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Krigsförbrytelser

Young Men: The lowest aim in your life is to become a soldier. The good soldier never tries to distinguish right from wrong. He never thinks; never reasons; he only obeys. If he is ordered to fire on his fellow citizens, on his friends, oh his neighbours, on his relatives, he obeys without hesitation. If he is ordered to fire down a crowded street when the poor are clamouring for bread, he obeys and sees the grey hairs of age stained with red and the life tide gushing from the breasts of women, feeling neither remorse nor sympathy. If he is ordered off as a firing squad to execute a hero or benefactor, he fires without hesitation, though he knows the bullet will pierce the noblest hear that ever beat in a human beast.
A good soldier is a blind, heartless, soulless, murderous machine. He is not a man. He is not a brute, for brutes only kill in self defence. All that is human in him, all that is divine in him, all that constitutes the man has been sworn away when he took the enlistm

Jack London

What occurred in Oklahoma City was no different than what Americans rain on the heads of others all the time, and subsequently, my mindset was and is one of clinical detachment. The bombing of the Murrah building was not personal, no more than when Air Force, Army, Navy or Marine personnel bomb or launch cruise missiles against government installations and their personnel.
Timothy McVeigh, who was trained by the U.S. Army

It is a scandal in contemporary international law, don't forget, that while "wanton destruction of towns, cities and villages" is a war crime of long standing, the bombing of cities from airplanes goes not only unpunished but virtually unaccused. Air bombardment is state terrorism, the terrorism of the. rich. It has burned up and blasted apart more innoocents in the past six decades than have all the antistate terrorists who ever lived.
C. Douglas Lummis, political scientist, 1994Blum, William (2003), "Rogue State", Spearhead 2003, ISBN 1 84277 221 X pb, p. 92

NATO is not under investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. There is no formal inquiry into the actions of NATO tring the conflict in Kosovo.
The Hague Tribunal, four days after the publication of an interview with the chief prosecutor Del Ponte, where she state that "If I am not willing to do that [press charges against NATO personnel], I am not in the right place." Blum, William (2003), "Rogue State", Spearhead 2003, ISBN 1 84277 221 X pb, p. 75

Once you kill people because you don't like what they say, you change the rules of war.
Robert Fisk, British foreign correspondent, on the US bombing of the Serbian TVBlum, William (2003), "Rogue State", Spearhead 2003, ISBN 1 84277 221 X pb, p. 165

Lay waste all the settlements around ... that the country may not be merely overrun but destroyed. You will not, by any means, listen to any overture of peace before the total ruin of their settlements is effected ... Our future security will be in their inability to injure us ... and in the terror with which the severity of the chastisement they receive will inspire them.
George Washington, letter to Major General John Sullivan, 31 May 1779Fitzpatrick, ed., Writings of George Washington (1936), XV, p. 189-93 / penpress.org 020618

- Does NATO recognize Judge Arbour's jurisdiction over their activities? - I think we have to distinguish between the theoretical and the practical. I believe that when Justice Arbour starts her investigation [of the Serbs], she will because we will allow her to ... NATO countries are those that have provided the finance to set up the Tribunal, we are amongst the majority financiers.
Jamie Shea on the role of the Hague Tribunals chief prosecutor Louise Arbour, at a NATO Press Briefing, May 16, 1999Blum, William (2003), "Rogue State", Spearhead 2003, ISBN 1 84277 221 X pb, p. 75

Casualty Estimate 50-100 Government/Party employees. Unintended Civ Casualty Est: 250—Apts in expected blast radius.
NATO planners, before the bombing of a Belgrade office buildingBlum, William (2003), "Rogue State", Spearhead 2003, ISBN 1 84277 221 X pb, p. 76f

If you wake up in the morning and you have no power to your house and no gas to your stove and the bridge you take to work is down and will be lying in the Danube for the next 20 years, I think you begin to ask, "Hey, Slobo, what's this all about? How much more of this do we have to withstand?"
Lt. Gen. Michael Short, commander of NATO's air war against SerbiaBlum, William (2003), "Rogue State", Spearhead 2003, ISBN 1 84277 221 X pb, p. 76

When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
C.P. Snow"Either-Or," Progressive, February 1961. p. 24

The US has always regarded international laws as an annoying encumbrance, unless they can be used to advantage against an enemy.
Noam Chomsky

Launching an indiscriminate attack affecting the civilian population or civilian objects in the knowledge that such attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects
From article 85 in the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions from 1977, describing war crimes

Refrain from deciding to launch any attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated;
Artikel 57, punkt 2 (a) (iii), ur Genévekonventionens TPI från 1977

His Majesty's Government have made it clear that it is no part of their policy to bomb nonmilitary objectives, no matter what the policy of the German Government may be.
British Foreign Office, 1939Dower, John W (1993), "War without mercy", Pantheon Books,  ISBN 0-394-75172-8 (pbk.), p. 39

