“Expose War Crimes: Criminalise War”

CHE DET

1. It is heartening to be asked to speak on criminalizing war ? a subject that needs to be taken up by all civilized people. How can we claim to be civilized when we condone and legalise mass killings of men, women and children, the old and the sick as a solution to conflicts between nations. We usually consider the most successful killers, the ones who do the most amount of damage as the winners and they are entitled to put thr losers on trial and punish them, including murdering them. The judges in these courts are nationals of the winning countries. There can be no impartiality.
2. Yet at the same time we consider murder as a very serious crime which merit severe punishment. The more civilized countries claim to be so concerned about human life that they have abolished the death penalty, even for murderes.
3. But these same countries and these same people consider the bombing innocent civilians, launching explosive missiles against them, machine gunning and blowing them up with grenades as ligitimise and morally right.
4. There is something wrong there. How can we object to the murder of individual when approve mass killing of innocent people. Yet that is what we do in war ? we kill people, not always soldiers who may kill us but, now, more and more often, innocent civilians who can do us no harm.
5. War was in the ancient times a necessary option in the settlement of conflicts between primitive people of nations. But in thoese days the capacity to kill and to destroy was limited. The weapons used were incapable of mass destruction or mass killings. Soldiers had to handle the swords, bows and arrows, spears and daggers themselves. They had to face the enemies who were similarly armed. If they failed to kill the enemy they would be killed themselves.
6. Wars were fought by soldiers on battle fields in those days. Of the necessity the armies were small and the killings were relatively small. The losers would submit to the victors and the war would be over. The killings would also stop.
7. But over time the war-like nations developed more and more lethal weapons and the killings have become more massive. Now we are seeing weapons of mass destruction capable of killing hundreds of thousands, not on battle fields but just about anywhere. The whole country is made a battlefield, sparing neither towns nor countryside, neither soldiers nor civilians, the old, the sick and the disabled men, women and children. The killings and the devastation is total.
8. Such is the callousness of the human race that we see the killings and the wounds inflicted as just numbers, as casualties, and now as collaterals. The warriors gleefully notch their weapons to record scores of kills. It is as if these victims are not human. Yet the sufferings and the pain are very real to these people, to their families and friends.
9. These people may killed by the wounds inflicted, or they may have their limbs and their heads torn off from their bodies while still alive. The sufferings may be over quickly but imagine having parts of your body torn off, your head pulled out from your neck.
10. For those who survive, the pain and the suffering must be terrible. And in most cases no help would be forthcoming, no medical aid and, no hospitals to be taken to. They may lie there on the roads, of the fields or buried and crushed under fallen buildings, for hours with no hope for rescue. They may suffer horribly for hours until death relives them.
11. We are not talking about one or two persons. With modern weapons, hundreds and thousands would experience this horror, the pain and death.
12. We would strive hard to raise money to treat one cancer patient for example. We are so human and humane. Yet we think nothing of killing healthy people by ten of thousands.
13. We read about the war, we even see pictures and TV coverage of war but we hardly ever get to see the real sufferings of the victims of war. We practically enjoy the TV coverage of war without thinking about the sufferings of fellow-humans just like us who had been wounded and killed in real life, not just in the cinema or TV screens.
14. We do not think of the smell of war, of the smell of rotting bodies, of gangrenous legs and arms, because our television cannot bring these odours to our comfortable sitting room. In fact the TV cameras avoid showing the horrors resulting from the war. They do not want to offend our sensitivities. Nor do they record and broadcast the screams of pain of the wounded and the dying.
15. We must all know that war is about pain and death and destruction. But after the civilised countries of the West developed standing armies to replace the irregular rabbles, the state and the leaders of these countries began to glorify war. They promoted the idea that war was noble and those who fought wars and die or were wounded were heroes and the icons of the people. They struck medals to decorate the killers they sent into battle.
16. Soldiers in the standing armies began to be fitted with smart uniforms embellished with stars and gold braids. They glorify the killers with statues and monuments. And stories are told of their exploits i.e. of the murders they committed. Eternal flames burn over their graves.
17. In peace times they were made to parade in their smart uniforms, proudly showing off their skills at marching with precision like so many mechanical brainless robots. And indeed their brains had nothing in them other than thoughts of killing. The leaders are so proud and the girls are thrilled at the sight of these brainless killers.
18. They were continuously trained in killing people, not necessarily enemy soldiers. There were elite troops, equipped with the best weapons, and trained to kill in the most hideous ways. They were taught how to creep up to an unsuspecting victim and slit his throat. There was no thought about the victim being as his attacker, most likely with wife and children, brothers and sisters. There was no thought that a moment ago he was alive and breathing, just like his attacker. He must be killed because he was the enemy.
19. These elite forces troops invariably undergo a psychological cange. They became killers, pitiless killers. They look forward to wars so they can put their killing skills into practise.
20. But for years there may be no war. They retire and try to take up civilian life. But they are trained murderers. The forces have released murderers in the midst of ordinary people.
21. They will find difficulty to adjust. Hardened and trained to look at killings as a vocation, they either become criminals, murderers or psychopaths.
22. Those soldiers who had to serve on the war front, fighting and killing and witnessing the horrors and becoming immune to the sufferings of others cannot but become psychopaths also. They would find difficulty to adjust to civilian life. They may become mentally deranged.
23. In todays war waged by the U.S. the soldiers may be exposed to radiation, if not from nuclear explosions, perhaps from handling shells etc coated with depleted uranium. They will suffer from radiation sicknesses, from cancer.
24. The people who sent these young people to fight their wars will be safe. They will eat well, drink well, and enjoy life’s luxuries. It is the young who will suffer, who will pay the ultimate price.
25. The novelists, the television and film producers will concoct glorious stories of war and heroes. It does not matter if they are blatant lies. It is good for making money. The U.S. lost the war in Vietnam but on the cinema and TV screens Rambo would single-handedly defeat the whole Vietnamese army. And the Americans and their allies just love it. They would feel so proud seeing the exploits of Rambo on the screens.
26. And youngsters would be taken in with the pictorial glory depicted and would be persuaded to join the killers in the armed forces, to gloriously kill and wound the enemies.
27. The leaders of the countries with the finest team of killers equipped with the best arms would not hesitate to send their young people to their death based on fabricated lies. That was what happened in Iraq. But the people of these countries re-elected these liars so they may continue to send the cream of their young people to their death.
28. That is what war really is ? not a glorious struggle for democracy and human rights, but merely to satisfy the crazy ambitions of lying leaders of the powerful countries. In the old days leaders and generals lead from the front. The cowardly leaders of today stay clear thousands of miles from the front, sipping wine and gorging themselves on the finest food.
29. Even as we talk here, wars are going on in several places initiated by the bullies of the world. People are being killed and maimed. We need to make quick progress with the criminalisation of war.
