The Gulf Crisis and New World Order — Page 371
The Gulf Crisis & The New World Order against humanity for U. S. conduct before, during and after the war against Iraq. This was not some hasty, far out event, the work of kooks, dreamers or subversive radicals. The leader of the prosecution was a former a ttorney-general of the United States, Ramsey Clark, who travelled extensively inside Iraq during the war itself. The evidence presented to the panel before and at the New York meeting (held in Marlin King Jr. Auditorium before 1,500 people) was meticulously gathered from Commission of Enquiry hearings held in 20 countries around the world and in 24 North American cities, including Toronto. In fact, it was the culmination of what was probably the largest independent global investigation into war crimes ever undertaken. In a d dition to seeing footage shot by Clark and his team, the panel heard eye-witness testimony from such people as Mohammad Khader, a Palestinian living in Baghdad during the war. Khadar told how U. S. "smart bombs" killed thousands of civilians at the Ameriyah bomb shelter on the first night of the war, Feb 13, 1991. To the rest of the world, watching on TV, it looked like fireworks show. For him it was a torment of hell in which his wife and four of his daughters were killed in the slaughter. Here are some of the charges sustained by the tribunal: • The U. S. engaged in a pattern of conduct. . . intended to lead Iraq into provocations justifying U. S. military action against Iraq and permanent U. S. military domination of the gulf. • President Bush from August 2, 1990, intended and acted lo prevent any interference with his plan to destroy Iraq economically and militarily. • President Bush ordered the destruction of facilities essential to civilian life and economic productivity throughout Iraq. • The U. S. intentionally bombed. . . civilian life, commercial and business districts, schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, shelters, residential areas, historical sites, private vehicles and civilian government offices. 371