As we mark the 60th anniversary of the final end of World War 2 with the surrender of Japan, it is important to consider mainstream media reporting of past and present war crimes. We all know about the World War 2 Jewish Holocaust (6 million victims) although its actuality was scandalously only officially recognized by the Allies 30 months before the end of the war. However the "forgotten holocaust" of the man-made Bengal Famine in World War 2 British-ruled India (4 million Hindu and Muslim victims) has been effectively deleted from history and general perception by racist politicians, media and academic historians in a continuing process of racist "holocaust denial" [1]. Similar racist or "patriotic" holocaust denial variously constrains general mainstream media reportage about UK-US pre-knowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack; the Soviet Union-related reasons for Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Japanese capitulation; and horrendous civilian avoidable mortality associated with the current US-led "War on Terror".
Jihadist or insurgent violence has taken about 5,000 innocent Western civilian lives over the last 20 years. Post-invasion avoidable mortality (excess mortality) and under-5 infant mortality have totalled 1.9 million and 1.5 million, respectively, in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories in gross contravention of the Geneva Conventions [1-4] but US military deaths have totalled about 2,000 [5]. The annual under-5 infant death rates in Occupied Iraq and Afghanistan (2.6% and 5.8% per year, respectively) are of a similar order to the annual death rate for Australian POWs under the Japanese in World War 2 (10.4% per year) – an acknowledged outrageous war crime [6]. The Jury of Conscience of the World Tribunal on Iraq (spokesperson brilliant writer and humanitarian Arundhati Roy) has issued a declaration charging the UK, the US and their Coalition partners with war crimes over Iraq [7].
In World War 2 the " death ratio" of "total enemy deaths"/ "Allied military deaths" was 0.6 (substantially due to huge Red Army losses) , the ratio of "total enemy deaths"/US military deaths was 37 and the ratio of murdered Jewish children/Axis military deaths was 0.3 – however in the Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories the post-invasion ratio of "total avoidable enemy deaths" /"US military deaths" has been about 1,900,000/2,000 = 950 and the ratio of "enemy infant deaths"/"US military deaths" has been 1,500,000/2,000 = 750 (noting that about 90% of these "enemy infant deaths" were avoidable).
High tech US military operations minimize politically-damaging military casualties at the expense of civilian casualties through targetting civilian areas from afar, saving lives of wounded soldiers, better training of soldiers to kill – and budgetarily-efficient non-provision to conquered civilians of the life-sustaining requisites demanded by the Geneva Conventions [8]. The UK, the US and their Coalition allies should be indicted before the International Criminal Court for passive genocide and other egregious war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Peace is the only way but silence kills and silence is complicity. Please inform everyone. We must save the children – and intrinsic decency in the Anglo-Celtic democracies.
References:
[1]. Global Avoidable Mortality: http://globalavoidablemortality.blogspot.com/
[2]. UN Population Division, 2005: http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=1
[3]. Gideon Polya website: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gpolya/links.html
[4]. UN, World Tribunal & Arundhati Roy expose UK-US war crimes in Iraq: http://blogmark.mg.co.za/?q=node/1553
[5]. Iraq coalition casualty count: http://icasualties.org/oif/
[6]. Japanese & UK-US war crimes: http://blogmark.mg.co.za/?q=node/1543
[7]. Declaration of Jury of Conscience, World Tribunal on Iraq: http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=91
[8]. Office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva Convention relative to protection of civilian persons in time of war: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm
