Ajamu Baraka: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity

The Story of US Exceptionalism in Iraq. This month marks the tenth anniversary of the US attack on Iraq, one of the most egregious expressions of naked power, and imperial ambition since the Second World War. The attack defied both an outraged world opinion, expressed by global mass demonstrations, and the United Nations charter. It also marked a change, from the previous veiled decorum of supposed adherence to international law, that defined post war international relations. The Bush administration, armed with the ultimate expression of the arrogance of US exceptionalism, legislation passed by the US Congress, unleashed a murderous assault on the people of Iraq, dubbed Operation Shock and Awe. Ten years later, the awesome consequences of that criminal assault are clear. More than a trillion dollars spent, almost five thousand American lives lost, more than 32,000 Americans wounded, estimates of a million dead Iraqis, and almost five million displaced, an epidemic of Iraqi birth defects from depleted uranium, daily bombings, devastated public services, and the dismemberment of the country, yet ten years later, no one, not one government official, has been held accountable. The obvious question is: how is it that, in light of one of the most heinous crimes ever committed by a State, there have been no investigations, prosecutions or convictions of the officials responsible for this assault? The lack of accountability is even more incomprehensible in light of the fact, that it is now widely acknowledged, that the real reason for the Western invasion of Iraq had little to do with its concern about weapons of mass destruction, and everything to do with its desire to steal Iraq's oil. American officials have long since broken their silence, on the phony excuses proffered to the American people, to sucker them into supporting a war of choice against an Iraqi regime, softened up by a decade of crippling sanctions. Antonia Juhasz, in an article written for CNNs website, pointed out that the historical record, is now unambiguously replete with evidence, that the real motivation to attack Iraqs oil, and that plans were being made, as soon as ten days after the Bush Administration took power, to figure out how to accomplish that objective.