Egyptian Legislators Call on Security Council to Refer Blair and Bush to the ICC for War Crimes

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) : The Egyptian Parliament’s Arab Affairs Committee, on Friday, requested that the UN Security Council refers Tony Blair and George W. Bush to the International Criminal Court to try both for crimes against peace and war crimes related to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The request is likely to fail because the UK and USA have veto right at the Council. It will, however, shed light on the fact that citizens of permanent UNSC member States can act with impunity, and the urgent need to reform the UN.

Tony Blair visits Iraq in 2006.  Courtesy EPA/Peter MacDiarmid

Tony Blair visits Iraq in 2006. Courtesy EPA/Peter MacDiarmid

The Egyptian legislators conveyed their request to the Security Council (UNSC) on Friday, following the release of Britain’s Chilcot inquiry report on Wednesday. The seven-year-long inquiry was investigating the role of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and in part the role of former U.S. President George W. Bush in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Arab Affairs Committee’s appeal stresses that:

“The aftermath of these events requires that the General Assembly and to the Security Council urgently request the International Criminal Court to prosecute all those responsible for aggression against Iraq, led former US President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair as war criminals.”

Besides urging to have Blair and Bush tried for crimes against peace and war crimes, the Arab Affairs Committee also urged the UNSC and the international community to hold the UK and the USA responsible and to extract compensation for political, economic and other damages done to Iraq during and in the years subsequent to the 2003 invasion.

After seven years, hearing from 150 witnesses and after analyzing some 150,000 documents, the inquiry led by John Chilcot, concluded that the UK’s leadership went to war “before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted”, based on “flawed intelligence” and “wholly inadequate planning”. (read the full report here) The report also notes that the invasion undermined the Security Council’s (UNSC) authority because it failed to get the majority support for military action.

bush and blair CRGThis euphemistic representation neglects the fact that a UNSC resolution only is valid when all permanent UNSC members (P5) concurrently vote for the resolution.

This euphemistic representation also omits that going to war without the concurrent vote of the P5, constitutes a crime against peace. The 2.6 million words report and its alleged “harsh light that it casts on former Labour PM Tony Blair”, will go down in history as a shill’s job. The Shillcot inquiry.

As damage control that covers over the fact that nobody will ever face a court of law for the crime against peace, for subsequent war crimes, and the murder of a head of state, Saddam Hussein. A murder that has established precedents for the murder of Libya’s Head of State Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

Appeal bound to fail but also bound to shed light on corrupt UN System

The Arab Affairs Committee’s appeal to the Security Council is bound to fail because as permanent UNSC member States, both the UK and the USA can use their veto right at the Council. Moreover, the USA is not a signatory of the Rome Statutes and has not made its citizens subject to the International Criminal Court.

Ironically, the USA is one of the countries that most often demands the referral of citizens from other countries to the ICC. The appeal is, however, a signal that shows that the international opposition against a UN System that exempts the P5 from international law and justice continues to grow.

UNSC Photo courtesy of Hu Toya.

UNSC Photo courtesy of Hu Toya.

In August 2014 Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement, warning about the deterioration of the UN’s role in preventing conflicts. The statement came following celebrations about the anniversary of World War I in New York.

Egyptian UN Envoy Moataz Khalil, during the celebrations which were hosted by the Indian UN delegation, stressed that the war had affected many of those nations which had no stakes in the war, including Egypt and India. The Egyptian UN Envoy explained that the League of Nations, which was established to prevent future wars such as WWI failed to prevent WWI. Khalil said:

”Despite the UN’s success so far to prevent wars, the continuing conflicts around the world are warning that its role (UN) is decaying, especially if its inability to solve international conflicts continues.”

The Arab Affairs Committee’s request that the UNSC refers Bush and Blair to the ICC and its call to extract compensation for Iraq is not only unlikely to succeed. It is also unlikely that any UK or US-based media will report about it. It will, however, reverberate in media of non-aligned countries, and it will also reach the international community via independent media like nsnbc international.

CH/L – nsnbc 09.07.2016

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/07/09/egyptian-legislators-call-on-security-council-to-refer-blair-and-bush-to-the-icc-for-war-crimes/

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