Shortly before Christmas, the British
Defense Secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, admitted that British-made cluster bombs
had been used in the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. The statement came seven
months after his ministry repeated Saudi Arabian claims that no such weapons
had been used, denying the evidence provided by Amnesty International. The
1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs called BL755 had been proven to have killed and injured
civilians including children, yet the Right Honorable Gentleman could not
resist to mention that they had been used against “legitimate military targets.”
One could think that the revelation of such facts, followed by an unwieldy statement
from one of the highest government officials would spark media outrage, or at
least provoke a nationwide discussion which could then lead to some constructive
conclusions, but Sir Fallon’s declaration attracted very little media
attention. The same can be said about the war in Yemen which has taken lives of
thousands of civilians, displaced over 2.5 million of its citizens and left
over 2/3 of the whole population in need of humanitarian aid. The scarce media coverage should no longer
surprise anyone, as the main news outlets tend to bombard the public with
topics of a greater significance, like Prime Minister’s footwear or the price
of some other parts of her garment.
Shopping
Spree for Kings
BL755 is designed to explode mid-air,
releasing 147 bomblets with a reach of 97 thousand square feet (9 thousand
square meters). It’s most effective against mobile targets like soft-skinned
vehicles and it’s extremely harmful to humans. Cluster bombs’ wide area stretch
that cannot rule out killing and injuring civilians, as well as the dangers it poses
for years after the drop when unexploded were the main reasons why over 100
nations signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008 (forbidding the use,
development or stockpiling of these weapons), the UK being one of them.
The abovementioned BL755s had been sold
to the Saudis during the rule of Margaret Thatcher and were dropped from the
British-manufactured Tornado jets which have been since upgraded. What’s most
significant, the UK government drastically increased its military export
licences to the Persian Gulf’s absolute monarchy when the conflict in Yemen
began. Just in the first year of fighting, the sales were worth over $4 billion
– that included the Eurofighter Typhoon jets, which have been bombing
residential areas of Yemen. It’s worth mentioning that the Prime Minister herself
has defended these weapon deals and has not condemned the coalition’s actions
in Yemen.
Nevertheless, the UK’s $8 billion worth
of arms deals with the KSA during the current government’s term may seem
peanuts in comparison to $115bn (sic) of weapon sales to the Saudis offered by
the USA since Barack Obama took power (though Americans halted some of the transfers
last December, unlike the British). That’s one of the fields where the outgoing
president managed to surpass his predecessors. Among scores of military
equipment purchased by the Gulf Kingdom were the 2,000 lb (over 900 kg) Mark 84
bombs, also dropped on noncombatant targets.
The Righteous Double Standards
The United Nations expert panel has confirmed
that the Saudi-led coalition has targeted civilian population, bombing schools,
hospitals, buses, mosques and markets, therefore, it has continuously violated international
humanitarian law. How is it possible then, that the USA and the United Kingdom
have not proposed any major sanctions against Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates and other nations taking part in the devastation of Yemen? Why are they
doing exactly the opposite, providing aid to the aggressors?
We have been told for years that both
the American and the British governments represent the highest values of
humanity, cherish human life and freedom, revere democracy and despise tyranny.
We have been told that they are “the good ones,” fighting injustice, helping
the oppressed, saving the world from evil, so the people of all nations can
live in peace and prosperity. That is the image we (the Westerners) get in our history
books, films, newspapers and TV programs. Our general impression of the only
superpower in the world, i.e., the United States is that of Captain America
(the others – our Western governments, with the United Kingdom furthest ahead –duly
adhere to their master). That would explain why we frantically follow what we
are told by its officials, rarely finding courage to question their sincerity.
But that perception is very dangerous as it leads to the conclusion that what
we do is right because we do it, and laws
apply to us only if we say so. Therefore, it’s wrong for them, our adversaries, to commit crimes and engage in unlawful acts,
yet it’s perfectly fine for us to wreak
havoc and bring about destruction upon others.
Our hypocrisy and sanctimoniousness have
no limits. Our schizophrenia is inconceivable. There are multiple examples of
West’s criminality in foreign nations, like mass slayings of their populations
in Vietnam or Iraq, assassinations or assassination attempts of their leaders,
like Patrice Lumumba of the Congo or Fidel Castro of Cuba, cases of providing
safe haven for certified terrorists, like Luis Posada Carriles or Orlando Bosch,
and numerous instances of meddling in other countries’ elections, very often
installing bloodthirsty sociopaths as their rulers, like Pinochet in Chile or
Suharto in Indonesia. But, for us, they were the good guys, “our sons of
bitches.”
Then, who are those tyrants we fought
righteous wars against? Who are the people we vigorously demonized, the ones we
described as merciless thugs, and, in most notable cases, did not hesitate to ceremonially
end their lives? Let’s take a look at some of their résumés.
Devil
Incarnate
December 30 of 2016 marked a decade of
the reality-show style execution of a long-time dictator of Iraq, Saddam
Hussein. We all know what kind of despot he was. Brutal towards the citizens of
his own nation, merciless to his opponents, he was our epitome of evil. What was
he hanged for? The main crime he was convicted for was the July 1982 Dujail
Massacre, where 148 Shiite residents were killed in a retaliation for a failed
assassination attempt on Hussein.
It would be quite useful to add that 5
months before the carnage the US removed Iraq from the list of “State Sponsors
of Terrorism.” What was the story behind it? During that time, Iraq was deeply
involved in a war with its neighbor, Iran, which, by 1982, started gaining
advantage over Saddam’s army. It wasn’t something the World’s Policeman was
looking forward to, therefore, after removing Iraq from the above list, the US
could freely supply Hussein with military equipment and other kinds of aid.