30. It will not be easy of course. William Wilberforce spent 20 long years to get the British Parliament to outlaw slave trading nearly 300 years ago. But slave trading is nothing compared to the killings and the breaches of basic human rights in modern war. This is not to say that slavery and slave trading are less heinous than war. But the struggle against war is far more serious because every day newer killing machines are being invented by the rich and powerful in order to kill more people. And the urge to try out these machines is very strong.
31. Actually, these new weapons are bankrupting the nations of the world. To recover the cost of research, development and production these advanced countries are selling their weapons to countries which can ill afford them.
32. As soon as the weapons are sold to the poor, newer weapons would be invented or the previous weapons would be modified and updated. Then the arms salesmen would come again. If a country refuses to buy, a neighbouring country would be persuaded to buy. Then the salesmen would return to the first country and broadly hint that if it does not buy then its forces would be inferior to its neighbours.
33. Even if the countries are not at war with each other, their military personnel would feel unhappy if they cannot have the new toys. And so money that the poor can ill-afford would flow to the rich countries. As the weapons are upgraded and newer weapons invented the flow of money to the rich would become a deluge. The poor will get even poorer.
34. The worst part is that the poor countries will probably have no occasion to use the sophisticated weapons. Yet they have to be maintained at high cost while they give no returns at all to the poor nations.
35. The arms trade is destroying the economies of many poor countries. Yet the exporting countries are not benefitting either. They have to continue investing in research and development of newer and efficient killing machines. The cost will mount and keep mounting as the new technologies and innovative designs require even more sophistication and expensive material. And if the powerful countries go to war, as America has done in Iraq, the cost to the country is mind-boggling. The cost of the war in Iraq for the U.S. is estimated by Joseph Stiglitz the Nobel Laureate to be more than US$ 3 trillion dollars so far. It is going to go on gulping more and more money. Even the U.S. cannot afford to lose this amount of money, especially when victory has not and will not be achieved. Imagine what we can do for the poor and the sick of the world with just a fraction of the 3 trillion.
36. And the whole world is suffering also. Everyone has to spend more money on security, air travel is no longer safe, and lots of money have to be expanded on checking the so-called Muslim terrorists. Far from war against Iraq resulting in the spread of democracy in the Middle East, it has brought about the spread of instability and insecurity to the whole world.
37. War is truly not an option in this modern world. The militarily powerful such as the US and European countries cannot win any war, their sophisticated and costly weapons notwithstanding. This is because the defeat of the enemy, no matter how weak, will not end in victory for the winner. The Governments may surrender and sign a peace treaty but the people will not. They will continue to fight with whatever means they have. Bitter over their countries’ defeat and occupation they will not stop fighting.
38. Against these people all the modern weapons, the helicopter gunships, missiles, bombs, rockets, stealth aircrafts and jet fighters, special forces, tanks, warships are quite useless. Once in a while the nationalists might get lucky and destroy a multi-million dollar aircraft and tank.
39. In Vietnam the powerful U.S. military was soundly thrashed by pyjama-clad Viet peasants until the U.S. ran away helter-skelter. In Afghanistan the Taliban successfully confined the NATO forces to certain towns only. In Baghdad, the American and British forces have achieved none of the objectives. Killing Saddam had not resulted in ending the war. "Shock and Awe" have not overawed the Iraqis and forced them into submitting.
40. Surge and new forces have cost more money and more deaths of U.S. soldiers, more mental diseases amongst them with no sign of bringing the war to an end or making Iraq a successful democracy.
41. The rich countries may come up with all kind of costly weapons capable of killing more people efficiently but all these weapons will not win wars against the people determined to fight and preserve their independence.
42. Perhaps the weapons, including nuclear weapons can be employed in a war amongst the militarily powerful. Perhaps they cab be used by the U.S. and Britain against Russia and China. They may be able to pulverize these countries but these countries would also wreak havoc in the aggressor countries. In fact the whole world will be destroyed by war between the powerful countries.
43. The rich and militarily powerful countries should take note of this. All their money, weapons and tactical skills will avail them of nothing. They will lose fighting against the countries weaker than them, and they will suffer death and destruction if they fight against countries which can match their military capability. In the end, they would still achieve nothing.
44. Clearly war is no longer an option, not just because of the massive death and destruction that modern weaponry can inflict but also because the cost of war has gone up so much that even rich countries like the U.S. can be bankrupted. As Joseph Stiglitz has computed the war in Iraq has so far cost the US $ 3 trillion dollars. The U.S. is bankrupt and this war will prevent the U.S. from ever settling its debts. Of course it can just not pay. That is the prerogative of the strong. The belief that the might is right still holds.
45. But as I pointed out, because of the virtual arms race caused by the high pressure sales tactics by arms salesmen, other countries have also become financial strapped. Indeed the whole world is now heading for financial disaster partly because of investing in ever more sophisticated and ever more costly arms. And for what? They are never going to win any war with these weapons.
46. The rise in oil prices are connected with war. And oil prices affect the process of all goods. In other words, the increase in oil prices brings about inflation. The poor of this world will be the ones most affected. But the rich will suffer also. We are seeing this happening now.
47. The wars will be clearly bankrupt the world. And yet the wars will solve none of the problems of humanity, none of the conflicts between nations. The cost in human lives and property is literally killing.
48. Looked at from any angle, war is a great waste of everything. So why are we still going to war? Why are we still killing people and destroying wealth when we are not getting anything from our wars?
49. We claim to be civilized. How civilized is a society where duels and killings are legally accepted as a way of settling quarrels. Would justice be served when the winner usually is the one skilled in killing? The end result must be a society of killers
50. Yet war between nations is actually duel on a grand scale. Seventy million people were killed in the Second World War. Property that was worth trillions of dollars were destroyed. The Allies proclaimed the winners. But what have the winners got to show for all these? Was justice served? Were the people killed brought back to life? Was the huge sums of money expended recovered? Was there any profit for anyone?
51. The answer to all these questions must be resounding "NO". No one gained anything from war. Everyone lost. And the cost in human suffering is inmeasurable.
52. We cannot claim to be civilized when we kill and destroy in order to prove how right we are or how just and fair we are.
53. How long more are going to do this? We are already capable of destroying the whole world. Must we wait until we do this before we stop, before we declare wars as illegal and the people who initiate wars as criminals? By that time you must agree it would be too late. War must be stopped now. War must be regarded as a crime. The people and especially their leaders who resort to war in order to settle disputes between them and others must be regarded as criminals, must be made to face charges in a court of law and be punished appropriately. Until then let us not claim that we are civilised.
54. I say criminalize war and punish the leaders and the people who resort to war in order to settle disputes with other countries.

