Global Research – by Kit O’Connell
Note: Following the recent US House of Representatives vote to declare that ISIS is committing genocide in Iraq and Syria, we bring to the attention of our readers this article originally published in August 2015.
It may never be possible to know the true death toll of the modern Western wars on the Middle East, but that figure could be 4 million or higher. Since the vast majority of those killed were of Arab descent, and mostly Muslim, when would it be fair to accuse the United States and its allies of genocide?
A March report by Physicians for Social Responsibility calculates the body count of the Iraq War at around 1.3 million, and possibly as many as 2 million. However, the numbers of those killed in Middle Eastern wars could be much higher. The actual death toll could reach as high as 4 million if one includes not just those killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the victims of the sanctions against Iraq, which left about 1.7 million more dead, half of them children, according to figures from the United Nations.
Raphael Lemkin and the definition of genocide
The term “genocide” did not exist prior to 1943, when it was coined by a Polish-Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin created the word by combining the Greek root “geno,” which means people or tribe, with “-cide,” derived from the Latin word for killing.
The Nuremberg trials, in which top Nazi officials were prosecuted for crimes against humanity, began in 1945 and were based around Lemkin’s idea of genocide. By the following year, it was becoming international law, according to United to End Genocide:
“In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that ‘affirmed’ that genocide was a crime under international law, but did not provide a legal definition of the crime.”
With support from representatives of the U.S., Lemkin presented the first draft of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide to the United Nations. The General Assembly adopted the convention in 1948, although it would take three more years for enough countries to sign the convention, allowing it to be ratified.
According to this convention, genocide is defined as:
“…any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, such as:
- (a) Killing members of the group;
- (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
Under the convention, genocide is not merely defined as a deliberate act of killing, but can include a broad range of other harmful activities:
“Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group includes the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group’s physical survival, such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services. Deprivation of the means to sustain life can be imposed through confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts.”
It can also include forced sterilization, forced abortion, prevention of marriage or the transfer of children out of their families. In 2008, the U.N. expanded the definition to acknowledge that “rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide.”
A Middle Eastern genocide
A key phrase in the convention on genocide is “acts committed with intent to destroy.” While the facts back up a massive death toll in Arab and Muslim lives, it might be more difficult to argue that the actions were carried out with the deliberate intent to destroy “a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”
The authors of the convention were aware, however, that few of those who commit genocide are so bold as to put their policies in writing as brazenly as the Nazis did. Yet, as Genocide Watch noted in 2002: “Intent can be proven directly from statements or orders. But more often, it must be inferred from a systematic pattern of coordinated acts.”
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush employed a curious and controversial choice of words in one of his first speeches. He alarmed some by referencing historic, religious conflicts, as The Wall Street Journal staff writers Peter Waldman and Hugh Pope noted:
“President Bush vowed … to ‘rid the world of evil-doers,’ then cautioned: ‘This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while.’
Crusade? In strict usage, the word describes the Christian military expeditions a millennium ago to capture the Holy Land from Muslims. But in much of the Islamic world, where history and religion suffuse daily life in ways unfathomable to most Americans, it is shorthand for something else: a cultural and economic Western invasion that, Muslims fear, could subjugate them and desecrate Islam.”
In the wars that followed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. not only killed millions, but systematically destroyed the infrastructure necessary for healthy, prosperous life in those countries, then used rebuilding efforts as opportunities for profit, rather than to benefit the occupied populations. To further add to the genocidal pattern of behavior, there is ample evidence of torture and persistent rumors of sexual assault from the aftermath of Iraq’s fall. It appears likely the U.S. has contributed to further destabilization and death in the region by supporting the rise of the self-declared Islamic State of Iraq and Syria by arming rebel groups on all sides of the conflict.
After 9/11, the U.S. declared a global “War on Terror,” ensuring an endless cycle of destabilization and wars in the Middle East in the process. The vast majority of the victims of these wars, and of ISIS, are Muslims. In this context, many Americans are embracing Bush’s controversial language of religious warfare, calling for Muslims to be placed in camps or even openly calling for genocide.
The original source of this article is Mint Press News
Copyright © Kit O’Connell, Mint Press News, 2016
It could easily be said that the “powers that be” are currently committing genocide against American citizens.
Not yet, merely setting the stage, it is going to get a whole lot worse yet.
“The term “genocide” did not exist prior to 1943, when it was coined by a Polish-Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin.”
wow… THAT’S a surprise.
“While the facts back up a massive death toll in Arab and Muslim lives, it might be more difficult to argue that the actions were carried out with the deliberate intent to destroy “a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”
Not more difficult at all, considering the Talmudic scum behind it.
Genocide… and not only Muslims are slated to be slaughtered.
Genocide? I’m not sure, but it’s unquestionably mass murder. And I’m sure there are many Zionist-Jews and neocons who would like nothing more than to kill off all Muslims, perhaps followed by other ethnic groups.
Perhaps? Is there any question? Bloodthirsty son’s of bitches they are.
I call it a good start………… we’ll fire one when they fire one……….
