You Lookin' at Me?

From the early press blah blah from the administration as they launched their premeditated attack against the sovereign state of Iraq in violation of international law -(footnote 1)
"Your fate will depend on your actions. It will be no defense to say i was just following orders" - George W. Bush, message to the Iraqi people as he launched an invasion of Iraq in violation of many international treaties signed by the US, regarding use of military force. (ibid)

"we are dealing with people who are perfectly willing to lie to the world to attempt to further their case, and to the extent that people lie are ultimately caught lying and they lose their credibility and one would think it wouldn't take long for that to happen dealing with people like this" - Donald Rumsfield, press conference - early U.S. Bush the Younger attack on Iraq.

yes, one would think it wouldn't take so long for 'people like this' to lose their credibilty in the U.S. - as they have outside the bubble.

During the "major combat operations" after which Bush proclaimed victory , when U.S. soldiers were taken prisoner, the broadcast of footage of those prisoners was denounced as a breach of the geneva convention,
(footnote 2). Bush said he expected U.S. prisoners to be treated as humanely as Iraqi prisoners of war were treated. but since all who are now kidnapped by the U.S. are declared unlawful combattants and therefore in the administration's policy not protected by any legal constraints, i'm sure that george has changed the standard of expected conduct.

More often now the fact that the invasion was an illegal action from the start, and cannot be redeemed by claims of good intentions is left behind, and the question of whether more "troops" or less "troops" were needed at the start or more or less are needed now to "finish the job" dominates. It is hard to get excited about the call by the more extreme warmongers for a pullout of "troops" - although their argument is rational - that the presence of an occupying is the source of much of the "instability". With the calls to repeat the pattern in neighboring states, it seems more a desire to free up "resources" to be used elsewhere. As the ongoing debacle in Afghanistan has been hailed as a model for the Iraq conflict, it wouldn't be suprising to see the neo-conservative extremists push for a repetition of the "iraqi victory' in Iran, Syria, etc. 4 More Wars 4 More Wars!!




Footnote 1
U.N Charter, Article 2 (4) http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

Robert L. Bledsoe and Boleslaw A. Boczek, The International Law Dictionary, ABC-CLIO, pp 326-329


footnote 2.
Convention (III) Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (12 Aug 1949). Entry into Force: 21 October 1950
http://www.tufts.edu/fletcher/multi/texts/BH240.txt
Part II, article 13, 2nd to last sentence
Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.


Geneva Conventions text: http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/docs/geneva.html