Mr Abbasi, your conduct is unacceptable and this is your absolute final warning. I do not care about international law. I do not want to hear the words international law. We are not concerned about international law.
US air force colonel, serving as a judge at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, answering British prisoner Feroz Abbasis plead to reveal the evidence against him in accordance with international lawRobert Fisk (2006): "The farcical end of the American dream", 060318, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12395.htm 060323

Like it or not, we are at war with the Serbian nation (the Serbs certainly think so), and the stakes have to be very clear: Every week you ravage Kosovo is another decade we will set your country back by pulverising you. You want 1950? We can do 1950. You want 1389? We can do 1389 too.
Thomas Friedman 1999Friedman,

...I suggest' that an "aggressor" is generally held to be that state which is the first to commit any of the following actions:
(1) Declaration of war upon another State;
(2) Invasion by its armed forces, with or without a declaration war, of the territory of another State;
(3) Attack by its land, naval, or air forces, with or without a declaration of war, on the territory, vessels, or aircraft of another State;
(4) Provision of support to armed bands formed in the territory of another State, or refusal, notwithstanding the request of the invaded State, to take in its own territory, all the measures in its power to deprive those bands of all assistance or protection.
And I further suggest that it is the general view that no political, military, economic or other considerations shall serve as an excuse or justification for such actions; but exercise of the right of legitimate self-defense...

Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, the American prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, in his opening statement to the tribunalhttp://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/RESOURCE/DOCUMENT/DocJac14.htm 060404

I allt väsentligt nödvändiga och rättfärdiga.
Lennart Berntson om de allierade bombningar som dödade mer än en halv miljon civila tyskar under andra världskriget. Orsaken är enligt Berntson att bomberna ledde till "säkerställandet av en liberal och demokratisk utveckling efter krigsslutet".DN 030324

It was rather a sloppy job, and some of the boys got sick. But that is something you have to learn. The enemy is out to kill you and you are out to kill the enemy. You can't be sporting in a war.
U.S. Major from the 5th Bomber Command, on butchery after the battle of the Bismarck Sea in March 1943, when U.S. and Australian aircraft systematically searched the seas for Japanese survivors and strafed every raft and lifeboat they found Dower, John W (1993), "War without mercy", Pantheon Books,  ISBN 0-394-75172-8 (pbk.), p. 67

Militären är i slutändan en enda stor familj. Jag kan inte tacka dem nog för deras stöd.
Lewis Welshofer, som kom undan med böter efter att ha torterat ihjäl en irakisk generalmajor 2003Flamman 060126

Det är inte möjligt för EU att samarbeta med en regim som inte tar avstånd från våldsanvändning.
Laila Freivalds om EU:s biståndspolitik gentemot Palestina efter Hamas valseger 2006 FiB-Kulturfront #2/2006

When the methods ... take the form of ruthless bombing of unfortified localities with the resultant slaughter of civilian populations, and in particular of women and children, public opinion in the United States regards such methods as barbarous ... Such acts are in violation of the most elementary principles of those standards of humane conduct which have been developed as an essential part of modern civilization.
U.S. Department of State on June 3 1938, reacting against German and Japanese terror bombings in Spain and ChinaDower, John W (1993), "War without mercy", Pantheon Books,  ISBN 0-394-75172-8 (pbk.), p. 38

The propaganda system allows the U.S. leadership to commit crimes without limit and with no suggestion of misbehavior or criminality; in fact, major war criminals like Henry Kissinger appear regularly on TV to comment on the crimes of the derivative butchers.
Edward Herman, 1999Z magazine, Dec 1999 / http://www.williambowles.info/ini/ini-0349.html, 050727

It's a very serious analytic error to say, as is commonly done, that terrorism is the weapon of the weak. Like other means of violence, it's primarily a weapon of the strong, overwhelmingly, in fact. It is held to be a weapon of the weak because the strong also control the doctrinal systems and their terror doesn’t count as terror. Now that’s close to universal. I can't think of a historical exception, even the worst mass murderers view the world that way. So pick the Nazis. They weren't carrying out terror in occupied Europe. They were protecting the local population from the terrorisms of the partisans.
Noam Chomsky"The New War Against Terror", speech at at The Technology & Culture Forum at MIT 011018

If the Nuremberg laws were applied today, then every Post-War American president would have to be hanged.
Noam Chomsky

Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate:
(a) An attack by bombardment by any methods or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects; and
(b) An attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

From article 51 in the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions from 1977

The two operating reactors they had are both gone, they're down, they're finished.
Colin Powell, celebrating the illegal bombing of two live nuclear reactors in Iraq during the Gulf War, 1991Blum, William (2003), "Rogue State", Spearhead 2003, ISBN 1 84277 221 X pb, p. 69

