June 16, 2006

WORLD WAR 2 cost the lives of about 85 million people, including 35 million Chinese, 20 million Russians, and 6 million Poles. The Jewish Holocaust (6 million victims) is seared into humanity’s consciousness.

After the end of World War 2 and  liberation of the concentration camps,  ordinary Germans pleaded that "we didn’t know". Further, in the post-1945 era the Germans followed a protocol best described by the acronym CAAAA (C4A): Cessation of atrocities against civilians, Acknowledgement of the crimes, Apology, Amends, and Assertion of "never again".

Japan adopted a non-aggression Constitution and eschewed violence – but continues to displease China over its failure to fully admit to its war time atrocities, and its failure to teach its high school students properly about its WW2 crimes. Thus Japan has adopted a C and qualified 4A policy – but this is simply NOT good enough in the reasonable view of the Chinese.

Now, thanks to George Bush and his obscene and criminally mis-directed  "War on Terror" (in reality a War for Resources and a War on Women and Children), all that has changed. Germany has resumed war crimes with gusto in Occupied Afghanistan and Japan has resumed war crimes in BOTH Occupied Iraq and Occupied Afghanistan. Of course, Japan and Germany are not the ONLY countries variously allied with the UK and US in Occupied Afghanistan or Occupied Iraq. Thus major players in Afghanistan currently include the US, UK, Australia, Canada and France - as well as Germany and Japan ; and major players in Occupied Iraq currently include the US, UK, and Australia – as well as the former Axis countries Italy and Japan. Numerous other countries (from Western and Eastern Europe, East Asia, South East Asia and Central America) have dirtied their international reputations by making token contributions to these criminal American enterprises.

Decent people around the world subscribe to the great words of the American Declaration of Independence "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

The civilized world subscribes IN PRACTICE to the UN Charter and the Geneva, Universal Human Rights and Rights of the Child Conventions that spell out this great Jeffersonian prescription in much greater detail. Thus the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1950)  states in part:

"Article 55. To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate …

Article 56. To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining , with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory, with particular reference to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics. Medical personnel of all categories shall be allowed to carry out their duties …"

These Conventions are being GROSSLY violated in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories where the post-invasion avoidable deaths (excess deaths) now total 0.5 million and 1.8 million, respectively, and the post-invasion under-5 infant deaths total 0.4 million and 1.4 million, respectively (with 90% being avoidable)