SOURCE :

http://www.perdana4peace.org

Outsiders Barred From Tun Mahathir’s Talk at Imperial College

Outsiders Barred From Tun Mahathir’s Talk at Imperial College
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
[Source: The Star]

LONDON: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was left fuming over a last-minute decision to bar outsiders from attending his talk on war crimes at Imperial College here on Friday.

The former prime minister said he regretted any attempt to block his speech entitled Expose War Crimes: Criminalise War at Imperial College.

Scores of Malaysians and non-Malaysians were left stranded outside the Sir Alexander Flemming building in the college when they were barred from entering the lecture theatre hall where the talk was held.

Security guards stationed near the entrance were seen checking for Imperial College identification cards before allowing them in.

During his speech, Dr Mahathir said he believed that Britain was a country where free speech was upheld.

"I’m sorry that it didn’t look very free today," he added.

One of the organisers of the talk, Faizal Fathil said they were only informed of the restriction at about 6pm on Thursday.

"We had expected about 700 people but only a maximum of 320 could attend the talk," said Faizal.

Despite the hiccup, Dr Mahathir was his usual self as he spoke about the qualities of a good prime minister.

"He must fulfil his vows in looking after the people and not be interested in what he gains for himself," he said.

On Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s concern that the transition of power now would affect the Barisan Nasional, he said this would happen.

On the contrary, he said, the Barisan would not have enough time to recover for the next general election if the change of leadership was delayed.

"And the people who voted for the Opposition will remain with them," he said.

Dr Mahathir also advised the world to "go back to bows and arrows" instead of pumping massive funds into defence spending.

He said, for instance, just a fraction of the reported US$3 trillion spent by the United States on the Iraq war so far could go a long way in helping the world’s poor and sick.

Replying to a question on Malaysia’s defence spending during his term of office, Dr Mahathir said he regretted it very much.

"But today, questions would be raised if you don’t buy fighter planes and your neighbour buys one," he said.

