Below is a trace of several important threads (including the most devastating one that recently appeared on TomDispatch by Nick Turse) that show the progression of the US (secret) air war on Iraq which started as early as post Gulf War I. What emerges is a very disturbing and violent picture that is deep inside genocide territory.
Post Gulf War I
Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the U.S. and U.K. had been engaged in a low-level conflict with Iraq, enforcing Iraqi no-fly zones with ongoing air raids.
If you look at the BBC coverage in No-fly zones: The legal position, it mentions that "However, unlike the military campaign to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait, the no-fly zones were not authorised by the UN and they are not specifically sanctioned by any Security Council resolution."
Additionally, the sanctions imposed on Iraq after Gulf War I devastated civilian society and resulted in the deaths of at least half million children as well. If you remember the words of Madeleine Albright when asked if it was worth it, she replied "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price -- we think the price is worth it.". She regretted saying those words in her autobiography but still supported the sanctions concept.
2001-2002 (Pre Gulf War II)
The US Air Force received its orders from the White House to begin the preparations for a war on Iraq in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks. These attacks we pre-war and were meant to disrupt Iraq’s southern air defenses and communications infrastructure.
US launched air war against Iraq in 2002
It's Imperialism, Stupid
2003 (War begins officially)
2004 (initial reports)
By Tom Engelhardt @ TomDispatch
Icarus (Armed with Vipers) Over Iraq
2005 (aerial war steps up)
The phrase "air war" had not appeared in either the Washington Post or Time magazine even a single time in 2005 in spite of CENTAF reports indicating the existence of an ongoing air war.
Ignoring the Air War
Where is the Iraq war headed next? by Seymour M. Hersh
Up in the Air
Overall till present:
Finally, a devastating and extensively researched report that appeared recently on TomDispatch (by Nick Turse) of the air war (including the use of 59,787 pounds of air-delivered cluster bombs since 2003). This article is exhaustive and includes various casualty figures as well as links to the air war coverage (or lack of) in the past.
Our Shadowy Iraq Air War
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To get some historical context, many Nazis were hanged post World War II after the Nuremberg tribunal. They were hanged mainly for crimes against peace i.e. aggression, the supreme international crime.
The Nuremberg indictment involved 4 counts:
Count One: “conspiracy to wage aggressive war,” addressed crimes committed before the war officially began.
Count Two: “waging an aggressive war,” addressed the undertaking of war in violation of international treaties.
Count Three: “war crimes,” addressed more traditional violations of the laws of war, including the killing or mistreatment of prisoners of war and the use of outlawed weapons.
Count Four: “crimes against humanity,” addressed the crimes committed against Jews, ethnic minorities, physically and mentally disabled persons, civilians in occupied countries, and others.
But here is the key point to get out of Nuremberg: Justice Robert Jackson, an American justice who was a prosecutor at Nuremberg said "We must never forget that the record on which we judge these (Nuremberg) defendants is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well."
The criminal implications of the Iraq war (use of illegal air war on civilians, torture, aggression, fomenting civil war etc.) are staggering but never discussed in "polite" conversation.
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