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* Use of unlawful weaponry * Use of unlawful weaponry
* Use of ] ("DU") which turns to a fine pyrogenic powder upon impact. DU is used due to its extreme density, in armor piercing munitions. It is also radioactive, poisonous, effectively lasts forever, and capable of causing cancer or birth defects. Between 500 - 3000 tons of powdered uranium are estimated to have been left in the desert, as well as the impact on those exposed directly to it. Anecdotally there have been significant rises in unusual cancers in Iraq, including childhood cancers and radiation based effects, and abnormal death and injury rates in uranium cleanup teams. * Use of ] ("DU") which turns to a fine pyrogenic powder upon impact. DU is used due to its extreme density, in armor piercing munitions. It is also radioactive, poisonous, effectively lasts forever, and capable of causing cancer or birth defects. Between 500 - 3000 tons of powdered uranium are estimated to have been left in the desert, as well as the impact on those exposed directly to it. Anecdotally there have been significant rises in unusual cancers in Iraq, including childhood cancers and radiation based effects, and abnormal death and injury rates in uranium cleanup teams.
::A UN report of 2002 states that because of these effects, DU weapons potentially breach each of the following laws: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Charter of the United Nations; the Genocide Convention; the Convention Against Torture; the four Geneva Conventions of 1949; the Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980; and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. (Main article on health, use, legality and impact: '']'') ::A UN report of 2002 states that because of these effects, DU weapons potentially breach each of the following laws: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Charter of the United Nations; the Genocide Convention; the Convention Against Torture; the four Geneva Conventions of 1949; the Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980; and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. (Main article on health, use, legality and impact: '']'')
* Chemical warfare (use of Mk 77 firebombs based upon kerosene/polystyrene) directly against enemy soldiers. (Napalm is a gasoline/polystyrene mixture) ''''; use of white phosphorus (a burning agent) ''http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1115-29.htm'' * Chemical warfare (use of Mk 77 firebombs based upon kerosene/polystyrene) directly against enemy soldiers. (Napalm is a gasoline/polystyrene mixture) ''''; use of white phosphorus (a burning agent) ''http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1115-29.htm''
* US-led allied forces deliberately destroyed Iraq's water supply during the Gulf War in 2001 and took measures to make sure they were not rebuilt, in violation of the Geneva Convention and causing thousands of civilian deaths. (Sunday Herald (Scotland) September 17, 2000,http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/091700-01.htm; http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/declassdocs/dia/19950901/950901_511rept_91.html) * US-led allied forces deliberately destroyed Iraq's water supply during the Gulf War in 2001 and took measures to make sure they were not rebuilt, in violation of the Geneva Convention and causing thousands of civilian deaths. (Sunday Herald (Scotland) September 17, 2000,http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/091700-01.htm; http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/declassdocs/dia/19950901/950901_511rept_91.html)

Revision as of 18:59, 20 February 2006

This article attempts to list and summarize alleged War Crimes, Crimes Against Peace, or Crimes against Humanity.

The classification of particular events as war crimes is often controversial. The following summary should therefore not be taken as a guide to what is or is not a war crime. Inclusion of an incident in the list does not mean that a war crime was committed, exclusion does not mean that no war crime took place.


Criteria for inclusion

  1. Any action that can reasonably be construed as violating international laws of war is valid for inclusion. The fact that no individuals (or organizations) have been accused, convicted, or otherwise held responsible does not preclude an event from being listed.
  2. No incidents are listed prior to 1864, when the first Geneva Convention on the Laws of War was adopted, providing internationally recognised criteria for the first time. War crimes as a special legal category have been firmly established by the 1945 Nuremberg Trials, in which German leaders were prosecuted for war crimes committed during World War II.

Format

  • Name of Incident and Responsible Party in sub-subtitle (this does not signify that a war crime was necessarily committed)
  • Date
  • Basis (or Facts) of Case
  • Estimated number of affected persons.
  • Resolution (ie, was there any comeback)
  • Any other discussion/notes

Alleged and Actual Incidents

United States Civil War (Confederate States of America)

  • 1865
  • Mistreatment of prisoners of war.
  • About 13,000 of the 50,000 prisoners held at Andersonville Prison died from disease and starvation.
  • The commandant of Andersonville, Maj. Henry Wirz, was tried, convicted, and executed for mistreatment of Union captives under his command. President Andrew Johnson ordered all other charges against Confederate leaders dropped.

United States Civil War (United States of America)

  • 1865
  • Deliberate, and intentional mistreatment of prisoners of war
  • 27,000 Confederate prisoners died in US POW camps, despite the USA's surplus of supplies.
  • Reports indicate prisoners were intentionally starved and beaten.
  • Allegation of a Federal-run death camp in eastern Maryland, where between 5,000 and 17,000 southerners were put to death.

