Subject: War Crimes
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0 -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Comment: The Transnational Radical Party List
No doubt that war crimes should be punished. The idea of establishing War
Tribunal for war crimes in Yugoslavia is a very good one. Still, I am afraid
that the major war crimes which have been committed recently will go unpunished
and almost unnoticed by intellectuals in Western countries. This inconsistency
in treating all war crimes equally will undermine the current action of the War
Tribunal.
One way to highlight the inconsistency of the "War Crimes" discussion is
to look at the death toll reported during the original fighting in
Croatia.
During December, figures of 50,000-80,000 dead were quoted (and
sometimes still are). Come January and "peace", and the "official" figure
becomes 6,000-10,000.
In six weeks of Desert Storm 100,000-250,000 Iraqis died. Aid agencies
have reported that, due to sanctions and the deliberate, openly
specified destruction of civilian installations (water and sewage
plants, power stations, factories, communications etc) 100,000 Iraqi
infants and children have since died. The destruction of those
installations was "deliberate", a "policy", "systematically" carried
out. As are sanctions - as fierce today as when the fighting stopped.
In 2-3 days of "fighting" in Panama, 4,000-7,000 Panamanians died.
Downtown areas of Panama City were attacked - with large tracts of
buildings deliberately burned or blown-up. The buildings? Shanties,
slums made of wood, cardboard and waste metal.
There is no comparison between the fighting in Croatia or Bosnia that
can really be made to these, and many other, totally one-sided acts of
aggression. 4,000 dead in two days gets off free, 6,000 dead in six
months is full of "War Crimes".
Sincerely,
Mirjana Petrovic
