John F. Williford: There is such a plethora of alleged criminality in the G.W. Bush Administration that the mind boggles.

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by John F. Williford

On an episode of her sitcom some years ago, Roseanne said, "I don't want you kids watching sex and violence. So just pick one."
 
There is such a plethora of alleged criminality in the G.W. Bush Administration that the mind boggles. The most repeated and obvious charge is responsibility for torture, both in U.S.-controlled prisons and in sites where captives were sent in extraordinary rendition. The images of indignities at Abu Ghraib briefly stirred the American public's interest, partly on salacious grounds.
 
Such outcomes from violations of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 are capital offenses under the War Crimes Act of 1996 (passed by a Republican Congress).
 
The GWB lawyered up on this one by creating an entirely fictitious category they called "enemy combatants," which means that substantial numbers of prisoners held without charge are neither prisoners of war (thus not protected by the Geneva Conventions) nor criminals, which would allow due process under U.S. law. Unraveling this legal rats nest will be a bit like trying to untie the gordian knot. (This is not to say it doesn't need to be done).
 
Even harder is the challenge of unraveling various conspiracy theories surrounding the events of September 11, 2001. Circumstantial evidence points to an unacceptable level of incompetence or to a conscious, criminal choice to allow an attack on the U.S. to occur, fulfilling the neocon wish for something equivalent to the attack on Pearl Harbor to proceed in order to capture and expand presidential power. The name of this would be treason, and something beyond circumstantial evidence would be needed.
 
Let me try another way, comparing the offense of Saddam Hussein for which he was hanged with the offenses of G.W. Bush, at the top of the chain of command in the actions against the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
 
Saddam Hussein was tried by a tribunal (not a jury) and, under the terms of that trial, was executed within 30 days of the verdict. The capital offense for which he was tried was the execution of as many as 148 men and boys in the village of Dujail. This followed an assassination attempt on Hussein, then head of state, and granted broad immunity in the Iraq Constitution in force at the time. Plotters in the assassination attempt were arrested, charged, formally tried, and then executed. The applicable theory of criminality for this would include the illegal act of collective punishment, which is a war crime.
 
Iraq: Dujail Trial Fundamentally Flawed | Human Rights Watch
 
The question of whether collective punishment actually occurred is problematic in the circumstances. Hussein was within his constitutional powers to put down this particular rebellion, and the Iraq Constitution specifically permitted him to act without fear of being called to account. Details of Saddam Hussein's trial were sharply criticized by an international human rights body, which issued a report (a bit more than 90 pages) on problems with the tribunal handling of the matter. There is a link to the pdf document at:
 
Judging Dujail | Human Rights Watch
 
It is important to realize that Saddam Hussein was convicted ONLY of the events surrounding the assassination attempt at Dujail, and his subsequent responsibility for actions that followed. He was hanged for this in a cold, stinking high bay building and, in contrast to the story, we had hoped to put out of a groveling coward, was video recorded, showing him dying with considerable equanimity and courage. As the human rights group points out, Saddam's prompt execution for this one crime eliminated the opportunity for victims of other crimes to gain justice.
 
So looking to crimes of G.W. Bush, like Roseanne's kids, let's just pick one. It is a direct analogy to the crime for which Hussein was hanged. It is the destruction of Fallujah, the killing of perhaps 6,000 innocent civilians, the use of chemical weapons against a civilian population, and the indiscriminate turning of a city into a killing field.
 
The actions of Fallujah, in contrast to some historic atrocities, was not a momentary burst of violence in a few hours. It was a systematic, purposeful process of killing and destruction to provide a lesson to Iraqis for the killing of four Blackwater contract workers who were in the wrong place and demonstrably not properly equipped or supported by U.S. troops in the area. (Again, conspiracy freaks might suspect these four men were put at extraordinary risk to justify the later violence directed toward Fallujah by us. I'm inclined to think incompetence and stupidity are enough to account for their deaths.) The brutal killing, mutilation, and hanging of these contract workers from a bridge was horrific, without question.
 
Details of this Blackwater contract worker killings can be found at many sites, including:
 
frontline: private warriors: contractors: the high-risk contracting business |
 
People in Fallujah were given notice to leave the city. About a quarter million fled their homes, and became refugees in the countryside. Approximately 50,000 people remained in the city. These were all promptly declared to be "enemy combatants" and fair game (rather like Valerie Plame, except you could kill them any way you wished).
 
The process of reducing Fallujah to rubble and killing at least 6,000 people extended over many days, with artillery, aerial bombardment, and boots on the ground, with about 74 our of own people killed in the process.
 
YouTube - Fallujah: The Real Story - Iraq
 
White phosphorous, which is classed in international law as a chemical weapon, was used in civilian neighborhoods. Innocent civilians were basically burnt alive by inextinguishable fire. Victims included all age groups, from infants upward. Use of white phosphorous was initially denied, then excused as only for illumination or obscurant purposes. When photographic evidence was presented of use in neighborhoods, the story became that white phosphorous was only used against insurgents, not innocent civilians. Since the military had already declared every living soul remaining in Fallujah to be an enemy combatant and fair game, this makes a certain perverse sense.
 
Video on white phosphorus in Fallujah, Iraq by RAI News 24
 
If the action in Fallujah does not constitute a criminal level of collective punishment, I would be hard pressed to find a better and stronger example. Although our use of chemical weapons against the population is defined as a war crime in international law, the legal "experts' in the Bush Administration indicate that we hadn't really agreed to that part of the law, so what we did was OK.
 
Let's just summarize by comparing the collective punishment and other actions in Dujail with those in Fallujah:
 
1. People indicted and tried: Dujail 148; Fallujah None
2. People killed: Dujail 148; Fallujah 6,000
3, Percent city destroyed: Dujail Zero; Fallujah 70%
4. Chemical weapons used: Dujail None; Fallujah White Phosphorous
 
Perhaps we managed to manipulate the hanging of Saddam Hussein for the same reason a dog licks his testicles (because he can). The direct evidence of criminality and the severity of the actions under the responsibility of GWB and those of Hussein can be compared fairly easily. If one can be hanged for collective punishment, it would appear that the other is at least equally culpable, if not more so.
 
Blackwater has finally been thrown out of Iraq. It has been sued (I think without success) by the families of the four slain contract workers. I believe this has moved to arbitration, assuring that events will never be aired in public trial.
 
GDAEman: Blackwater Follows Bush-Cheney Playbook in Three Lawsuits 
 
The whole matter of expanding use of private paramilitary contractors, who are immune to local laws as well as to the code of military justice, is exemplified most publicly by the slaughter of 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians on the streets of Baghdad, for which they get a free pass. The broader story of mercenaries may be read at:
 
After Fallujah: The Truth About the Blackwater Mercenaries
 
Use of mercenaries provides deniability in many instances, but in Fallujah, their deaths were uncounted in casualty reports, yet used as a pass to a level of vindictive violence that clearly rises to the level of a series of war crimes.
 
I'm willing to put the minor infractions such as double-parking aside, and to defer some of the larger speculations on treason for later consideration, and perhaps revelatory confessions by players who have managed to survive with their lives and integrity intact (if there are such). But in a situation where parallels between capital offenses are as close as Dujail and Fallujah, we might proceed by starting with the most flagrant offense, and see where it might lead us later.
 
I'm willing to let G.W. Bush, unlike Saddam, live to see more of these matters played out. I doubt he would face extinction with the equanimity and courage Saddam Hussein displayed, anyway.

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION

John F. Williford
Richland, WA

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