KL War Crime Commission Hears Nine Charges Against Bush, Blair & Howard
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 [Bernama] -- The Kuala Lumpur War Crime Commission chaired by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad heard nine charges against US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair as well as Australian Prime Minister John Howard for the sufferings of the people in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.
The charges against the US and its allies were presented by legal counsel on behalf of the war crimes victims, Barrister [Inner Temple] & Advocate & Solicitor High Court of Malaya, Matthias Chang before Dr Mahathir and the other five commission members at the last day of the three-day war crimes conference organised by Perdana Global Peace Conference.
Chang said Bush, Blair and Howard through a deliberate plan of deception, falsehood, forgery and outright lies misled their respective Congress and Parliament to wage war against Iraq which was a "crime against peace."
The trio were also being charged for embarking a systematic campaign to destroy Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, economically and militarily, he said.
He said the third charge against them was for ordering the destruction of vital facilities essential to civilian lives in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine while the fourth one for the bombing of schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, residential areas, historical sites and conveniently labeling the destruction as "collateral damage".
The three leaders were also charged for allowing the use of weapons of mass destruction that inflicted indiscriminate death and suffering against civilian targets, such as cluster bomb, napalm bomb, phosphorous bomb, and depleted uranium ammunition, said Chang.
The sixth charge said that Bush, Blair and Howard have fraudulently manipulated the United Nations [UN] and the Security Council as well as corrupting its members to commit crimes against peace and war times, he said.
Through the aforesaid conduct, Chang said the three had destroyed the environment of Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.
The eight charges were that Bush, Blair and Howard ordered and condoned the violation of human rights, specifically the civilians in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as well as other prisons known and unknown in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and anywhere else in the world.
The last charge spelled out that Bush, Blair and Howard systematically controlled and manipulated directed and misinformed the mass media so as to incite war to achieve their military objectives in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.
Apart from hearing the charges against the three leaders, the commission also heard presentation from several war crimes victim including, Najwa J.A. Jalamna, 16, from Jenin, Palestine, Abbas Abid, a survivor of the Fallujah Massacre in Iraq, Editor-in-Chief Al-Intiqad & Al-Manar TV [Lebanon], Ibrahim Mousawi as well as Palestinian Peace Activity Dr Walid Salah Al-Khatib.
Dr Mahathir said the commission was to respond to several petition of war crime victims and investigate into their complaints.
"We appreciate there are other tribunals but there are so many complaints, the other tribunals perhaps are not being able to hear the complaint. We feel there is a need for the setting up this tribunal (Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal) and give an opportunity for those war crimes victims to voice out their complaints and to seek redress," he said.
The commission would investigate complaints of war crimes and thereafter to submit and report to the tribunal that would be set up, which are still at a protem stage.
©BERNAMA
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