I have always had a certain amount of sympathy for Amnesty International, although sympathy was severely affected by their apparent surrender to the anti-war idiots over the last couple of years. However while their coverage of Iraq or Israel may have left something to be desired, their overall coverage of the abysmal human rights records of countries from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe kept me hoping that eventually they would do something about their coverage of the Middle East too.
While it isn't quite the report I would like to see the latest Amnesty Report on Iraq has got a lot of good stuff in it. Indeed while it weasels its way out of using the T word, and lists a number of US/Coalition abuses first, it also documents the direct attacks on Iraqi civilians by the various "armed groups" as well as the statements by that famous "moderate" cleric Al Qardhawi amongst others that appear to be supporting such slaughter.
On 23 August 2004, 93 Muslim scholars from 30 countries issued a statement urging Muslims throughout the world to support "resistance to occupation in Iraq and Palestinian territories". The statement said: "Islamic leaders from across the world condemn in the strongest terms all-time brutal crimes by occupation forces in Iraq and Palestine". It added: "We are in full solidarity with Iraqis and Palestinians in their brave resistance, and we call on them to close ranks against occupation away from collaboration, extremism or sectarianism."(42)
On 5 November 2004, 26 prominent Saudi religious scholars issued an open letter stating that "armed attacks launched by Iraqi groups on US troops and their allies in Iraq were legitimate resistance." The letter added: "Fighting the occupiers is a duty for all those who are able. It is a Jihad to push back the assailants… Resistance is a legitimate right. A Muslim must not inflict harm on any resistance man or inform about them. Instead, they should be supported and protected."(43) The letter also prohibited Iraqis from providing any support for military operations conducted by the MNF against strongholds of armed groups fighting against the MNF.
A conference held in Beirut on 18-19 November 2004 by the IAMS issued a communiqué, signed by Shaikh al-Qardhawi, stating that "helping the Iraqi people in their uphill struggle against the occupation is a duty on every able Muslim in and outside Iraq."(44)
These calls for resistance are said to have encouraged many, from inside and outside Iraq, to join armed groups fighting against the MNF in Iraq.
In late August 2004, Shaikh al-Qardhawi, speaking at the headquarters of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate in Cairo, appeared to suggest that all US nationals in Iraq could be targeted. Following condemnation by many in and outside the Middle East he said "… there was a question about American civilians in Iraq and I only replied with a question: ‘are there American civilians in Iraq?’"(45)
While Amnesty does its best to appear non-judgemental as it docuemnts what it has seen, it criticises the "armed groups" and their leadership for their indiscriminate slaughter of civilians and makes clear that Amnesty finds no justification for either those attacks or those on international bodies such as the UN, the ICRC and so on.
On 18 May 2005, Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi defended the killing of Muslims in suicide bomb attacks against the MNF, according to an audiotape attributed to him. He stated: "The killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom [suicide] operations has been sanctified by many scholars even if it means killing innocent Muslims. This legality has been agreed upon… so as not to disrupt Jihad… Protecting religion is more important than protecting [Muslim] lives, honour or wealth… The shedding of Muslim blood… is allowed in order to avoid the greater evil of disrupting Jihad."(73)
Under international humanitarian law, members of the police and similar civilian security forces are considered civilians, therefore unlawful targets for attack, unless they take a direct part in the hostilities or have been specifically designated as part of the armed forces and could be described as "militia forces" -- namely have responsible command, carry distinctive insignia, carry arms openly, and respect the laws of war. Amnesty International is not in a position to determine whether each of the intended targets in the incidents described below met the criteria listed above. What is clear, however, is that the attacks were carried out in an unlawful manner, using indiscriminate means of attack or resulting in disproportionate harm to people who were indisputably civilians.
As a result, having set the stage Amnesty then minces no words in stating that the "armed groups" are committing crimes against humanity:
Crimes against humanity Under customary international law, as reflected in the Rome Statute, crimes against humanity are acts specified by the Statute committed as part of a ''widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population'', ''pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack."(145) Among the relevant crimes listed in the Statute are murder, unlawful imprisonment, torture and other inhumane acts.(146) Acts that constitute war crimes may also amount to crimes against humanity if they meet the requirements of the definition.
Such acts have been committed by armed groups in Iraq as part of attacks against civilians that are widespread and systematic, and perpetrated as part of a publicly declared policy to target civilians. The attacks therefore satisfy the definition of crimes against humanity.
I am sure that the "liberals" who are consumed by their hate of Bush etc. will find ways to either blame this all on him or pretend that it doesn't really matter, but I hope that majority of people will see that "resistance" or "insurgent" is the wrong word to use for these scum. Although I believe it is a coincidence it does give extra strength to Blair's speech today.
"If it is concern for Iraq, why are they driving a car bomb into the middle of a group of children and killing them?" he asked.
"What is happening in Iraq is that ordinary decent Iraqis are being butchered by these people with the same terrorist ideology that is killing people in different parts of the world."
...
"It is time we stopped saying 'ok, we abhor their methods but we kind of see something in their ideas or maybe they have got a sliver of excuse or justification'.
"They have got no justification for it.
"And one other thing I want to say while I'm on this subject, neither have they got any justification for killing people in Israel either.
"There is no justification for suicide bombing whether in Palestine, Iraq, London, Egypt, Turkey, in the United States of America. There is no justification for it, period.
"And we will start to beat this when we stand up and confront the ideology of this evil. No just the methods but the ideas."
(Hat tip: Harry) Update:The BBC has more although one detects a certain gritting of teeth that they can't blame everything on "the US-led military presence." - via Norm