Thursday, February 08, 2007

War Crimes

Punishing The Perpetrators
I, as a citizen of the world, love peace. I say No to War.
I will help to spread the message that war is a crime against humanity, war kills, those who initiate wars or war mongers are murderers and war is not an option to settle disputes and disagreements.
I will be part of that international machinery to mobilise the second superpower -- the power of public opinion -- to make the world reject war, war mongers and any notions of war.
If, all of us, bloggers do that, we can make it happen.
The three-day Perdana Global Peace Organisation conference and exhibition ended yesterday (Wednesday, February 7) at the Putra World Trade Centre.
Aware that the media in the land of the mighty USA had been biased on the war in Iraq and will continue to be on this, our former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who chaired the conference, called on bloggers to help in mobilising world public opinion against war and war mongers.
"We need the help of bloggers and the internet. Help to tell the truth and to make a case for us," he told the Press conference after the end of the conference.
As reported, the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission has been set up to study the complaints by 17 war victims - nine from Iraq, five from the Palestinian territories and three from Lebanon.
The commission will then submit its report to the Kuala Lumpur war crimes tribunal, to be made up of eminent, right-minded international jurists with repute and who have no personal or national interest.
The tribunal will hear charges against war-mongers, leaders and governments of aggressor nations.
The tribunal cannot mete out the suitable punishment to the convicted person simply because it does not have the legal authority to do so.
What it will do is to shame the perpetrators in the annals of history. They will be remembered as war criminals, as murderers of the innocents and as liars.
Obviously, the first to go on trial will be George W. Bush. The rest, I expect, will follow -- Tony Blair, Israel's Ariel Sharon and John Howard.
Frankly, if you ask me, we don't need a tribunal to find Dubya and his lackeys guilty for the crimes committed in the invasion of Iraq and the atrocities that followed. Dubya did it and Blair and Howard, as accessories, are just as guilty.
We know that Dubya ordered his troops to attack Iraq. He said it himself. We all heard him. But, since we have to abide by the rule of international law, the process of justice and fair trial, a tribunal it will have to be.
During the conference, we heard the views of activists and the first hand personal accounts of victims of atrocities ("man in the hood' Ali Shalah and Abu Ghraib survivor Abbas Abid).
The exhibition showed shocking, graphic pictures of the brutality and ugliness of war and aggression. No, they were not pretty. Many people had to turn the other way.
Former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney said that the most important thing about the conference was that it took place.
She said the reality is that the average American does not know the truth about the Iraq War.
The average American cannot comprehend the extent of the suffering of the Iraqi people.
She plans to take the exhibition across the US.
I told her that she might find it hard to do that for several reasons, one of which is that she is a pretty controversial figure in the US.
She was the Democrat congresswoman who accused George W Bush of knowing in advance about the 9/11 attack. Needless to say, she got hell from the mainstream media in the US.
Cynthia was the one who offered Articles of Impeachment against Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleeza Rice.
She told me she will go home and is determined more than ever to make a case against Dubya because she says the world cannot wait any longer.
"We do not condone what is done in our name and we are not complicit", she had earlier told the conference.
I tell her, Good luck. We need more of Cynthias in the US and the world.
Earlier, Dr Mahathir asked what we should do after attending the conference and listening to all that was said.
"Do we go home and, sleep?"
No, sir. Not after knowing that as I am writing now, the US and its allies are, in the words of Hans von Sponeck (former UN Asst. Secretary-General), in advanced stages of readiness to wage war on Iran using tactical nuclear weapons, which means that the unthinkable will happen for the first time since Hiroshima. No sir, I cannot go home and sleep.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi kak aina,
nice to see you at the conference. you are right, the expo was "not pretty". i was one of those who had to turn and look the other way. not that i didn't care or didn't want to care. it was just too much to bear witness to, way too much. and they are only pictures. there were many children in the pictures, dead and maimed children. how did they feel? i am a coward.
but i say my pledge with you. i, a citizen of the world, love peace.
down with the war criminals, perpetrators of the war, murderers of children, killers of our future!
i salute tun and those who were brave enough to put their names and pictures onto this effort - the conference, the tribunal and the commission.
many people would be inspired. like bloggers, NO FEAR.
thank you kak aina. i won't go out and buy the papers (again) today. reading blogs is more than sufficient.

regards,
cyn.

Anonymous said...

I am a Malaysian and I am with you on this issue. War should be outlawed and its perpetrators punished whomever they may be. Let it be known that it is not a matter of who is right but what is right. Always.

Peace to the world.

shar101 said...

Hi Nuraina,

Just thought you might want to look into the death of Rachel Corey, a 23 year old American peace activist, killed by an Isreali army bulldozer.

A theaterical play about her scheduled in New York last year got canned by higher authorities.

Anonymous said...

