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Bush & Blair deserve war crimes trial, not Saddam Hussein

*See also, "Bush vs. Hussein"

In just the first six months of 2006, the united $tates has caused the deaths of 14,000 civilians in Iraq either through military atrocities or the U.$.-instigated civil war according to the United Nations.(1) Prior to the u.$. invasion, the regime was repressive but not in a constant state of civil war and terrorism. Every day on television we hear about the civil war and the crimes of u.$. soldiers, only a fraction of which are revealed.

These numbers are every bit as bad as the numbers fancifully put forward by the Bush regime about Saddam Hussein. In comparison, England's Prime Minister Tony Blair blamed Saddam Hussein for an average of 16,667 deaths per year over 24 years.(2) Since the united $tates and England have now caused over 14,000 deaths in six months, we imagine he wants to go back and take back his estimate about an alleged "monster." If Saddam Hussein is a "monster," then we ask what that makes Blair.

Only the world's greatest monster, u.$. imperialism can make Saddam Hussein look like a hero. The united $tates put him in power and worked with him to kill communists in the 1960s. Then, Rumsfeld brought him weapons of mass destruction. Yet despite the prolonged love affair with its puppet, Uncle $am ended up grinding him up and spitting him out--a warning to any other would-be puppets in the world. Uncle $am's passions often end in murder.

Now it is 2006 and Saddam Hussein has lost his two sons and put up a fiery display of patriotism against the invaders in his joke of a trial by u.$. puppet forces. It took a monster like u.$. imperialism to make Saddam Hussein look like a regular upstanding guy.

It's often been said that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld should be in the dock instead of Saddam Hussein. True, but that is obvious.

U.$. imperialists put Serbia's ruler Slabodan Milosevic in Hague prison and killed him there. He stood accused of organizing the killing of civilians of his neighboring nationalities.

Today, with I$rael in Lebanon killing over 600 civilians in response to Hezbollah's attack on I$rael's soldiers,(3) Prime Minister Olmert should be in the same court dock Milosevic was in. And with 14,000 Iraqi civilians dead in just half a year, Bush & Blair make Saddam Hussein look pacifist. That's not to mention half a million Iraqi children killed by U.$. sanctions on Iraq prior to the ground invasion.(4) Clinton would have to go into the dock for that.

At the end of every story about Abimael Guzman's "Shining Path" in Peru, the imperialist media reminded the public how many people died in the civil war over the years and blamed the rebels.

In news stories about the People's War in Nepal, the same is true. We often see the story end with a line about how many people have died in the struggle to get out of theocracy in Nepal.

Now we need every news story about Iraq to end with the same line. "U.$-backed rebels that overthrew Saddam Hussein are responsible for the deaths of over 14,000 people in the past year. Estimates range to over 100,000 deaths since the U.$. invasion and total killed by u.$. actions since 1990 exceed a million." That would be even-handed.

All this should be obvious to any alert reader.

Notes:
1. http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/24/iraq.main/
2. http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2003/s1010066.htm
3. "At least 797 people have been reported killed in Lebanon and Israel since fighting broke out July 12 between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas.

"Lebanon: At least 689 have been killed including 605 civilians confirmed dead by the Health Ministry, 29 Lebanese soldiers and at least 55 Hezbollah guerrillas.

"The Lebanese government's Higher Relief Council said 973 Lebanese had been killed in the conflict.

"As of Sunday Israeli security officials said they had confirmed the deaths of 165 Hezbollah fighters and estimated that about 250 others had been killed.

"Included in the civilian deaths are eight Canadians, two Kuwaitis, one Iraqi, one Sri Lankan, one Jordanian and 23 Syrians.

"Israel: Ninety-seven have been killed, including 65 soldiers, 36 civilians, according to authorities."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-08-08-midest-fighting_x.htm

4. The Bush regime reports on the deaths in Iraq under U.$. sanctions as the fault of Saddam Hussein, thereby avoiding responsibility for the the U.$. government's actions. See,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/04/20030404-1.html
On the other hand, at least the Bush regime is admitting the sanctions killed 400,000 Iraqi children--a toll that reaches beyond anything Saddam Hussein did in all his combined years.

Referring to 500,000 deaths, Secretary of State Madelaine Albright put it this way to Lesley Stahl: "I think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it."
http://www.fff.org/comment/com0311c.asp