I am strongly in favor of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes. The moral effect should be good... and it would spread a lively terror...
Winston Churchill commenting on the British use of poison gas against the Iraqis after World War I

Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.
From article 54 in the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions from 1977

Our position is that whatever grievances a nation may have, however objectionable it finds the status quo, aggressive warfare is an illegal means for settling those grievances or for altering those conditions. It may be that the Germany of the 1920's and 1930's faced desperate problems, problems that would have warranted the boldest measures short of war. All other methods - persuasion, propaganda, economic competition, diplomacy - were open to an aggrieved country, but aggressive warfare was outlawed.
Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, the American prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, in his opening statement to the tribunalhttp://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/RESOURCE/DOCUMENT/DocJac14.htm 060404

If President Milosevic really wants all of his population to have water and electricity all he has to do is accept NATO's five conditions and we will stop this campaign.
NATO spokesman Jamie Shea Blum, William (2003), "Rogue State", Spearhead 2003, ISBN 1 84277 221 X pb, p. 76

Just as many whites have killed just as many blacks.
Nelson Mandela, 1990, asked about deaths of white civilians in ANC attacks Crwys-Williams, Jennifer, ed. (1998): "In the words of Nelson Mandela", Penguin Books, ISBN 07181 4306

...en avsiktlig attack på ett civilt mål och som sådan utgör den en krigsförbrytelse.
Amnesty International om Natos bombning av Belgrads TV-högkvarter 1999John Pilger: "Det vi inte fick veta", Ordfront förlag 2001, s 132

...bomb, burn and ruthlessly destroy...
The British minister of information in August 1943, about what the Allies intended to do with Germany and Japan Dower, John W (1993), "War without mercy", Pantheon Books,  ISBN 0-394-75172-8 (pbk.), p. 40

It now stands as the only state on record which has both been condemned by the World Court for international terrorism and has vetoed a Security Council resolution calling on states to observe international law.
Noam Chomsky about the US, referring to the reactions to their support to the contras terrorists attacking Nicaragua in the 1980s"The New War Against Terror", speech at at The Technology & Culture Forum at MIT 011018

Our colonel went to his NATO heads several times and protested against the choice of targets that were not of a military nature... Once we received an encoded order from U.S. military officials to drop anti-personnel bombs over the towns of Pristina and Nis. Our colonel refused the order, and a week later he was deposed.
Spanish F-18 pilot about the bombings of Yugoslavia

Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:
(a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective;
(b) those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or
(c) those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this protocol; and consequently, in each case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.

From article 51 in the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions from 1977

If you wake up in the morning and you have no power to your house and no gas to your stove and the bridge you take to work is down and will be lying in the Danube for the next 20 years, I think you begin to ask, 'Hey, Slobo, what's this all about? How much more of this do we have to withstand?'
US Air Force Lt. General Michael Short about the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia

[T]o initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole
Robert Jackson, U.S. representative at the Nuremberg trials

Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.
Ernest Hemingway

It is a scandal in contemporary international law, don't forget, that while the wanton destruction of towns, cities and villages is a war crime of long standing, the bombing of cities from airplanes goes not only unpunished but virtually unaccused. Air bombardment is state terrorism, the terrorism of the rich. It has burned up and blasted apart more innocents in the past six decades than have all the anti-state terrorists who ever lived.
C Douglas Lummis, political scientist

This is not a conventional war. We have to forget propriety.
Colonel Robert A. Koob, tentative head of jury in the Sergeant Charles E. Hutto case. Hutto was accuse of assault in the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Petras, Ross & Petras, Kathryn: "The 776 stupidest things ever said", Doubleday 1993,  ISBN 0-385-41928-7

In the United States we would not consider for the presidency a man who had once thrown a bomb into a crowded restaurant, but we are happy to elect a man who once dropped bombs from airplanes that destroyed not only restaurants but the buildings that contained them and the neighborhoods that surrounded them.
C. Douglas Lummis, political scientist, 1994Blum, William (2003), "Rogue State", Spearhead 2003, ISBN 1 84277 221 X pb, p. 92

We sent Marines into Lebanon and you only have to go to Lebanon, to Syria or to Jordan to witness first-hand the intense hatred among many people for the United States because we bombed and shelled and unmercifully killed totally innocent villagers — women and children and farmers and housewives — in those villages around Beirut...
Jimmy CarterBlum, William (2003), "Rogue State", Spearhead 2003, ISBN 1 84277 221 X pb, p. xi

If they do something to us, the world is coming to an end. But if we do it to them, it's so normal, why should we even talk about it?
Noam ChomskyChomsky, Power and Terror, Seven Stories Press, 2003, p.20 / http://www.medialens.org/cogitations/050725_they_just_never_meant.php 060509

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Groucho Marx