Mosul Raped and Destroyed, Not Liberated
Global
Research, July 01, 2017
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History
correctly told will equate America’s
rape and destruction of Mosul to its gratuitous Hiroshima/Nagasaki nuking,
along with its ruthless fire-bombing of Dresden and Toyko during WW II,
three post-1948 Israeli terror wars on Gaza, imperial Japan’s rape of Nanking,
and Nazi Germany’s infamous terror-bombing of Guernica, among other horrific
high crimes of war and against humanity.
They flagrantly violated fundamental
laws of war, grievously harming civilians most of all, massacring them
indiscriminately.
Strategic bombing involves destroying
an adversary’s economic and military ability to wage war. It targets its
warmaking capacity and related infrastructure.
Terror bombing is another matter. It
causes mass slaughter and destruction, grievously harming civilians, destroying
or damaging nonmilitary related sites.
Geneva and other international laws
forbid the targeting of civilians. The Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on
Land (1907 Hague IV Convention) states:
— Article 25: “The attack or
bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings
which are undefended is prohibited.”
— Article 26: “The officer in command
of an attacking force must, before commencing a bombardment, except in cases of
assault, do all in his power to warn the authorities.”
Article 27: “In sieges and
bombardments, all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible,
buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic
monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected,
provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes.”
Fourth Geneva protects civilians in
time of war. It prohibits violence of any type against them and requires
treatment for the sick and wounded.
In September 1938, a League of Nations
unanimous resolution prohibited the “bombardment of cities, towns, villages,
dwellings or buildings not in the immediate neighborhood of the operations of
land forces.”
“In cases where (legitimate targets)
are so situated, (aircraft) must abstain from bombardment” if it
indiscriminately harms civilians.
“The 1945 Nuremberg Principles prohibit
“crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” – namely,
“inhumane acts committed against any civilian populations, before or during the
war,” including indiscriminate killing and “wanton destruction of cities,
towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity.”
The 1968 General Assembly Resolution on
Human Rights prohibits launching attacks against civilian populations. For
America and Israel, it’s standard practice – by land, sea and terror bombings,
flagrantly breaching fundamental rule of law principles.
The battle for Mosul began last
October. Ruthless US-led terror-bombing massacred thousands of civilians,
displaced hundreds of thousands more.
Iraq’s second largest city no longer
exists. Months of terror-bombing turned it to rubble, unknown numbers of bodies
buried beneath it, largely civilians – victims of US ruthlessness.
So-called liberated areas resemble a
moonscape with no visible life. The battle of Mosul was a medieval massacre.
The devastating human cost remains to be revealed in full.
Orchestrated coverup tries suppressing
the horrors hundreds of thousands of defenseless civilians experienced from
months of fighting – fearing US-led terror-bombing more than ISIS.
Unstated Pentagon rules of engagement
permit anything goes. Defense Secretary
James (“mad dog”) Mattis dismissively said “(c)ivilian casualties are a
fact of life in this sort of situation” – ignoring US high crimes of war and
against humanity in all its war theaters, Nuremberg-level crimes.
Civilians suffer most in all wars.
Survival is a daily struggle. Contempt for their agony and trauma in all US war
theaters reflects how a ruthless rogue state operates.
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Featured
image: A bicyclist rides by the destroyed old Mosque of The Prophet Jirjis
in central Mosul, Iraq on July 27, 2014.
The
original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright ©
Stephen Lendman, Global Research, 2017
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