by B. R. GOWANI
PHOTOS/Daily Mail
Drone attacks
The US drone attack in Afghanistan, carried out in the first week of April, saw several people die, including eleven children. In 2011, 294 weapons were fired from drone. that number increased to 506 in 2012.
The number of Pakistanis killed as a result of attacks by Unmanned Ariel Vehicles since 2004 is between 1,990 and 3,308, most of them during the Obama tenure, according to newly leaked classified reports. Out of the total 367 US drone strikes against Pakistan, Obama Administration is responsible for 315.
In March, while visiting Pakistan, Ben Emerson, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, said:
“As a matter of international law, the U.S. drone campaign in Pakistan is … being conducted without the consent of the elected representatives of the people, or the legitimate Government of the State.”
He further added:
“It involves the use of force on the territory of another state without its consent and is therefore a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.”
About Emerson’s report, Victoria Nuland, the US State Department spokeswoman, had this to say:
“We’ve seen his press release. I’m obviously not going to speak about classified information here.“
United States war crimes
The list of the US war crimes is very long and so is the list of the US officials involved.
On September 11, that is, in 1973, the United States supported coup, led by General Augusto Pinochet, resulted in the removal and death of the democratically elected socialist President Salvador Allende. The then US President Richard Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger were heavily involved in the overthrow of Allende. It was part of the “Operation Condor“, which was responsible for similar activities in other Latin American countries too.
Kissinger has to be careful because Chile and possibly other countries may want to question or try him for his crimes. This is a recent phenomenon that some of the courts in Europe and elsewhere have also been demanding that the Western leaders should be held responsible for the war crimes. Former US President George W. Bush and the ex Prime Minister of Britain Tony Blair are also on the war crimes radar.
Things are changing and the US power is on the decline. In these changing times, President Obama should watch out his rear. His list of war crimes is on the rise: from making out the hit list to the drone attacks to the increased US involvement in Africa.
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com