David
Halpin looks at the litany of crimes for which former British Prime
Minister Tony Blair will have to account sooner or later.
Full article here: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9021
On the same day the BBC
reported that former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was to go
on trial after five years in prison over the deaths of a group of
Baghdad merchants in 1992, it was rumoured the former prime minister of
Britain will be indicted for crimes against humanity. The list of charges is long and not confined to the many alleged crimes in Iraq.
Mr Blair's whereabouts are uncertain; he has been sighted occasionally
in occupied East Jerusalem where he is acting as "peace" envoy for the
"Quartet". Most recently, he has been facilitating industrial zones for
the employment of Palestinians and for the removal of a few of the over
500 Israeli Occupation Force roadblocks.
The charge list includes:

Examination of this picture shows Ali Abbas was subjected to radiated heat |
Breaches
of the Fourth Geneva Convention from the time he became prime minister
in 1997 until March 2003 during whichtime draconian sanctions were
being applied to the civilian population of Iraq. These sanctions
prompted the resignation of Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck who
served as assistant secretaries-general of the UN. The former stated
that the effect of those sanctions was genocidal. It was established
that there was an excess mortality of babies and children of at least
500,000 between 1992 and 2003. This had to do with foul water, poor
nutrition and deteriorating medical services, all of which were
satisfactory before the sanctions took hold.
Conspiracy to join with another power in aggressive war, the supreme international war crime, contrary to the Nuremberg
Rules and the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. This was
first made public when he joined Mr George Bush, President of the
United States of America, and Britain for bloodied steaks over a barbecue at Crawford Ranch in April 2002.
High
treason (betrayal of one's country, sovereign or government) in
manufacturing a case for war, the central one of which was the alleged
possession of weapons of mass destruction by Iraq.
This in itself gave no grounds because the possession of such was no
basis for a military assault on a sovereign country. Three aggressive
nations, the US, UK and Israel, have held weapons of mass destruction for decades; no attempt has been made to disarm them. The grounds for UK military action against Iraq
changed as the unlawful operation proceeded under the guise of
liberation of the people and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The
part played by the "sofa cabinet", three of whom were unelected, in
promulgating a war fought on behalf of Her Majesty is being minutely
examined by law officers. One such cabinet member, Mr Charles Powell,
recently stated on BBC TV that the aim of the war was the removal of Saddam Hussein from power. He would know that was an illegal aim. Ann Clywd MP was appointed Mr Blair's human rights envoy in Iraq.
She has continuously claimed a virtuous aim ... [but the fact is that]
at least a million Iraqis have been killed, about 40 per cent of whom
will have been children. Using a conservative ratio, at least two
million will have been maimed.

Ali Abbas's trunk, hands and forearms were incinerated |
Mr
Blair is charged with a litany of war crimes that followed the
invasion, one of which is the failure of the "coalition of the willing"
to halt the further deterioration in the quality and quantity of
medical services in Iraq
which had already worsened during the 12 years of sanctions. Another
obligation of an occupier is to maintain security for the populace. The
very opposite happened. Disbanding the Iraqi army and other Baathist
structures was central to the violent chaos which followed the
invasion. Protecting the heritage of a country is another obligation of
an occupier in international law. Mr Blair failed as leader to meet
these and he is so charged.
The general charges in this
indictment are followed by an annex which details names in which there
has been death or extreme injury.
The charges also include
collusion in a military and political coalition which has used banned
weapons. The use of white phosphorus at Fallujah
by the US was admitted. Armour-penetrating tank and cannon shells, as
well as "bunker busting" bombs and missiles, have used depleted
uranium. Uranium U238 is dispersed widely as a very fine dust; it has
been detected as far away as the UK.
Iraqi doctors claim that there have been dramatic rises in grotesque
deformities in babies born prematurely, in leukaemia and in other
malignancies.
The list of charges includes the case of Ali
Abbas, then 12 years of age and formerly of the village of Zafaraniya,
which is 30 miles from Baghdad, and his deceased family: his mother who
was six months pregnant, his father, brother and at least 10 other
relatives. It has been reported that, just after midnight on 30 March
2003 and 10 days into "Operation Iraqi Freedom", a weapon or two
weapons exploded.
| We had all gone to bed and there was this loud
noise and smoke. I felt very scared and I was in much pain. I kept
shouting for my mother. I did not know at the time what had happened to
her. |
A
photograph taken in hospital in Baghdad shows that Ali was burned
across his trunk and that his hands and forearms were incinerated. His
head, neck, abdomen and legs were unblemished. Examination of this
photograph shows this boy was subjected to the most intense radiated
heat – not contact heat.

Ali Abbas survived but his entire family were burnt by the Americans
|
It
seems likely that his head and lower half were screened from the source
of this radiation by a window aperture or similar, given the
rectangular pattern of the thermal injuries. The weapon that caused
such rapid incineration is unknown. It certainly was not a thermobaric
weapon as used currently in Iraq
and Gaza. Uranium weapons give rise to a fireball as the dust ignites.
This can melt steel but there are no photographs of human victims of
such attacks which match the incineration of the arms of Ali Abbas,
although these weapons have been used frequently – both in the Gulf War and in the ongoing Iraq War. The clandestine use of a small tactical nuclear weapon cannot not be ruled out.
The
authorities will require that Ali Abbas comes to the Hague to give
evidence. However, he has not been able to leave Baghdad since last
summer. He has of course required someone else to attend to his every
toilet need and to his dressing. An uncle provided that for him whilst
he grew from boy to man at the private boys school in London and where he excelled scholastically. Another uncle took over last summer but a visa has not been forthcoming from the UK.
The
US named Tariq Aziz the Eight of Spades, thus coming 43rd in the United
States' set of 55 playing cards. His trial for involvement in the
hanging of 40 alleged racketeers started on 29 April under a Kurdish
judge and a military occupation.
The central charge against
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is that he has caused the death of
thousands upon thousands of Iraqi civilians, the maiming of many more
and the displacement of over four million people. Unlike the treatment
of those humans, his hearing will be fair.
It is understood that he will be able to receive a Catholic priest in the cell which was formerly occupied by Slobodan Milosevic.
The prison chaplain will encourage further study of "faith", which with
globalization were the topics of Mr Blair's address in Westminster
Cathedral. The commander-in-chief of the USA spoke of the "sanctity of
life" when he was receiving the Pontiff in Washington recently. This principle will be applied to Anthony Charles Lynton Blair but probably not to the deputy prime minister of Iraq.
|