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Ethnic Kurds file class action in Baltimore against chemical makers

From the Maryland Daily Record :

Ben Mook
Daily Record Assistant Business Editor
9 Apr, 2009

Five survivors of the 1988 poison gas attacks of ethnic Kurds in Iraq have filed a class action lawsuit in Maryland claiming three American companies and the government of Iraq violated the Geneva Convention by using mustard and nerve gasses to kill tens of thousands of people.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, the lawsuit says the companies supplied the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with the chemical precursors and compounds needed to make the poison gases used in the six-month long “Operation Anfal.”

One of the companies, Alcolac Inc., was headquartered in Baltimore at the time of the attacks but is now defunct. Some of its assets were acquired by a French firm, Rhodia Inc., which is mentioned in the complaint but not named as a defendant.

A spokesman for Rhodia, David Klucsik, said Alcolac was not acquired until 1989 - by a predecessor to Rhodia called Rhone-Poulenc. Rhodia, the chemicals arm of Rhone-Poulenc was spun off in 1998.

"Rhodia did not exist until 1998," Klucsik said. "And, Rhone-Poulenc had no awareness of the allegations against Alcolac because the acquisition didn't occur until 1989."

Kenneth McCallion of New York, the lead attorney in the case, told The Associated Press he filed the complaint in Maryland because all three companies have operations there and because Alcolac pleaded guilty in 1989 to knowingly violating export laws by shipping a mustard-gas ingredient that ultimately went to Iran.

The lawsuit accuses the companies — Alcolac; West Chester, Pa.-based VWR International LLC; and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. of Waltham, Mass. — of selling lab materials and chemicals used in the manufacture of chemical weapons. Valerie Collado, spokeswoman for VWR International, said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

The plaintiffs claim the use of mustard and nerve gases during the attacks is a clear violation of the Geneva Convention of 1925.

“The ban on the use of chemical weapons in warfare was respected even during the depths of World War II, when only Nazi Germany had sarin nerve gas,” the complaint says.

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Israel created 'terror without mercy' in Gaza

The Israeli military attacked civilians and medics and delayed - sometimes for hours - the evacuation of the injured during the January war in Gaza, according to an independent fact-finding mission commissioned by Israeli and Palestinian medical human rights groups.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society yesterday said their findings showed Israel's military committed serious violations of international humanitarian law. In their 92-page report, compiled by five senior health experts from across the world, they documented several specific attacks, with interviews from 44 separate witnesses.

Human rights groups have accused Israel's military, as well as Palestinian militants in Gaza, of war crimes. "The underlying meaning of the attack on the Gaza Strip, or at least its final consequence, appears to be one of creating terror without mercy to anyone," the report said.

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Is a civilized and enlightened military possible?

From Middle East Online :

8 Apr, 2009

Has the US created a permanent war economy and de-enlightened warrior culture? Now that the US is ready to lead the world on nuclear disarmament, will it show the way and reform its army into a civilized and enlightened military? Asks Dallas Darling.

 
Years ago at Fort Riley, Kansas, home of the Big Red One, I can still recall having long discussions with a sergeant from the Vietnam Era. Since he was familiar with massacres and atrocities committed during the Vietnam Conflict (on both sides), we often discussed the Just War Theory and the differences between fighting an Offensive and Defensive War. Most of all though, we discussed if it was possible to be a soldier-indoctrinated and trained to kill and destroy the “enemy”-and still maintain a sense of humanitarian values and feeling in time of war. (In thinking back to Vietnam and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, maybe the most important question was not in asking how would they greet us, but how would/did we greet them!)

I was reminded of our conversations for three reasons. First, three Iraqi brothers were recently killed in Mosul in a botched military raid. Several months ago a female editor for Iraq's Biladi TV was critically wounded when US troops opened fire. Again, US forces just killed a 12-year old girl in Hurriyah in northern Iraq when the driver of the car did not stop at a check-point. In Afghanistan, hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed due to faulty intelligence or being mistaken for suspected terrorists. Over the past several years, there have been other crimes like executions, stealing and rape committed by US forces against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Second, the newly signed Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Iraq and US military forces states that US forces are not supposed to do anything in Iraq without first coordinating with the Iraqi government or provincial leader. In other words, occupation forces can no longer have contact with Iraqi civilians, such as arrests or personal and home searches and seizures, until applying for an Iraqi court issued warrant. At the heart of the SOFA agreement is who has final jurisdiction over US troops and their behavior and actions: Iraq or the US? And what does this agreement mean for US forces?

Third, and since the United States prides itself on being founded on the principles of the Age of Enlightenment, remember that critical thinkers examined the military and concluded in an enlightened and civilized society a professional or standing army would be disbanded after a war was over. They also rejected the professional army in favor of a natural army composed of all able-bodied citizens, equal in arms and used only for defensive purposes. Enlightened thinkers too imagined militaries and war, along with their propaganda of killing, would eventually come to an end for a new peaceful and humanitarian way of thinking and living. (1)

Furthermore, reasoned individuals objected to monarchies in which kings held absolute power and used armies to preserve their power and suppress democratic dissent. They also denounced kings that continually enlarged their forces by grinding the people down to poverty and starvation. (Montesquieu advised the legislative body to be in complete control of the military versus a king or executor.) Other thinkers, like Voltaire, called soldiers hired thugs, murderers and the scum of the nation. (2) Philosophers believed militaries and wars impoverished people, leveled democracies, and depopulated the world.

Even Adam Smith, author of 'The Wealth of Nations', wrote that “Among the civilized nations of modern Europe…not more than one hundredth part of the inhabitants of any country can be employed as soldiers, without ruin to the country which pays the expense.” (3) He believed military budgets should equal only one percent of a nation's productive output. Smith considered large armies as the most unproductive organizations and their conquests as the greatest crimes. In truth, Smith believed large standing and professional armies would create enormous debts and bankrupt nations. (Today, for example, the US devotes 42 percent of its total product and employs some 12 percent of its labor force directly or indirectly to the armed forces and military production.)

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Greek 'Culture and the Left in the 20th century'

From MICHAEL :

Title of collection
Culture and the Left in the 20th century

Description

The digital archival collection “Culture and the Left in the 20th century” attempts to portray the relation between Greek left and art and culture during the 20th century (1900-1974): ideological trends, art movements, discussions on art and culture, literature, fine arts. The main objective of this archive was to focus on the discussions on culture and not on the works of art themselves. The vast majority of the selected material comes from newspapers, journals and books. The digital material is divided in three categories (publications, archival material, photographs), is incorporated in the database in a chronological order and is available to the public.

Legal status
Owned by the institution

Subject
Cultural anthropology; Cultural creation; Cultural differentiation; Cultural identity; National cultures; National history; Local history; Military history; Contemporary art; Fine arts; Photography; Plastic arts; Graphic arts; Cinema; Dance; Films; Music; Musical styles; Theatre; Museums; Leisure time activities; Clubs; Entertainment; Play; Sport; Tourism; Historical events; Cultural events; Migration; Black and ethnic minority groups

Time
Modern Greek period (19th – 20th century)

Places
GREECE

Culture
Western European; Νεοελληνικός

Language
Greek, Modern; English; French; Italian; German

Digital format
JPEG

Collection size
70.000 images


* Online database
Culture and the Left in the 20th century
Audience : academic research; formal education; general public; life-long learning; professional
Access conditions : Free access