India - Amritsar Massacre (British Army)

File:Amritsar Massacre.jpg
The Amritsar massacre
  • April 13, 1919
  • The massacre took place at the Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. The place was surrounded by high walls on all sides except for a small gate as a entrance.
  • Shooting at a peacefull protest by British soldiers under the order of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer
  • 379 killed (337 men, 41 children and a 7 week old baby) and 1200 injured.
  • People jumped into the well present in the ground to prevent themselves from getting shot but died of drowning.
  • In response to why he machine-gunned people after they had dispersed, he arrogantly responded, "I was trying to do this in their own interests. If I killed a few people, they would not gather and come to Gujranwala and do damage"

India - Gujranwala Massacre (British Army)

  • April 14, 1919
  • Bombing raid on innocent people of town Gujranwala, now in Pakistan, by British RAF under orders from Captain D.H.M. Carberry
  • 11 killed and 27 injured.
  • Captain D.H.M. Carberry claimed the ability to discern innocents from 200 feet up, of which he stated there were none.

Armenian Genocide

Second Italo-Abyssinian War (Italy)

World War II (German Nazi Party)

  • 1939-1945
  • Invasion of neighbouring countries, genocide (see: the Holocaust), murder and mistreatment of civilians, destruction of enemy territory (see: Operation Barbarossa).
  • Well over 10 million people were systematically killed by the Nazi regime (Some accountings place the figure at over 20 million) The Nazis killed some 5.1-6 million Jews as part of the so-called "Final Solution." Other victims of the Nazis included Russian civilians, Poles (both Jews and Gentiles were targeted), Gypsies, homosexuals, and people with disabilities
  • Two tribunals were established in Nuremberg, Germany by the victorious Allied powers following World War II, running from 1945 to 1949. The first tribunal indicted 24 major Nazi war criminals, and resulted in 19 convictions (of which 12 led to death sentences) and 3 acquittals. The second tribunal indicted 185 members of the military, economic, and political leadership of Nazi Germany, of which 142 were convicted and 35 were acquitted. In subsequent decades, approximately 20 additional war criminals who escaped capture in the immediate aftermath of World War II were tried in West Germany and Israel.
  • In addition to trials of Nazi leaders, the Nazi party itself was outlawed following World War II.

World War II (Germany, United Kingdom, and United States)

World War II, Second Sino-Japanese War

Bombing of Tokyo (United States of America)

  • 1942-1945
  • An estimated 100,000 people died in the first firebombing attack on Tokyo in March 1945.
  • No one, either from the Allied or Axis powers, has been tried for aerial bombardment of enemy territory during World War II. The US military commander in charge of the attacks, Gen. Curtis LeMay, later said "I suppose if I had lost the war, I would have been tried as a war criminal."

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (United States of America)

World War II (Fascist Italy)

World War II (Yugoslavian partisans)

  • 1943-1945
  • Murder of prisoners of war and civilians
  • Following Italy's 1943 armistice with the Allied powers, Yugoslavian resistance forces executed an estimated 1,300-1,600 Italian troops and ethnic Italians living in Slovenian/Yugoslav territories adjacent to Italy. See: Foibe massacres

Vietnam War (United States)

  • 1968-1970
  • Murder of civilians. Invasion of neighboring countries.
  • In March, 1968, A US army platoon led by Lt. William Calley killed hundreds of civilians – primarily women, children, and old men - in the village of My Lai.
  • In 1969 and 1970, the United States conducted extensive and secret bombing missions against alleged North Vietnamese targets in the neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos, and invaded Cambodia. The Cambodian bombing campaign caused an estimated 200,000 casualties.
  • 26 US soldiers, including 14 officers, were charged with crimes related to the My Lai massacre and its coverup. Most of the charges were eventually dropped, and only Lt. Calley was convicted. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but pardoned by President Richard Nixon. Calley served only 3½ years under house arrest.
  • When Henry Kissinger visited London in 2002, a petition was made for an arrest warrant in connection with Kissinger's activities in relation to the Vietnam war as Secretary of State under U.S. President Richard Nixon. In 2001, an article in Harper's Magazine accused Kissinger of war crimes in connection with the bombing and invasion of Cambodia.

