9/11 --- 12/16??

      Say 9/11 and everybody will know what you are referring to and as the 8th anniversary passes, heads of state will pass their comments similar to Tony Blair’s words, “the worst crime ever committed against humanity.” It was indeed a dreadful crime and many suffered and died with many more carrying the loss of loved ones for the rest of their lives. On the pretext of hunting for its perpetrators it also unleashed brutal violence and wars in other countries backed up with all the might of the Western world. That violence still continues in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, there is no comments from Western leaders on the brutal crime committed on 12/16?? December 16. 2009 will mark the 11th. Anniversary of an even more brutal crime against humanity than 9/11. A crime that caused more deaths and more destruction than 9/11. It will pass without any wall-to-wall media coverage, without the bowed heads of those political leaders in the West, I doubt if it will even get a mention. Its perpetrates will not be hunted down and brought to justice. Why, because they were Western leaders and not a vague foreign organisation. Three years before 9/11, December 16, 1998, Clinton and Blair set in motion Operation Desert Fox and for four horrendously terrifying nights, defenceless Iraqi civilians were brutally assaulted by an invisible enemy. 10,000 people died, mostly women and children, more than three times the number on 9/11. The “military” targets that were obliterated included Baghdad’s residential area, Hal Adel, the Baghdad Museum of Natural History, Baghdad’s Teaching Hospital, the Tikrit Teaching Hospital and the home of Saddam’s daughter Hala.What rained down on the civilians of Iraq those four nights included, 325 cruise missiles launched by the US Navy, 100 launched by the US Air Force. On top of this UK and US bombers flew 650 sorties. The pentagon had calculated on a “medium-based scenario” of 10,000 civilian deaths. A calculated, state perpetrated kill that had no legal sanction, no UN mandate, no form of international authorisation. Tony Blair has often used 9/11 as a support for the attack on Iraq, but Operation Desert Fox, 16/12 was three years before 9/11. Why are the perpetrators of the 16/12 “the worst crime ever committed against humanity” not being hunted down and brought to justice, we know who they are and where they are.

Originally printed in the Anarchist Critic Sept. 08 but worth printing again.