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Institute for Public Accuracy
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* Geneva Convention * Water Supply
* Following Orders * 'Fragging'
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| WASHINGTON
- March 24 -
MARJORIE COHN,
marjorie@tjsl.edu A professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School
of Law in San Diego, Cohn said today: "While the U.S. government
has objected to Iraq broadcasting photos of U.S. POWs, the U.S.
government has allowed the very same thing.... Photos of Taliban
prisoners of war and John Walker Lindh were continually broadcast
on U.S. media outlets. The Pentagon is refusing to abide by the
Geneva Convention with regards to the prisoners being held at
Guantanamo Bay."
DENIS HALLIDAY,
djhalliday@msn.com Former head of the U.N. oil-for-food program
in Iraq and former U.N. Assistant Secretary General of the U.N.,
Halliday today criticized plans for the U.N. Secretary General
to be in charge of the oil for food program. He noted the legal
obligations of the U.S. to provide water immediately to the people
of Basra where the water system is cut off, noting the U.S. military
provides water to fight oil fires.
TOM NAGY, nagy@gwu.edu,
www.progressive.org/0801issue/nagy0901.html,
www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/93.htm
A professor of expert systems at George Washington University,
Nagy wrote the article "The Secret Behind the Sanctions: How the
U.S. Intentionally Destroyed Iraq's Water Supply" for the Progressive
magazine. Nagy notes that the Geneva Conventions (Article 54)
state that "It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render
useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian
population, such as ... drinking water installations..." Nagy
has uncovered a Defense Intelligence Agency document written right
before the Gulf War which spells out how sanctions would prevent
Iraq from supplying clean water to its citizens: "Iraq depends
on importing specialized equipment and some chemicals to purify
its water supply," the 1991 document states. "With no domestic
sources of both water treatment replacement parts and some essential
chemicals, Iraq will continue attempts to circumvent U.N. Sanctions
to import these vital commodities. Failing to secure supplies
will result in a shortage of pure drinking water for much of the
population. This could lead to increased incidences, if not epidemics,
of disease." Nagy has recently uncovered the Air Force's Doctrine
Document 2-1.2 of May 1998 entitled "Strategic Attack," which
includes an analysis of Desert Storm: "The loss of electricity
shut down the capital's water treatment plants and led to a public
health crisis from raw sewage dumped in the Tigris River." This
is under the section entitled "Elements of Effective Operations."
LAWRENCE MOSQUEDA,
mosqueda@evergreen.edu, www.counterpunch.org/mosqueda02272003.html
Professor of political economy at the Evergreen State College,
Mosqueda wrote the recent article "A Duty To Disobey All Unlawful
Orders."
LUKE HIKEN,
hiken@igc.org, www.nlg.org/mltf
Hiken is on the steering committee of Military Law Task Force
of the National Lawyers Guild, and has studied "fragging" (a soldier
killing a commanding officer) cases extensively.
###
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