FIRE ONE!
LOL.
Genocide? No, not systematic enough, to be genocide you need to go in and round them all up for just straight wipe them out. What we are seeing is kicking a hornets nest via mass slaughter of ordinary folks to keep the Muslims riled up. Iraq (parts 1 & 2) along with Afghanistan did a good job of this, it paved the way for Israel and Obaaaahma to found ISIS and there was no shortage of willing kamikazes because of what the military had done to the locals in Iraq and so on, we must also include Israel and now Saudi Arabias actions in helping things along too. So calling it genocide right now? No, put it IS paving the way FOR genocide by Israel when they decide to take over more real estate, by getting them to kill each other there will be less to fight Israel.
Just remember what happened when Israel faced a unified Lebanon, they LOST! Yes they made a successful incursion but their overall plan to take over was stopped cold because there was no civil war raging, no ISIS. Israel learned and now we see them correcting their mistake by using ISIS.
It ain’t genocide YET folks, not will the jews start their engines and roll down the streets, then the real genocide will begin.
“now we see them correcting their mistake by using ISIS.” No, we ARE them, looking in the mirror. U.S./Israel, one in the same.
I am not ISIS, I am not Israeli, I am not the federal government. While the US government and Israel are inexplicably bound together like conjoined twins that does not mean I am a part of it. This is why there is more and more division in the US all the time, people are yanking their support and having nothing to do with it anymore, less people vote because voting shows belief in a false system and supports it.
One could only claim that by being an American you are a part of it if they participate or support it. The real truth of the matter is that the federal government (US/USA) no longer represents the people nor are the people the government anymore, they have become two stark opposite entities that are locked in combat.
So no, “we” are not “them” unless you still believe that the federal government somehow represents you or if you partake in it and or support it.
FU bitch! We ARE them whether you like it or not! You cannot say “I live here” and not be part of it. These are our men and women, taking orders from D.C., no questions asked. I’m horrified by what they are doing and I do feel a sense of responsibility for what our “War Machine” does.
But to be so arrogant to say your not “part of it” is ridiculous. We “allow” this insurgency to continue. What? No responsibility there?
You have highly selective hearing, the federal government is not American but a foreign machine, you need to listen to JD on the radio. The government (corporation now) is a foreign entity that has nothing to do with me nor I, it.
I am not them, nor are they “mine” in whatever way you may be referring to government and or their forces.
You really need to listen to JD on the radio, as he said this is a FOREIGN OCCUPATION of America. Go listen to him, learn something.
You see now? Picky, picky, picky! We both want the same thing, we’re both just “wavin'” our dick’s now! I’m done. Can you leave it rest or is it gonna take a few more whacks?
As far as listening to JD and Henry, I’ve be here well before someone called Vekar ever showed up in the comment section, grasshopper. Admit it, you don’t know your arse from a hole in the ground when it comes to FTTWR.com. Maybe the “bitch” slappin’ could’ve been avoided.
Well, the US has had a lot of practice at it…for instance, Long Island off the coast of New York City (including Queens and Brooklyn counties), once had 19 Native American tribes (such as the Sheepshead in north Queens, the Canarsie in Brooklyn, and the Patchouge, Haphouge, Quogue, Wontauk, and many others in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Now? One! The Shinnecocks.
I THINK THIS WILL EVENTUALLY END IN A REAL HOLOCOST. A JEWISH GENOCIDE., BECAUSE GOD CURSED THESE PEOPLE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. JEWS AND CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS ARE STUCK IN A SELF FULFILLING PROPHECY.I DONT THINK THAT EMPEROR TITUS’ WAR ON THE JEWS IN 70 AD WAS THE END OF THE CREATORS JUDGMENT CONCERNING THESE PEOPLE, OR THEIR “JUDEO-CHRISTIAN COUNTERPARTS”.BUT THATS JUST ME. THE BILL OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOM FOR MAN IS THE IMPERATIVE.WHETHER YOU BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THAT WAS THE ORIGINAL INTENTION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT………. AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS.A WAY TO FREE YOUR MIND FROM YOUR OWN BULLSHIT AND GUILT SO YOU COULD LOVE YOURSELF AND OTHERS, AND TO TAKE CARE OF ONE ANOTHER. THAT EVERYONE WOULD SEE YOUR GOOD WORKS, AND WANT TO BE A PART….. THE BILL OF RIGHTS AGREES WITH THE PREACHING OF JESUS. OUR “LAW”, TO ME PERSONALLY IS AS INSPIRED BY GOD AS THE NEW TESTAMENT, EVEN DOWN TO THE 12 JURORS THAT CAN EASILY REPRESENT THE APOSTOLIC “JUDGES”. LEARNED JEWS UNDERSTAND THESE THINGS AND HATE THE PRECEPTS………. THATS WHY THEY WANT YOUR BILL OF RIGHTS. THE ONLY “LAW” ON EARTH THAT HONOURS GOD…..
They “your guberment” started this is 1946, it happened! The Palestinians now live in an open prison.