[PEN-L:9367] U.S. War Crimes

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is a forward with a comment attached.  It is another opinion that the U.S. committed war crimes in the attack on Yugoslavia.
Clinton sounds a little like Marie Antoinette, if the report on what he said is true.

Charles Brown


(((((((((((((((((((((
Just another article from the BBC on the environmental catastrophe caused
by the neo-nazis and their liberal supporters. Rumor has it that when
Clinton was told about the polluted water and the dangers it poses, he
responded: "why can't they drink Elvian or Perrier?"

X

*****************
World

             Kosovo waterways bombing
             a 'war crime'

             Burning oil, polluted water: The Balkans will take a long time
to
             recover

             By News Online's Alex Kirby

             A senior South African Government minister, Professor
             Kader Asmal, says Nato's bomb damage to water
             resources in the Balkan war was a crime under
             international law.

                           Professor Asmal was appointed
                           Minister of Education in June. He
                           had been Minister of Water Affairs
                           and Forestry since 1994.

                           He was speaking in London, at a
                           symposium on the conflicts
                           provoked by large dams between the
             needs of development, human rights and environmental
             protection.

             The meeting was organised by the World Commission
             on Dams (WCD), the Reuters Foundation, and the World
             Conservation Union.

             Professor Asmal, who chaired the symposium and is a
             lawyer, told a questioner: "The recent bombing of water
             resources in Europe is very regrettable. It is a war
             crime".

             He did not name Nato specifically, but left no doubt that
             he had the alliance in mind.



                                 Professor Asmal told BBC
                                 News Online: "The Geneva
                                 Protocols prohibit attacks on
                                 water resources.

                                 "Reservoirs, dams, sewage
                                 systems and related
                                 resources should never be
                                 used like this.

                                 "Part of the reason is
                                 because of the risk of
                                 escalation in the next
                                 conflict."

             He added that since the Kosovo campaign, Israel has
             attacked water resources in Lebanon for the first time in
             years.

             Protecting civilians

             Professor Asmal was exiled from South Africa during the
             apartheid era, and for 27 years was a professor of law at
             Trinity College, Dublin.

             The Geneva Protocols, adopted in 1977, are designed to
             strengthen the 1949 Conventions on the conduct of
             warfare.



                                 They say combatants must
                                 not "attack, destroy or render
                                 useless objects
                                 indispensable to the survival
                                 of the civilian population,
                                 such as foodstuffs, crops,
                                 livestock, drinking water
                                 installations and supplies".

                                 They also prohibit attacks on
                                 dams and dykes if they
                                 would result in a threat to
                                 civilians.

             A report on the environmental impact of the Balkan war
             was published in June by the Regional Environment
             Center, a group based in Hungary and part-funded by the
             European Commission.

             It says: "Negative health impacts are expected from
             damaged infrastructure (water and sewage systems) in
             Yugoslavia.

             "The slow reconstruction of infrastructure (particularly
             sewers and water treatment) represents a further risk to
             health."