war crimes
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Now in their 80s and 90s, aging WWII sex slaves haven’t forgotten
By Michele Lent Hirsch /Associate Editor — March 29, 2013 It’s a euphemism we still haven’t shaken. “Comfort women” refers to the women and girls—usually foreign, from countries like Korea, the Philippines, and China—forced by the Japanese military to do sex work mainly during World War II.
Justice Delayed by Patrick Wrigley
As the disappeared from the Kurdish-Turkish conflict are unearthed from unmarked graves, will the government help deliver justice? Image courtesy Philip Downey When I met him last March, Davut Akyon was clawing at the fresh brown earth in Bağözü, a village in Southeast Turkey.
(New York) – Syrian government forces have dropped bombs and fired artillery at or near at least 10 bakeries in Aleppo province over the past three weeks, killing and maiming scores of civilians who were waiting for bread. The attacks are at least recklessly indiscriminate and the pattern and number of attacks suggest that government forces have been targeting civilians, Human Rights Watch said.
Syria: Government Attacking Bread Lines
It is opportune that only a couple of weeks after three-times human rights awardee Bradley Manning presented his case against the US Government for war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, details have been released (see video trailer above) of a 15 month investigation by the Guardian and the BBC into torture centres in Iraq, coordinated by US Special Forces commander, James Steele, and former US General Petraeus. Add in evidence of system-wide torture and massacres in Iraq and Afghanistan as compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (see below) with additional evidence from a number of other sources (also below) and what we have is much more than a dossier but an indictment – unsealed and without need for a grand jury – that could form the basis of charges raised against the US Administration either in the World Court or – deliciously turning the tables – at the military tribunal of Bradley Manning.
Indicting the US Government for crimes against humanity – unsealing the evidence
US Army 'kill team' in Afghanistan posed with photos of murdered civilians | World news
The Afghanistan 'kill team' photos of murdered civilians could be more damaging than those from Abu Ghraib, say Nato commanders. Photograph: AP Commanders in Afghanistan are bracing themselves for possible riots and public fury triggered by the publication of "trophy" photographs of US soldiers posing with the dead bodies of defenceless Afghan civilians they killed.
Kandahar massacre: gunman Army says is Bales shot without warning, farmer testifies
JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. — First, there were dogs barking in the middle of the night.
US soldiers return to their barracks at a military base outside Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. Photograph: Stefan Zaklin/EPA It has been seven years since the end of the second siege of Fallujah – the US assault that left the city in ruins, killed thousands of civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands more; the assault that poisoned a generation, plaguing the people who live there with cancers and their children with birth defects . It has been seven years and the lies that justified the assault still perpetuate false beliefs about what we did. The US veterans who fought there still do not understand who they fought against, or what they were fighting for. I know, because I am one of those American veterans.
I am sorry for the role I played in Fallujah | Ross Caputi | Comment is free
Tracking James Steele, the alleged coordinator of Iraqi torture centres: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #1
James Steele today We have tracked down the man identified by The Guardian and the BBC who they alleged supervised death squads and torture squads, first in El Salvador, then Iraq (under General Petraeus).
The Wolf Brigade together with order Frago 234 (see below) was first exposed over two years ago when Wikileaks began to publish material provided by whistleblower Bradley Manning.
The Iraqi Wolf Brigade & ‘Frago 234′: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #2
Guantanamo | Gareth Peirce, Andy Worthington, Wikileaks, interviews with former detainees: US war crimes tribunal investigation #3
As part of our series of investigations for a proposed US war crimes tribunal we decided on the matter of Guantanamo Bay to go direct to the experts: Gareth Pierce, Andy Worthington, Wikileaks and, of course, the former detainees.
Kabul, March 2013
Afghanistan atrocities: US war crimes tribunal investigation #4
US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #5
Three years ago, to this week, WikiLeaks posted a 40-minute video showing an attack by US military on unarmed civilians from an Apache helicopter. The attack, which took place in New Baghdad on 12 July, 2007, saw over a dozen people killed.Iraq War and perverting the course of justice: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #6
The US strategy from the beginning of the second Iraq War has been to deflect criticism and prosecution by blaming others. The war began with a lie: that Saddam Hussein had WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and a BBC documentary showed what everyone suspected – that the US Administration went to great lengths to fool the public into accepting that the war was necessary (the true reason for invasion was, of course, oil).US officials were asked to cover up evidence of child abuse by contractors in Afghanistan – leaked diplomatic cables revealed that US officials were complicit. DynCorp — a defense contracting firm that claimed almost $2 billion per year in revenue from U.S. tax dollars — threw a party for Afghan security recruits, featuring boys purchased from child traffickers for entertainment.
US security contractors & child sex allegations: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #7
16 December 2011 Last updated at 02:13 ET Col Gaddafi had made a last stand in his home town of Sirte The death of Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi "creates suspicions" of war crimes, says the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the ICC was raising the concern with Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC). Col Gaddafi was killed on 20 October after being caught by rebels in his home town of Sirte. NTC officials initially said he died in crossfire, but promised to investigate following Western pressure.