War crimes

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Grandfather and child, victims of the pointless terror bombing of Dresden – Britain's RAF & USAAF – unpunished.
Soviet Katyn massacre – unpunished.

War crimes are violations of the so-called laws of war by any persons, military or civilian. War crimes include violations of perceived established protections of the so-called laws of war, but also include failures to adhere to norms of procedure and rules of battle, such as attacking those displaying a flag of truce, or using that same flag as a ruse of war to mount an attack. War crimes, as such, are unique to the 20th century when war victors made their alleged war crimes by losers punishable offenses citing so-called International Law.

War crimes by victors went unpunished. Because the definition of a 'state of war' is debateable, the term 'war crime' has different applications under different systems of international and military law, and may apply outside of what some may consider to be a 'state of war', but in areas where conflicts persist enough to constitute social instability.

Geneva Convention

Crimes against Palestine – unpunished

The Geneva Convention is a treaty that represents a legal basis in International Law with regard to the conduct of warfare. Not all nations are signatories to it (notably the former Soviet Union), and so were not bound by it, having different codes and values, if any, with regard to wartime conduct. The treatment of POWs are covered under this convention. It is also a war crime to target ambulances, hospitals, and medical crews.

World War I

Scottish-American historian Professor Niall Campbell Ferguson explains in his book The Pity of War – Explaining World War I (1999) within pages 371-386, that massacres of German POWs after they surrendered and were disarmed was common practice among soldiers from every Allied Army on the Western Front, but only Germans were put on trial after WWI for alleged war crimes at the "Leipzig war crimes trials" held in 1921 before the German Reichsgericht (Supreme Court) in Leipzig, as part of the penalties imposed on the German government under the Treaty of Versailles. Lawyer and historian Alfred de Zayas wrote:

"Generally speaking, the German population took exception to these trials, especially because the Allies were not similarly bringing their own soldiers to justice."

World War II

Bombing of Gaza in October 2023 – unpunished

The most notorious 'war crimes' trials have undoubtedly been those held by the so-called Allies following World War II, at Nuremberg, and Tokyo. Without doubt Nuremberg was the most controversial, seen today as 'Show Trials' in the finest Soviet tradition[1]. Maurice Bardeche's book Nuremberg or The Promised Land (1948) argued that the true motive of this tribunal was to provide retroactive justification for massive Allied atrocities against Germany and its allies. The famous advocate Dr. August von Knieriem produced a technical legal book deconstructing the legal basis of these trials with heavy criticism.[2] Other renowned scholars have also addressed these trials.[3] The Soviets came under scathing criticism by the junior British counsel at Nuremberg, Airey Neave[4] and Franz von Papen who was acquitted at Nuremberg, makes salient points about the tribunal's ludicrous flaws in his Memoirs,[5] not least the ridiculous obsession of the Americans introducing psychiatrists into all aspects of the proceedings.[6]

The Tokyo War Crime Trials are covered in Brackman's The Other Nuremberg.[7]

It would appear that only people of defeated nations are charged before international kangaroo courts after wars. The victors' war criminals, for example, the Soviets, Eisenhower, and Britain's notorious Arthur "Bomber" Harris, escaped prosecution after committing atrocious war crimes,[8][9] as with the murder of millions of surrendered soldiers,[10][11] see Rheinwiesenlager.

None of the Slav nations in eastern Europe have been held to account for the collossal atrocities, rapes and murders carried out by them in 1945, not least the criminal and monstrous "expulsions" of the German civilian population, the most gruesome crimes being in Czechoslovakia[12] and Poland[13][14][15][16][17]

21st century

On July 1, 2002 the International Criminal Court, a treaty-based court located in The Hague, came into being for the prosecution of war crimes committed on or after that date. However, several nations, most notably the United States, Red China, and, notably, Israel, have criticized the court, refused to participate in it or permit the court to have jurisdiction over their citizens.

None of the Jewish terrorists responsible for shocking atrocities in Palestine, including the bombing of the King David Hotel (July 22, 1946), and the murder of Lord Moyne (Nov.1944),[18] but also the bombing of Gaza in Juli/August 2014 (Operation Protective Edge) as well as October 2023 by Israel, have ever been brought to justice, and not a single Israeli military leader, who have been murdering Palestinians in the most atrocious ways since 1948,[19] have ever had to stand before an international war crimes tribunal.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Priemel, J.C., Stiller, A., editors, Reassessing the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, Berghann Books pubs., New York & Oxford, 2014, ISBN: 978-0-85745-530-7
  2. ↑ Knieriem, August von, The Nuremberg Trials, Chicago (US edition), or Nurnberg, Stuttgart, (German edition), 1959.
  3. ↑ Irving, David, Nuremberg - The Last Battle, London, 1996, ISBN:1-872197-16-7
  4. ↑ Neave, Airy, Nuremberg, Biteback pubs., London, reprint 2021, ISBN:978-1-78590-663-3
  5. ↑ Papen, Franz von, Memoirs, London, 1952, see index.
  6. ↑ Gellately, Professor Robert, editor, The Nuremberg Interviews conducted by Leon N. Goldensohn (d.1961), London, 2007, ISBN:9781845950149
  7. ↑ Brackman, Arnold C., The Other Nuremberg, London, 1989, ISBN:0-00-217991-1
  8. ↑ Overy, Richard, The Bombing War: Europe 1939-1934, Allen Lane pubs., London, 2013.
  9. ↑ Friedrich, Jorg, The Fire: the Bombing of Germany 1940-1945, Columbia University Press, 2006, ISBN:0-231-13380-4
  10. ↑ Bacque, James, Other Losses, London, 1989, ISBN:0-356-19136-2
  11. ↑ Bacque, James, Crimes and Mercies, London, 1997, ISBN:0-316-64070-0
  12. ↑ Turnwald, Dr. Wilhelm K., Documents on the Expulsions of the Sudeten Germans, Munich, 1951 (English-language edition 1953)
  13. ↑ Schnieder, Professor Theodor, et al, The Expulsion of the German Population from the Territories East of the Oder-Neisse-Line, FDR Ministry for Expellees, Refugees and War Victims, Bonn, West Germany, 1954.
  14. ↑ Krokow, Count Christian von, Hour of the Women, Germany 1988, USA 1991, London 1992, ISBN 0-571-14320-2
  15. ↑ Douglas, professor R. J., Orderly and Humane, Yale University Press, 2012, ISBN 9-780300-198201
  16. ↑ de Zayas, Professor Alfred Maurice, A Terrible Revenge, Palgrave-Macmillan, New York, 1993/4, reprint 2006, ISBN 978-1-4039-7308-5
  17. ↑ Nitsch, Gunter, Weeds Like Us, Author House, Bloomington, IN., USA, ISBN 978-3-4389-3312-2
  18. ↑ Sherman, A.J., Mandate Days - British Lives in Palestine 1918-1948, New York, 1997, pps:162, 180-3. ISBN:0-500-25116-9
  19. ↑ Hadawi, Sami, Bitter Harvest - A Modern History of Palestine, London, 1989, ISBN:0-905906-85-3
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