http://www.perdana4peace.org

Asia should liberate itself from Western mental hegemony and support us

CHE DET

23 May 2008, Friday
At the Japan Foreign Correspondents’ Club
[Tokyo, Japan]

1. I would like to thank you for this invitation to speak on the role of Malaysia and Asia on international affairs involving politics, economic and the environment.
2. By itself I do not think Malaysia can do much. But Asia is perhaps more able to contribute to these fields.
3. Asia is not homogenous like Europe. The people of Asia range from dark-skinned people to brown skinned to yellow and to white Caucasians. It is not possible for all these different people inhabiting different parts of Asia to collaborate in voicing identical views on anything. It is not possible at this point in time to think of an Asian Union with the same clout as the European Union.
4. Obviously Asia’s contribution would differ greatly between the ethnic and the regional groupings. This will render Asia less able to influence international affairs.
5. However certain parts and certain countries of Asia, particularly those in the East and India have gained a level of development, which would make their voices heard and respected by the rest of the world. They would therefore be able to play a role in international affairs.
6. Unfortunately they are not doing so. They are very reticent and unwilling to take a prominent role. This is because Asians have not got over their having been dominated in the past by the West.
7. Because of this Asia is always trying to understand and accommodate Western ideas and creeds. Asia has tried to adopt European ideologies, European systems of Government, European perceptions of things and values, European regimes for trade and finance etc. etc.
8. There has never been an Asian initiative for the world in any field. When globalisation was promoted by the West, Asians merely try to adjust to a new concept of international relations, particularly in trade, commerce and finance. Asians failed to recognise the inevitability of a New World Order resulting from the advances in speed of travel and instant communication and so to propose new regimes for the world.
9. If Asia wants to play a role in international affairs it must first liberate its minds from Western mental hegemony. This must be through deliberate effort. Asians can fall back on their greatness in the past and learn how to reassert themselves. After all Asians discovered Europe before the Europeans discovered Asia. Spain, the Mediterranean lands and Eastern Europe were ruled for centuries by Asians. So Asian involvement in international affairs is not new.
10. Asian countries have shown that when they have the political will they can excel in all the activities once dominated by the Europeans. Asian countries have now become developed, have been able to set up effective governments and have replaced the European countries in the production of all kinds of goods and services.
11. Many have now developed inventive skills and introduced new products to the world.
12. But Asians have shied away from formulating new ideas and ideologies, new systems and new trading and financial regimes for the world. Yet I am quite sure that if Asians put their minds to it they can offer better solutions to international problems.
13. There is no doubt that the international trade and financial regime as formulated by the west have now been shown to be disastrous for the world. The US Dollar is no longer stable for use as the benchmark for other currencies. Trading in currencies have now undermined the value of the currencies of the world including the United States. Free trade has resulted in many poor countries becoming unable to export their products and earn foreign exchange. Mergers and acquisitions by giant corporations have created monsters that have killed the small man and created serious social and economic problems for the many countries.
14. While all these disasters are happening Asian countries have either been bystanders or they have tried to struggle for survival. They have not proposed anything original or shown any initiative to overcome these problems. Yet they are in a position to do something not just to mitigate the effect of these Western conceived systems and regimes but to propose entirely new ideas and proposals that can replace the old regimes and usher in a new and fairer World Order.
15. Asians can propose fair trade instead of free trade; the replacement of the US Dollar by a new trading currency, the stoppage of currency trading, replacing it with a new Bretton Woods kind of agreement that can restore stability in the valuation of currencies, imposing limits on mergers and acquisitions and the formulation of an international anti-trust laws etc. etc.
16. I would like to mention a particular effort initiated by Malaysia. The world still accepts that one way of solving conflicts between nations is to kill people and see who can kill the most. This is called war but war is about killing people.
17. In human society killing is a serious crime meriting the most severe punishment. Yet killing thousands of people in a war is not considered a crime. This is absurd. You must not kill one person but you can kill hundreds of thousands.
18. Malaysia is trying to make killing people in war as much a crime as murder in any human society. This is to be a total change in human values. Whoever initiates wars must be condemned as criminal killers and must be punished by the international community.
19. Asia can back this effort by Malaysia. This can be a major initiative by Asia. If Asia succeeds in stopping the killings, in making war a crime, it will mark a powerful contribution of Asia to human civilisation. It will mean that the human race has become truly civilised.

SOURCE :

http://www.perdana4peace.org

War Profiteering Halliburton should not be allowed to operate in Malaysia

CHE DET

The Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO) strongly condemns the recent opening of Halliburton’s manufacturing centre in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor. The American oil and gas company which is linked to the current United States Vice President, Dick Cheney, has been raking in billions of dollars in profit from the American invasion of Iraq which has entered its fifth bloody year.

It is appalling that we have allowed this war-profiteering company to invest in Malaysia. Iskandar Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Datuk Ikmal Hijaz Hashim has been quoted defending Haliburton and even expressed his happiness at the willingness of the company to invest in Johor.

Are we so void of our humanity that we have to allow these war criminals to come in and thrive in our economy? Do we really need the blood money of a neo conservative entity that has played a role in the murder of innocent Iraqis to fund our development?

Cheney and George Bush are oil men and war criminals who have profited tremendously from the war in Iraq. Cheney is a major stockholder in Halliburton whose stocks have increased from USD 10 before the war to around USD 46 today. The phenomenal increase in value of its stocks is due to Halliburton continuously winning no-bid contracts in Iraq amounting to almost 20 billion dollars.

As a nation that has firmly opposed the invasion and colonisation of Iraq right from the beginning, it is a painful change in direction to allow Halliburton to operate in Malaysia. As a nation that has played a lead role in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference since its conception, it is deplorable that we have opened our doors to these war criminals that have plundered and destroyed Iraq, a sovereign nation that was invaded on false pretexts.

Today, more than a million Iraqis have died in the war that has been supported by firms such as Halliburton; which have benefited from the U.S being able to control the flow of oil in West Asia.

Surely in our endeavor to progress, we can still afford to be humane and conscientious. We must be sensitive to the sufferings of our brother humans elsewhere before we agree to accept even a single cent from these murderers.

The dead in Iraq need their justice. These warmongers who made the decision to destroy Iraq must be condemned and brought to justice for their crimes against humanity. Bush and Cheney must be put on trial for the blood on their hands as well as for all the money they have made from Iraq in the past five years.

We at PGPO reiterate our fervent objection and strongly denounce the setting up of Halliburton’s 200 million ringgit manufacturing centre at Iskandar Malaysia in Johor. The Malaysian government must not allow these war profiteers to put their ill-gotten profits to operate in any way in our beloved country.

On another note, we wish to express our utter disappointment with the decision of the Dewan Rakyat to dismiss the motion by Dato’ Seri Abdul Hadi Awang to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the tragedy of Nakba.

The action of the Dewan Rakyat does not reflect the aspirations and the sentiments of the Malaysian people who share in the suffering of their Palestinian brothers and sisters. To reject this motion on the basis that it is not urgent is a negation of the very ideals that we hold sacred such as peace and the sanctity of life.

It is bad enough that countries such as the United States, Britain and Australia are celebrating Israel’s 60 years of statehood, the least we can do is for our parliamentary sitting to show empathy and solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad
Chairman
Perdana Global Peace Organisation

source : 

http://www.perdana4peace.org

BREAKING THE SIEGE OF GAZA – We must end the Apartheid and establish an Independent Palestine State

CHE DET

Honourable speakers, guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Firstly I would like to welcome all of you to this conference on the siege organised by the Perdana Global Peace Organisation backed by UMNO.