Vietnam War (North Vietnam)

  • 1968
  • Murder of civilians. Mistreatment of prisoners of war.
  • North Vietnamese troops executed 2500 civilians while occupying the city of Hue in 1968. An additional 3500 people are suspected to have been executed, but never found. See: Massacre at Hue.
  • U.S. Prisoners of war held at the so-called "Hanoi Hilton" were subject to torture and other mistreatment by their North Vietnamese captors.
  • Hundreds of Thousands of South Vietnamese perished in the concentration or "re-education" camps shortly after the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City)

East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) genocide

  • 1971
  • Perpetrator: Pakistan Army
  • Victims: Bangadeshi civilians
  • Scale of the tragedy: As per the Bangladesh Government, three million people killed, two hundred thousand women raped, and ten million people forced to flee as refugee to India.
  • Legal Retribution: None. No one was ever tried for the genocide, let alone being punished.


Invasion and occupation of East Timor (Indonesia)

  • 1975-1999
  • Waging a war of aggression. Murder of civilians.
  • When the former Portuguese colony of East Timor declared independence in 1975, it was promptly invaded by Indonesia, with the tacit approval of the United States. In the course of the invasion and 27-year occupation, between 100,000 and 250,000 people were killed, out of an initial population of about 800,000.

Iran-Iraq War (Iraq)

  • 1980-1988
  • Waging a war of aggression. Use of chemical weapons. Attacks against parties not involved in the war.
  • In 1980, Iraq invaded neighboring Iran, allegedly to capture Iraqi territory held by Iran.
  • Iraq attacked oil tankers from neutral nations in an attempt to disrupt enemy trade.
  • Iraq made extensive use of chemical weapons, including mustard gas and nerve agents such as tabun. Iraqi chemical weapons were responsible for over 100,000 Iranian casualties (including 20,000 deaths). Iraq also used chemical weapons against their own Kurdish population in the town of Halabja, causing casualties estimated between several hundred up to 5,000.
  • Several former Iraqi leaders, including deposed President Saddam Hussein are presently being held in connection with crimes committed during Hussein's regime. The precise charges, and their connection to the above alleged war crimes, is not yet clear.

Iran-Iraq War (Iran)

  • 1980-1989
  • Attacks against parties not involved in the war.
  • Iran attacked oil tankers from neutral nations in an attempt to disrupt enemy trade.
  • Iran laid mines in international waters. Mines damanged the US frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts.

Invasion of Kuwait (Iraq)

  • 1990
  • Invasion of neighbour, looting, killing of civilians
  • X dead/raped, country devastated, resources wantonly destroyed
  • Operation Desert Storm (USA and a broad alliance) in 1991 removed Iraq from Kuwait, destroyed its military capability; Iraq subsequently punished by UN sanctions, military quarantine, and periodic bombardment.

Lords Resistance Army v. Ugandan Government (kidnap, rape, and forced murder involving children)

  • 20 years warfare
  • The Times reports (Nov 26 2005 p.27):
Almost 20 years of fighting... has killed half a million people. Many of the dead are children... The LRA kidnaps children and forces them to join its ranks. And so, incredibly, children are not only the main victims of this war, but also its unwilling perpetrators... The girls told me they had been given to rebel commanders as "wives" and forced to bear them children. The boys said they had been forced to walk for days knowing they would be killed if they showed any weakness, and in some cases forced even to murder their family members... every night up to 10,000 children walk into the centre of Kitgum... because they are not safe in their own beds... more than 25,000 children have been kidnapped ...this year an average of 20 children have been abducted every week.
  • No action or UN resolution yet passed.

Serbia/Bosnia (Former Yugoslavia, aggravated by religious tension)

Iraq (1st and 2nd Gulf Wars, USA)

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  • 1990-91 and 2003-
  • Use of unlawful weaponry
  • Use of depleted uranium ("DU") which turns to a fine pyrogenic powder upon impact. DU is used due to its extreme density, in armor piercing munitions. It is also radioactive, poisonous, effectively lasts forever, and capable of causing cancer or birth defects. Between 500 - 3000 tons of powdered uranium are estimated to have been left in the desert, as well as the impact on those exposed directly to it. Anecdotally there have been significant rises in unusual cancers in Iraq, including childhood cancers and radiation based effects, and abnormal death and injury rates in uranium cleanup teams.
A UN report of 2002 states that because of these effects, DU weapons potentially breach each of the following laws: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Charter of the United Nations; the Genocide Convention; the Convention Against Torture; the four Geneva Conventions of 1949; the Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980; and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. (Main article on health, use, legality and impact: Depleted uranium)

Iraq (2nd Gulf War), (USA, UK, Australia)

  • 2003-
  • War of aggression
  • Nobody has yet been tried, and there is no agreed assessment of dead or injured, though Iraqbodycount.net is the most-widely quoted attempt to quantify the figures.

References

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See also

External links

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