibited international\nwar crimes tribunals from ever trying a US citizen. The US President can use\nforce to obtain the release of any American citizen taken before an\ninternational war crimes tribunal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the ICC\nwas formed, the UK was one of its founding members .UK said, “This is not\na court set up to bring to book Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom or\nPresidents of the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in\n2016 the ICC had a preliminary investigation into the conduct of the US\nmilitary in Afghanistan. Chief prosecutor of the ICC concluded that US may have\ncommitted war crimes in Afghanistan, as a deliberate policy. There was evidence\nof war crimes oftorture and related\nill treatment by US military forces in Afghanistan and secret detention\nfacilities operated by the CIA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the\nUnited States is not a state party to Rome Statute, American citizens can be\ninvestigated if the court is investigating crimes in countries that have joined\nthe ICC. They can be charged but they cannot be arrested. The ICC cannot make\narrests. .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ICC\nProsecutor acting on her own initiative commenced proceedings in 2017 to\ninvestigate and prosecute the USA.  Washington reacted immediately. ICC\ncame under fire for opening a full-fledged investigation into war crimes\nallegedly committed by US troops on the territory of ICC member Afghanistan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Washington announced, the United States was\nnot a party to the treaty that created the ICC and it will not accept the\njurisdiction of the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. If the court\ncomes after us, we will not sit quietly, but will take all necessary measures\nto protect our citizens from this renegade, unlawful, so-called court. US also\nsaid that the ICC was illegitimate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019\nWashington revoked the\nvisa<\/a> of the court\u2019s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, when she\nindicated that she was going ahead with the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having spent\nyears collecting information on the Afghanistan war, Ms. Bensouda  sought permission in 2020  to open an investigation into claims of war\ncrimes and crimes against humanity attributed to United States military and\nintelligence personnel, the Taliban and Afghan forces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bensouda  said that the court had enough information to\nprove that U.S. forces had committed acts of torture, cruel treatment,\noutrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence\u201d in Afghanistan in\n2003 and 2004, and later in clandestine C.I.A. facilities in Poland, Romania\nand Lithuania. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nInternational Criminal Court ruled in \n2020 that its chief prosecutor could open an investigation into\nallegations of war crimes in Afghanistan including any that may have been\ncommitted by Americans. This was the first time that US came up for scrutiny at\nthe ICC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after\nthe ICC announced its investigation in March 2020, the Afghan government said\nit is conducting its own probe and asked ICC to defer its investigation. Under\nICC rules, the ICC can prosecute crimes only when the country concerned is not\nprepared to do so themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In May 2021 ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said\nshe would continue to work with the government of Afghanistan while carrying\nout her duties under the ICC\u2019s rules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia<\/strong> had also sent troops to Afghanistan.  In 2020 Australian television featured<\/a> a 60 Minutes<\/em>\nAustralia report about the murder of children and a \u2018killing as a sport\u2019\nculture\u201d among Australian fighters deployed in Afghanistan. . 60 Minutes<\/em>\ndescribed the killers as a rogue band\u201d of Special Forces Soldiers. Special\nForces soldiers were tallying their kills on wall boards, kills that included\ncivilians and prisoners. One especially disturbing episode described how\nAustralian Special Forces soldiers mercilessly slit the throats of 14-year-old\nboys, bagged their bodies, and tossed them in a river. (Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The west, smarting after its defeat in Eelam war IV, raised a war crimes cry   against the Sri Lanka army. Critics returned the compliment by pointing out the war crimes of the west, starting with USA.  US armed forces have committed crimes which clearly   fall within the war crimes definitions of the ICC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}