Remember the story which Tony Blair and
George W. Bush based their invasion of Iraq on? It was a fable that Saddam
Hussein had active weapons of mass destruction, and that he would be able to
use them within 45 minutes. They also scared the public with claims that he was
developing nuclear arsenal he was ready to use against the Western countries. All
of that was obviously a hoax based on fraudulent intelligence reports (some of
those had even been inspired by Hollywood movie plots). What was carefully
avoided by major news reports, though, was the fact that there were WMDs found
in Iraq during the 2nd Gulf War. However, they had nothing to do
with the active arsenal as portrayed by the Western coalition’s propaganda, they
were the remnants of Saddam’s weapon program from the 1980s. What’s most
interesting, as the investigation by the New York Times concluded: “the
munitions appeared to have been designed in the United States, manufactured in
Europe and filled in chemical agent production lines built in Iraq by Western
companies.”
The coalition bombings together with
the outrageous mismanagement of the country in the most crucial time after the
invasion by a corporate consultant, Paul Bremer, let the country with an incredibly
rich history descent into chaos. The sectarian conflicts and any terrorist
organizations originating or evolving in Iraq (including our main scare these
days – the Islamic State) are a direct result of those actions. The US planned
for deposing Saddam after deciding that he wasn’t good for business. If the
abuse of human rights, lack of democracy or even ties to 9/11 attacks (the
American officials unsuccessfully tried to link Hussein to al-Qaeda) had ever
been an issue, the first country to invade would have been Saudi Arabia, which would
have met all the above criteria.
“We Came, We Saw, He Died”
These were the words then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gleefully cried
out during the interview in 2011, straight after the Libyan leader, Muammar
Gaddafi had been killed.
The MQ-1 Predator drone operated from Las Vegas, accompanied by the French
Air Force Dassault Rafale bombers fired missiles at the convoy while the Libyan
colonel was trying to flee the city of Sirte during the Libyan Civil War. Found
in a drainage pipe and raped with a bayonet by the rebels, then, killed at the
spot, reportedly, by a French intelligence agent, Gaddafi’s 42-year rule
officially came to an end.
The Brotherly Leader of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,
as he called himself since 1979, had a truly love-hate relationship with the
West, most importantly the United States. Shortly after he had taken power in
1969, the US hindered several conspiracies to overthrow him, due to his initial
anti-communist stance. Then, in the ‘70s and ‘80s, he was accused of supporting
numerous separatist and terrorist organizations, plane hijackings, assassination
attempts on prominent figures and various terrorist acts all across the world,
most notably, the 1988 bombing of the Pan Am flight 103 which killed 270 people (most of them American).
After imposing sundry sanctions on Libya, and even bombing Gaddafi’s house in
1986, during which his adopted daughter was killed, the magical year of 2003
saw West’s warmer approach towards the colonel. The sanctions were lifted by both
the US and the UN (US rescinded its trade embargo in 2004). What happened?
Gaddafi officially took the blame for the Pan Am flight bombing, agreed to pay
compensation to the families of the victims, and most importantly, eliminated
his WMD program (the US government claimed it was due to their invasion of
Iraq). Then, we could see him shaking hands with Tony Blair and getting praise
from the American and other Western officials.
What’s interesting about those facts is that it had been proven years earlier
that Gaddafi had nothing to do with the explosion of Pan Am airplane, and it had
been known that Libyan intelligence officials had offered removal of its WMDs before
the invasion of Iraq. Again, the geopolitical intricacies prevailed over truth
and justice – the West simply tried to convince the people of the world that
its policies actually work. It is enough to take a look at the situations in
Iraq and Libya today to realize how
they work.
The Forgotten Companions
The above examples are by no means exhaustive. Just to name a few more: the
Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega, was convicted by the US for drug dealing
he had done while on CIA’s payroll; the notorious Romanian ruler, Nicolae
Ceaușescu and the Spanish fascist leader, Francisco Franco, were America’s good
friends – the US president, Richard Nixon, even toasted the latter in Madrid. These
autocrats may appear pretty benign compared to Cambodia’s genocidal lunatic Pol
Pot, whose organization, Khmer Rouge, had been responsible for deaths of 2
million people. After Uncle Secretary had converted to the righteous ideals of
the West, Uncle Sam injected him with some cash, decided that his mass murders
weren’t really a genocide and gave him a seat at the UN. If one finds these
examples a little outdated, we may always look at our new most hated villain,
Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who, at our request, happily tortured our prisoners, and the recently ousted
Egyptian head of state, Hosni Mubarak, who ensured we would never see them
again.
Consciousness Is Key
The ubiquitous bunk emanating from our TV screens, computers and phones has
given our politicians celebrity status and has made us accustomed to their
impunity. These days, we don’t even know if we are lied to, because the
mainstream media have abandoned their role of holding authorities accountable
for their wrongdoings. Little do we know about facts, as editors select only those
ones which suit their agenda. We see evil, hear evil, and speak evil only if it’s
against our governments’ supreme values which come down to two words: big business. And for those of us who
haven’t yet realized – we’re only included in paying up, not getting profits. Therefore,
it’s up to us to breathe down our governments’ necks, not acquiesce to their “truths”
and trust their superior knowledge. We need to be more conscious and daring to
call things what they are. If change is about to come, it’s up to us to make it
happen. No one else will do it for us.