1. We are gathered here today not only to honour the Turkish martyrs who were brutally slaughtered by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara, but also to counter the lies and propaganda by Israel and the Zionist controlled international mass media, that the passengers, specifically the martyrs, were terrorists and therefore the killings were justified.

2.More importantly, we must send a message of hope and solidarity to the Palestinians that the peace loving peoples of the world will never abandon them, come what may and that we will stand shoulder to shoulder with them in their struggle for liberation and for the State of Palestine.

3.Prime Minister Netanyahu has openly and unreservedly declared just a few days ago that Israel will not apologise for the brutal murders committed in international waters in contravention of all conventions and international laws because Israel was justified in the massacre of unarmed people in order to defend Israeli security.

4. Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 1:
“Israel cannot apologise for our soldiers being forced to defend themselves against the mob that almost slaughtered them.”
Yet, not one single Israeli commando was killed. In fact, from the testimony of Ken O’Keefe, a passenger on Mavi Marmara, which we have just witnessed from the multi-media presentation, it was the well-armed commandos who killed and injured the passengers.  Far from killing or attempting to kill the commandos, despite their friends being killed, the Turkish passengers managed to disarm three of the commandos and after a doctor had washed away the blood caused by their faces being scratched, released them. Is this the behaviour of a mob bent in slaughtering the commandos?

5. In a speech to the Israeli parliament, Netanyahu elaborated:
“They want to strip us of the natural right to defend ourselves. When we defend ourselves against rocket attack, we are accused of war crimes. We cannot board sea vessels when our soldiers are being attacked and fired upon, because that is a war crime.”
6. But where is the evidence that the Israeli commandos were being attacked and fired upon?  Such is the distortion of the truth!  Even the UN Report chaired by Justice Robert Goldstone, a Zionist and a Jew who found that the Israelis committed war crimes when it invaded Gaza in 2008, was dismissed as mere propaganda, and the said report was not allowed to be tabled and debated in the U.N.

7. Self-defence can take place if there was an attempt at attacking or when actually attacked by the aggressor. Even the Israelis said that the passengers were armed with iron rods (railings) and scissors. Is Israel suggesting that people with scissors and iron railings attacked the fully armed commandos before they boarded the Mavi Marmara? It was to defend themselves after the commandos dropped from the helicopters and killed their friends that the unarmed passengers tried to defend themselves with scissors and iron railings, the only weapons they could lay hands on.

8. However, even without an Independent Inquiry and in spite of the fact that Israel had confiscated and destroyed incriminating videos of the massacre, the international mass media cannot ignore the overwhelming evidence provided by the survivors of Mavi Marmara – journalists and passengers who were able to evade the tight security measures and brought out videos showing that Israeli commandos had commenced firing at the passengers before boarding the Mavi Marmara.  IHH, the organisers of the Mavi Marmara has just come out with their report and I am told that this is available in CD for all delegates.

9. Additionally, we cannot ignore the fact that the intent to attack the Freedom Flotilla was made well before the flotilla set sail for Gaza.  Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak declared that Israeli naval ships and commandos would be conducting naval exercises to prepare for the eventual attack on the flotilla and that Israel would do everything possible to prevent the flotilla from reaching Gaza. This was reported by Bloomberg, the Associated Press and even Israeli newspapers, and was affirmed by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren in an interview on June 2nd, 2010.

10. It came as no surprise that on 31st May 2010, in contravention of international laws, Israeli commandos as directed by the Israeli regime boarded the Mavi Marmara, and in the process shot and killed nine passengers and wounded many more and hijacked the entire flotilla to the port of Ashdod in Israel.

11. Rifat Audeh, a passenger on the Mavi Marmara gave an account of what happened before Israeli commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara. She said:
“The Israeli military was firing at us from their vessels which approached the sides of our ship and the helicopters from above as well, even before a single soldier landed on deck. Here we had fully armed Israeli commandos firing live rounds, tear gas, sound grenades and other types of ammunition at unarmed activists of a humanitarian ship at night in international waters, and once again the media has criminalised us and vindicated the perpetrators. Let me be clear: we had every right to defend ourselves and our ship against this illegal barbaric assault as our brothers were being wounded and killed.”

12. Just as Israel denied using white phosphorous and other banned weapons on the civilians of Gaza in the barbaric invasion in 2008 and the massacre of civilians in Jenin in 2003 until exposed by the Robert Goldstone report and independent observers respectively, Israel is denying again and hopes that this time, the war crimes would be lost with the passage of time.

13. But peace loving nations of the world condemned this wanton aggression and demanded that the siege of Gaza be lifted and a U.N. sanctioned Inquiry be established to investigate into the massacre of the passengers on the Mavi Marmara.

14. Knowing that the United States will not condemn its actions and veto any Security Council resolutions that demanded a full account for the incident, Israel ignored international condemnation and maintained that she has the right to do as she likes.  Israel considers itself above international laws and common moral values.

15. his heinous murder of Turkish nationals and the confiscation of the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara seemed strange to many, as Turkey has been a close strategic ally of Israel for many years, having regular joint military exercises and shared strategic interests. Turkey is also a NATO member. However, it is evident that even an ally would not be spared the criminal behaviour of Israel whether there is justification or not.

16. Such is Israel’s arrogance and her confidence that she can get away with murder. And indeed Israel has been getting away with blatant murder since 1948.

17. Many may have forgotten that such betrayal by Israel of an ally is not without precedent.  The ally that was previously betrayed by Israel was none other than the United States. That treachery needs to be retold, if we want to understand and appreciate the strategic implications of the attack on Mavi Marmara.

18. It was on the 8th of June, 1967, soon after the commencement of the six-day war by Israel against her Arab neighbours.  President Johnson had given his consent to Israel to launch a limited war against Egypt on the condition that Israel would not widen the war to include any land grab against Jordan and Syria.