Nuraina you wrote:

"We know that Dubya ordered his troops to attack Iraq. He said it himself. We all heard him. But, since we have to abide by the rule of international law, the process of justice and fair trial, a tribunal it will have to be."

By right Bush deserve to die by hanging or face the firing squad. But that seems impossible.

As a Muslim I pray to Allah so that there will be Americans who will assassinate this president of theirs who have shamed them.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Anonymous at 4.16pm who wrote this:
"As a Muslim I pray to Allah so that there will be Americans who will assassinate this president of theirs who have shamed them."

I understand your anger and frustration.
Let us pray for peace in the world.
That said, anonymous at 4.16pm, Allah SWT knows best. He is most compassionate. most merciful.

wasallam

Anonymous said...

As I sat listening to the impassioned presentation of Niloufer Bhagwat (Vice-President of the Indian Lawyers Association, Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan, Authored the final opinion on DU) I couldn't help thinking how powerful this woman's voice was! Not only was she articulate, her research and knowledge was impeccable; her logic unassailable! Her courage and commitment is exemplary!

I wondered who among us Malaysians, among the Judges of the KL War Crimes Tribunal - man or woman - can take the anti-war argument to such heights in order to make THEM at least listen if not support it.

I wondered whether the local media will be able to match the rigour of Western media networks, to spread the anti-war propaganda in a concerted way.

I wondered how many Malaysian journalists will have the courage or inclination to translate the conference retoric into powerful stories. I wondered whether the international media would be impressed enough to cover their writings.

Shockingly the NST did not give the PGPO conference wide or in-depth coverage as did UTUSAN. But how many people even in Malaysia read news in Malay? And seriously, how many mainstream journalists are prepared to go against the grain of FTA developments.

That is why Tun Mahathir is appealing to bloggers!

BON NINI

I will be shot down for saying this

Kak Teh said...

ena, I think i must have walked thousands of miles in anti war marches in London. Whenever there's one, you can be suret hat I am there with husband and children, carrying banners. But that didnt stop them doing what they did to Iraq.
I remember the day Tun M went to see Blair to ask him to convey the message to Bush about not attacking Iraq. well, the rest is history..or is it nightmares?

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Kak Teh (Ah)

looks like your journey cannot end, Ah. It must not.
You remember, I was in London, just lazing around, having breakfast at the NST (correspondent's) apartment in Bayswater,waiting for Tun's (then Datuk Seri) Dr Mahathir's office to give us (me and Rocky who was then Business Times editor) the go-ahead to take the flight to Moscow where he was to begin his official European tour.
That was the morning (London time) of 9/11/01.
The TV was on. I was with our NST correspondent Tony Emmanuel in the living room and I believe the outgoing NST correspondent (haiyyaaa,can't remember his name) was also there.
I think i must have died when and
after the news and footage of the attack on World Trade Centre, came on.
After that, the world changed. I mean,really, changed. There was real, tangible fear of US backlash. And we were all proven right.
The US immediately capitalised and exploited Islamophobia.
There seems to be no end. We have a really power-crazy,greed, hungry, mad, maniacal,rabid president out there.
And he aint ever gonna stop.
out there.

Salam to you, Ah and Hulaimi and the kids.

BaitiBadarudin said...

Love those 70s mantra; Make Love, Not War. Peace to u and me, bro and sista!
Keep it up, womyn.

Anonymous said...

Dear Nur,

Whatever the current world situation is now, the good people in this world should not give up. These good people from all faiths and races should for a start, educate their young of the noble points of their respective faiths and for the need for these common good points to be used to love and respect each other, irrespectively.
With such foundations then the next step would be to invite all and sundry to faith living workshops where the common love for life and the the living is spread. This may require greater organisational skill when it is taken across country boundaries. But it needs ACTION now !!

Sulaiman Solomon.

Anonymous said...

Mika Angel-0 said...
YB
Salaam

Dgn Izin

WAR IS AN ANCIENT'S ART

"those who initiate wars or war mongers are murderers and war is not an option to settle disputes and disagreements"

I am a bit young in this old world while I am left with a legacy that says that is not in my dinner plate. I have my al-kitaab to read, after all, and I will follow the Ways of the Ancients.

I initiate confrontations and do expect aggressive negotiations as healthy whenever my lover's message is deliver or reminded to some and a sundry of this world.

This is a promise of Life.
La-ilaha-illalLAH, muhamadurrasuululLAH. Salawat and salaam be upon the Choosen One.

My option is Allahu-Ahad and ar-rasul. And politics, economics and my Lover's faith goes hand in hand.

I will never take others than my brethrens into my trust but I do practice tolerance.

The Siraatul-Mustaqim
and there is
life after death

I crawl, walk
run or fly
but will I not
fall
when there is
Jahan-num
and al-Nikmal-Sawaab
wa hasunat murtafaqa

My lover awaits
by the Fountain
al-Kautsar.

Baraa ah...

February 12, 2007 9:14 AM

Sham Kamarul said...

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