[Peace] [Peace-discuss] Scahill interviews Chomsky

[Karen Aram]

What is the definition of “war criminal,” is it someone who commits war crimes during battle, not following the US Pentagon manual on “Rules of Engagement?” They were “rewritten and updated” in 2015 allowing all manner of that which goes against the Geneva Convention.

Does one deserve the title of “war criminal” when defending their sovereign nation, from foreign intervention, bombings, destruction and occupation?

I’m not looking for a “legal definition of “war criminal" necessarily. I consider a “war criminal” one who attacks a sovereign nation, uses drones, chemical weapons, conventional weapons, bombs, etc. in an attempt to occupy.

When was the last time Syria, under the Assad Administration, invaded a sovereign nation?

Is Assad any more ruthless and awful than Saddam was?  Than Netanyahu, the leaders of the SKA, UAE, UK, France, Germany etc ?

Does the use of “imprisonment and torture” of ones own people, lend the title of “war criminal” to a leader?

Those defined as “war criminals” were executed at Nuremberg, so it is a term that should not be applied lightly.

I know a lot of people I don’t consider “nice” and in my lifetime, have turned down for dinner, so I don’t consider that an egregious term when applied to a nation’s leader. Especially the leader of a nation, surrounded by Nato, with no good intentions whatsoever.



On Oct 2, 2018, at 20:13, Brussel, Morton K via Peace <peace at lists.chambana.net<mailto:peace at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:

Chomsky as usual, imposing but also dubious in statements about Bashir al Assad ["a horrible war criminal”], and Putin ["not a nice guy. I would not like to have dinner with him…”].

 It would be useful to know the basis on which he makes these statements. He has made them before and to my mind has partly justified American actions in Syria, actions which have created the chaos that exists there.. He then explicitly advocates American troops remaining there. The above gratuitous remarks reinforce the justification of American imperialism by the media.

By the way, a very good article is to be found about Seymour Hersh by Jackson Lears, which has some relevance to Chomsky's reflections: https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n18/jackson-lears/i-figured-what-the-heck

—mkb



On Oct 1, 2018, at 10:47 PM, Carl G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net<mailto:peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>> wrote:


AMERICAN DISSIDENT: NOAM CHOMSKY ON THE STATE OF THE EMPIRE
by Jeremy Scahill | Intercepted | September 26, 2018

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