19. Egypt had closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships and the limited war was to compel Egypt to reopen the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships.  But, the then Defence Minister Moshe Dayan had different ideas from what was agreed between President Johnson and the then prime minister of Israel, Levi Eshkol and his military Chief of Staff, General Yizhak Rabin.  Moshe Dayan, the one-eyed war criminal wanted to use the opportunity to extend the borders of Israel to fulfil the aspirations of the Zionists for a “Greater Israel.”  It was in the plan that after the capture of the Sinai Peninsula, Israeli military would be diverted to the Jordanian and Syrian fronts.

20. The USS Liberty was a “spy ship” and its mission was to listen to all Israel’s military communications so that Israel would abide by the agreement not to widen the war after she attacked Egypt.

21. The USS Liberty clearly stood in the way, as President Johnson would know through communication intercepts by the USS Liberty, if Israel reneged on its agreement for a limited war, and proceeded to wage a full scale war against all her immediate neighbours.  Time was of the essence. If the USS Liberty was disabled, Israel would by her surprise attack against Syria and Jordan achieve her aims of a Greater Israel before President Johnson could intervene to stop the wider war.

22. General Moshe Dayan therefore ordered the attack on the USS Liberty that left 34 Americans dead and 175 wounded and severely damaged the ship. The captain of a nearby US aircraft carrier scrambled jet fighters to assist the USS Liberty but his orders were countermanded by President Johnson and Defence Secretary Robert McNamara. The excuse for the attack was that Israel made a mistake as to the identity of the USS Liberty.  Moshe Dayan hailed the day of the attack, 8th June 1967 as a “Great Day” because the destruction of USS Liberty enabled Israel to extend its borders to encompass the Golan Heights and the entire West Bank and more!  The fact that President Johnson had to cover up the murder of his own soldiers and accepted thereafter the fait accompli of a Greater Israel shows all too clearly that the United States was and is still subservient to Israel.

23. The international mass media propaganda at the material time accused the Arab states for starting the war and wanting to annihilate Israel. Once again, we have to ask, who is telling the truth?

24. We need only to examine some public statements of Israel’s military leaders at the given time.  On 28th February 1968, Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Chief of Staff in an interview with Le Monde, conceded that:
“I do not believe that Nasser wanted war. The two divisions which he sent to Sinai on 14th May would not have been enough to unleash an offensive against Israel. He knew it and we knew it.”
Menachem Begin, then Minister without Portfolio was quoted by the New York Times in 1982 as saying:
“In June l967, we had a choice. The Egyptian Army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.”

25. Given this hidden agenda, how did Israel prepare the propaganda for war against the Arabs?  The strategy was simple enough – portray Israel as the victim. In an interview with Al-Hamishmar in 1971, Mordecai Bentove, then Minister of Housing revealed:
“The entire story of the danger of extermination was invented in every detail and exaggerated a posteriori to justify the annexation of new Arab territory.”
26. This deliberate lie was corroborated by General Haim Barlev, Chief of General Staff Branch, Israel Defence Forces and as reported by the Israeli newspaper Ma’ arrive in 1972. I quote:
“We were not threatened with genocide on the eve of the six-day war, and we had never thought of such a possibility.”
General Chaim Herzog, Commanding General and first Military Governor of Israeli Occupied West Bank expressed similar views when he said:
“There was no danger of annihilation. Israeli headquarters never believed in this danger. ”

27. From these facts we can draw the following conclusions, namely:

a)    Israel treats her allies no different from her enemies if its interests are threatened.
b)    It is by deception and outright lies, that Israel wages war.

28. Not for nothing is, “by way of deception” the motto of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence unit. The attack against the Turkish ship and the Turks is thus typical of the Israelis. They knew and yet they shot to kill the Turks with live bullets. Given this sordid history, it comes as no surprise that President Obama chose to express regrets instead of condemnation of the murder of the nine passengers, one of whom was an American citizen of Turkish descent. He was only nineteen years old. Tony Blair, the war criminal and the so-called Special Peace Envoy for the Quartet for the Middle East declared that Israel was acting in self-defence when it attacked the passenger ship Mavi Marmara and hijacked the entire flotilla to the port of Ashdod.
A question remains to be answered – Did President Obama know in advance of the attack on Mavi Marmara and give his consent just as President Johnson did when Israel attacked Egypt in 1967 in the six-day war?

29. It is inconceivable that the intelligence services of the United States were unaware of such plans by the Israeli military.  The President of the United States is briefed daily by the intelligence services.  And given the special relationship between Israel and the United States, it would be naive to think that Israel would not share intelligence regarding what they consider their mutual security interests. In the just concluded visit by Netanyahu to the White House,  the prime minister remarked that:
“There is a depth and richness of this relationship that is expressed every day. Our teams talk. We don’t make it public… What is not told is the fact we have an enduring bond of values, interests, beginning with security and the way we share both information and other things to help the common defence of our common interests. The President said it best in his speech in Cairo. He said it in front of the entire Islamic world, he said, the bond between Israel and the United States is unbreakable. And I can affirm that to you today.”

30. Yet, the Muslim world continues to be taken in by President Obama’s rhetoric that he is committed to change and he is for peace. His actions contradict his spoken words, for upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama then escalated the war in Afghanistan, a war started by President GW Bush. It is not surprising that the UN chose not to allow a debate on Malaysia’s resolution condemning Israel for its dastardly acts.

31. Given this reaffirmation by President Obama and Netanyahu, we must not be deluded into believing that there will be peace, genuine peace in the Middle East anytime soon. On the contrary, war preparations are in place. The same lies have been repeated. Have we not heard the same refrain, that Israel’s very existence is threatened by her neighbours? A thief shouting thief as he runs away with the booty is a most effective way of deflecting focus on his thieving. That is Israel’s strategy.

