A NEW PENTAGON “LAW OF WAR MANUAL”
By Manuel E. Yepe http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/ A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann. Just when it seemed the US government’s official policy language couldn’t get any more paradoxical, self-justifying, and replete with inconsistencies, the Pentagon issued its “Law of War Manual” which dictates legal conduct for service members from all branches during military operations. In an evaluative article –released by TheAntiMedia blog and Anti-Media Radio– writer and journalist Claire Bernish describes this new legal instrument of the Pentagon as “alarming”. “Though the enormous tome of 1,180 pages is drier than stale bread,” says the journalist, “there are plenty of alarming entries which more than warrant a thorough perusal.” Bernish points out that this manual is the first comprehensive change made to the US Department of Defense’s laws of war policy since 1956, and has been in the making for 25 years. One significant change in terminology directly targets journalists, stating, “in general, journalists are civilians. However, journalists may be members of the armed forces […] or unprivileged belligerents.” This new designation as “unprivileged belligerents” replaces –who knows with what intention– the Bush-era term, “unlawful combatants” to define possible terrorists that might impersonate journalists, says Bernish. The journalist believes that on a purely surface level, a manual of laws governing the details of how a country behaves in conflict intimates that certain conduct—including that which would violate human rights—is simply unacceptable. “Although this is technically, ostensibly true of this user guide, its contents belie the United States’ standing as the most arrogantly bellicose government on the planet.” An example of this is the well-documented use of depleted uranium by U.S. forces during the Iraq War and beyond which left thousands of Iraqi civilian victims to suffer monstrous congenital malformations well into the future. This has been categorically condemned worldwide, but the new Law of War Manual establishes depleted uranium as an “acceptable” tool of war. From 2004 up to today, the rate of congenital malformations in the Iraqi city of Fallujah has surpassed that of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – where nuclear bombs were dropped 55 years ago, after the Empire of Japan had announced its intention to surrender. Also listed under the heading of “Lawful” are cluster munitions. These internationally-banned bombs, however, are delineated in the manual as having “Specific Rules on Use”—notably, such weapons’ use “may reflect U.S. obligations under international law.” The writer recalls that this ignores the fact that the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions was agreed to by 116 countries around the world. Only the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, have not signed the Convention. Bernish believes there is a telling paradox in the fact that U.S. policy ostensibly allows the export of weapons forbidden by the international community with the only condition that receiving countries must stipulate that the bombs “will only be used against military targets” with minimal harm to innocent civilians. Frequently these insidious munitions remain unexploded for months, years or even decades, after the bomb was originally dropped. Children are often maimed or killed when they unwittingly mistake them for toys. This has been brought to light recently after reports this month that U.S.-supplied cluster bombs had been used to target Yemeni citizens, and the Defense Department announced it would diligently investigate and also claimed its export of thsee insidious weapons would cease as of 2018. According to Bernish, this statement contradicts Washington’s interest in having the manual list cluster munitions as lawful for U.S. Army use. Depleted uranium and cluster munitions are just two examples of many in the manual that actually generate a plethora of questions rather than provide the definitive answers one might expect from the Pentagon’s title. Also found among the listed “lawful” devices are mines, nuclear weapons, booby-traps, herbicides, non-blinding laser weapons, incendiary devices, and fragmentation weapons, among others that deserve clarification. July 1, 2015. |
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NUEVO MANUAL DE GUERRA DEL PENTÁGONO
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