32. Iraq was accused of having weapons of mass destruction so as to appear to be a threat to Israel’s existence. Israel demanded that Iraq be invaded and its people subjugated. And so in 2003, Iraq was invaded. But as we now know Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Iraq was attacked because the plans for the invasion of Iraq were laid much earlier. In 1996, the then prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu commissioned the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies to prepare a blue print to enable Israel to be the dominant regional power in the Middle East. The report, A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm sets out the new paradigm for Israel. According to its authors, the centerpiece of the recommendations was the removal of Saddam Hussein as the first step in remaking the Middle East into a region friendly to Israel. Their plan also signaled a radical departure from the peace-oriented policies of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by a member of an extreme right-wing Israeli group.

33. One of the pillars of this new policy was the abandonment of the “comprehensive peace” with the entire Arab world. Israel’s new strategy would be to work jointly with Jordan and Turkey to “contain, destabilise, and roll-back” those entities that were regarded as threats to all three (i.e. Israel, Turkey and Jordan), firstly by destroying Iraq and then Syria and finally Iran. This is the significance of Turkey in the overall scheme of Netanyahu under the “Clean Break” master plan.

34. Now that Iraq and Saddam Hussein have been disposed, the target has shifted to Iran as Syria is seen to be a lesser threat. The world is made to believe once again the lie that Israel’s existence is being threatened by a nuclear armed Iran, notwithstanding that El Baradie, the former head of the IAEA had repeatedly stated that there is no evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapons program.  President Bush had threatened Iran with tactical nuclear weapons. President Obama is no different for he has said that “all options are on the table” in confronting Iran.

35. And once again, the United States at the instigation of Israel has compelled the UN Security Council to impose crippling sanctions to weaken the resolve of the Iranians to resist Israel’s aggressive designs. We can observe a pattern in the war preparations from recent examples, namely Iraq and Gaza. Broad sanctions were imposed on Iraq and Gaza to starve and weaken the people before the military invasion in 2003 and 2008 respectively. If the past is a precedent, then it is a matter of time before the war criminals in Israel and the United States launch another war of aggression, once Iran has been weakened by sanctions.

36. However, Israel may have miscalculated the willingness of Turkey to be a partner in its grand design to contain Iran and Syria as envisaged in the Clean Break blue print.  As it stands at the present moment, the encirclement of Iran – Afghanistan in the East, occupied Iraq in the West and Turkey in the North rests on shaky foundations. But this may not deter the warmongers from attempting to fulfill their design for a “New Middle-East”.  There is already a map showing how the Middle East would be carved out to serve Israel’s strategic interests.

37. It is left to be seen whether Israel’s blood lust for wars of conquest can be accomplished without Turkey as part of the equation as stipulated in the Clean Break blue print. Turkey has demanded that Israel apologises for the brutal murder of its nationals, failing which Turkey would sever diplomatic relations with Israel. Presently, Turkey has ceased all military collaboration with Israel and a few days ago had declared that Israeli military planes are no longer allowed to enter Turkey’s airspace.  It is early to say whether these are temporary misalignments or potential major paradigm shifts in the foreign policy of Turkey.

38. The recent actions of prime minister Erdogan provide grounds for hope that the forces for peace can forge a broad alliance to isolate Israel and thwart its grand design to wage wars of aggression to establish a Greater Israel and to be the undisputed regional power. The public dressing down of Shimon Peres, the President of Israel at the World Economic Forum by premier Erdogan was unprecedented as even the President of the United States has not dared to rebuke publicly any Israeli leaders.

39. It is in the context of this geopolitical matrix that we must applaud the courageous leadership of Prime Minister Erdogan in supporting the efforts of IHH peace activists on board the Mavi Marmara as part of the Freedom Flotilla to break the siege of Gaza. The supreme sacrifice by the nine Turkish peace activists will not be in vain, as by their deaths, the true nature of the Zionist regime, its barbarity and ugliness has been laid bare before the world:
Israel is…
A brutal regime that has no respect for international law;
A brutish regime that has no qualms in murdering unarmed civilians on a humanitarian mission;
A brutish regime that has created the largest open prison in the world, the enslavement of 1.5 million people within its borders, through blockade and economic sanctions of Gaza;
A brutish regime that brainwashes its young to be mindless killers of unarmed civilians, men, women and children;
A brutish regime that practices apartheid.
A brutish regime that wages wars through deception and lies.
A brutish regime that practices and fosters state terrorism.

40. When the Perdana Global Peace Organisation visited Cyprus in July 2009 to collaborate with the activists of the free Gaza Movement, we did not expect that our idea of a flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats manned by volunteers from all over the world would have such an impact on the conscience of world leaders who before had stood aloof and cared not for the sufferings of the Palestinians. Following the invasion of Gaza in December 2008, more than 1,400 civilians, men, women and children, in fact mainly children were slaughtered, over 20,000 homes were destroyed, schools and hospitals were levelled to the ground. Many countries pledged billions in aid, but the pledges were not translated into concrete action to alleviate the sufferings of the Palestinians in Gaza. It was hypocrisy at its very worst.

41. While world leaders turned their backs on Gaza, peace activists the world over came together to challenge the might of Israel and expose their crimes.  George Galloway started the Viva Palestina Land Convoy which smashed the land blockade and brought hundreds of truckloads of aid to Gaza.   The Free Gaza Movement had more humble beginnings. They started by sending small fishing boats to break the sea blockade. On one occasion, their boat was rammed and the volunteers were thrown into the sea to drown. On another occasion, fully armed Israeli commandos boarded their boat, The Spirit of Humanity and hijacked it to Israel. The world took scant notice of these happenings.

42. We realised that small fishing boats would not do and that a flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats would be needed to challenge Israel’s navy. And as they say, the rest is history. Malaysia’s contribution in this effort was the purchase of a cargo ship and two passenger boats, the former named after the courageous American peace activist Rachel Corrie who was crushed to death by an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) bulldozer when she acted as a human shield to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes in 2003. She gave her life so that others could live in freedom and with dignity. Her country had forgotten her, but we were moved by her determination and sacrifice to free the Palestinians.

43. Imbued with the spirit of Rachel Corrie, our Irish colleagues – Jenny and Derek Graham nurtured and brought back to life the abandoned cargo ship MV Linda and appropriately renamed her MV Rachel Corrie. The ship was abandoned by her owners and was auctioned for 70,000 Euros. She set sail for Gaza on 14th May and immediately encountered problems. She had a broken propeller shaft and had to dock for repairs. She could not join the flotilla in time and so the flotilla led by the Mavi Marmara set sail for Gaza.

44. Following her repairs, the Rachel Corrie, determined as ever, headed for Gaza. On board were five Irish volunteers Derek and Jenny Graham and my good friend Denis Halliday, the former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations as well as the Nobel Peace Laureate, Mairead McGuire. There were six Malaysians, two representatives from the Perdana Global Peace Organisation, a Member of Parliament, a volunteer from the Ministry of Information and two TV3 journalists.

45. Rachel Corrie was all alone, sailing at a mere 8 knots but she never waivered in her resolve to reach Gaza. After the massacre of the nine Turkish nationals on board the Mavi Marmara, massive disinformation was initiated against Rachel Corrie. It was rumoured that she had turned tail and headed back for Ireland. Another report stated that she was heading for the safe haven of Cyprus and might even head for Turkey. This propaganda was made notwithstanding that the Captain and his crew together with all the activists on board had declared in a press statement that in honour of the martyrs they were more determined than ever to sail towards Gaza and bring badly needed aid, comprising of cement, medicine and equipment, toys and educational materials.

46. Knowing that Israel had just massacred nine passengers and wounded many more and that Israeli commandos may act similarly, Rachel Corrie and her passengers were not deterred and were ready to face Israeli brutality. Israel deployed four naval ships, two fast patrol boats and six zodiacs to intercept and hijack the Rachel Corrie to Israel. This was an act of cowardice by the Israelis – to deploy naval ships and armed commandos to hijack a small cargo ship with unarmed passengers and crew. By this single act of defiance, Rachel Corrie exposed Israeli cowardice to the world.

47. This is but a beginning in our collective efforts to bring peace to the long suffering Palestinians. Israel under tremendous international pressure declared that it would be easing the blockade and would allow more aid to enter Gaza. Israel must take us for fools to believe in her lies.

48. Let us not forget that Netanyahu is the prime minister of Israel, the same man who in 1996 commissioned the blue print, the Clean Break which rejected a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and opted for war – to be precise the destruction of Iraq, Iran and Syria so as to impose peace on its own terms. The present policy of Israel is but the continuation of the strategies laid down in that blue print.

49. Israel has succeeded in destroying Iraq and emboldened by this success is now moving to the next phase of the blue print, the destruction of Iran. The time tested modus operandi of imposing harsh sanctions followed by a vicious invasion has already started.  In the just concluded visit to the White House, Netanyahu made the following remarks at the joint press conference with President Obama. He said with regard to sanctions on Iran:
“I think the sanctions the President signed the other day actually have teeth. They bite. The question is – how much do you need to bite is something I cannot answer now. But if other nations adopt similar sanctions, that would increase the effect.”

50. Let us be very clear. Sanctions amount to laying siege, to starve and weaken the enemy. It pays to remind ourselves of what Dov Weisglass, an Israeli aid to Prime Ministers, said of sanctions;
“The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet but not to make them die of hunger.”The invasion would meet with little resistance after that. This is the US’ and Israeli strategy. It is a strategy based on cowardice.

51. But in spite of two years of sanctions against Gaza before the preceding invasion of December 2008 an invasion which lasted until mid-January 2009, the Gazans withstood the siege. The Palestinians were not so easily cowed.

52. Hence the blockade of food and medicine. It is not about preventing arms from reaching Gaza. The blockade of the food, medicine and cement convoy is about weakening the people of Gaza for the next orgy of slaughter. Israel and the United States have no intention to see a Palestinian State and for the Palestinians to live side by side with the Israelis. Netanyahu has not said since becoming the prime minister of Israel that he has abandoned the Clean Break blue print, and neither has President Obama demanded that he should.

53. The warmongers continue to propagate that the ideological enemy of the West is Islam and the Zionist controlled mass media have not ceased their efforts to demonise Muslims. In the circumstances, the path for all of us, the peace loving people of the world, is clear. We must be vigilant and be prepared to resist any attempt by the warmongers to unleash another war, be it with Iran, Syria and or any other country.

54. We must pursue with greater vigour our efforts to criminalise war. War is mass killing, is massacre and must be made a crime.  It is heartening to note that recently, the International Criminal Court is also of the view that war of aggression is a crime, but the United States under the present leadership of President Obama opposed vehemently this noble initiative. So once again, we are being confronted with the inevitable conclusion – there is no change, the status quo remains and for these leaders war is their preferred option.

55. In the circumstances, we must strive to create a broad coalition for peace and to expose and resist the grand designs of these warmongers. Rachel Corrie and Mavi Marmara have shown the way. The NGOs and the volunteers have cleared the path. We must build on this momentum and surge forward. We must call upon all governments not to be hypocritical and stand up to this rogue State called Israel.

56. Israel cannot be allowed to continue in its present path and exist as an Apartheid state. Just as the world would not stand for a White South Africa, it should also not allow an apartheid state to continue its oppression of the Palestinians. We will struggle for as long as it takes.

We will break the siege.

Palestine will be liberated from Israeli oppression.

Thank you.

SOURCE :

http://www.perdana4peace.org