Allen L Roland

The wholesale blatant slaughter of innocent civilians, under the guise of war, is the death of humanitarian law. It is still happening in Iraq and it recently happened during Israel's 22 day assault on Gaza from December 2008 through January 2009 ~ which left 1400 Palestinians dead ~ many of them children:

In the First World War 5 per cent of those killed were civilians, in the Second World War 48 per cent, while in a Third World War 90-95 per cent would be civilians. We are already seeing those percentages reached in America's illegal war and occupation of Iraq, where over a million Iraqis have been killed and displaced, and also in Israel's recent illegal assault of Gaza where over 1400 Palestinian civilians have been slaughtered.

Humanitarian law has taken a backseat to global power and nationalistic ambition by both the United States and Israel ~ and only the shocking truth can perhaps begin to right this human and moral tragedy. Dahr Jamail has already offered his 'Horrible Truth' of the bloodbath that Iraq has become ~ " The US occupation of Iraq, which has become the full responsibility of President Barack Obama, is once again a bloodbath. Not that it had ceased to be violent, brutal and chaotic, for not one day has passed since the US invasion of Iraq was launched that hasn't found several Iraqis being senselessly slaughtered." http://www.truthout.org/042409A

But recently Renowned Chinese-English physician Dr. Swee Ang and Norwegian physician Hans Husum were invited to offer an assessment of the situation in Gaza during the "Wounds of Gaza" lecture at the UNESCO Palace organized by the Sabra Shatila Foundation and they offered a chilling and unbiased account of the blatant Gaza atrocities by the Israeli government as well as illegal United States weapon complicity.

PHYSICIANS OFFER CHILLING ACCOUNT OF GAZA ATROCITIES

By Marc Abizeid / Special to The Daily Star / Tuesday April 28th, 2009

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&;categ_id=1&article_id=101419

listen to the Article

BEIRUT: Renowned Chinese-English physician Dr. Swee Ang gave a moving testimony on Saturday of Israel's destruction in the Gaza Strip as witnessed in her recent trip to the tiny Palestinian enclave. "Cluster bombs, deliberate assassinations of whole families that they would line up and shoot," Ang said as she listed a number of acts committed by Israel during its 22-day assault on Gaza in December and January that left over 1,400 Palestinians dead.

"The Israelis would wait until the ambulances got the wounded and then attack them, killing and injuring the drivers," she continued.

Ang and Norwegian physician Hans Husum were invited to offer an assessment of the situation in Gaza during the "Wounds of Gaza" lecture at the UNESCO Palace organized by the Sabra Shatila Foundation.

Ang, who bears distinct Asian features, also remarked that Israelis couldn't distinguish her from the Palestinians during her visit - a fact that made her proud.

"The Israelis attacked me in London for saying that 1.5 million tons of bombs had been dropped on Gaza, but I will show you the evidence," she said while presenting nauseating photographs taken during her visit of charred victims burned with phosphorous and large civilian buildings collapsed with vacuum bombs.

"I was very angry when I learned that Israeli tanks would come in front of a house and first fire a normal shell to break open the wall, then shoot a phosphorous shell into it," she said.

Husum, equally angered by the war in Gaza, lashed out at the United States which he said provided Israel with the experimental Dense Inert Metal Explosives, or DIME weapons, to test on the Palestinians.

"This weapon tears the flesh off the bone, it opens up the chest, ... It kills a lot of people," he said, adding that the "new kind of wars" like in Gaza and Israel's summer 2006 war on Lebanon were launched not to make conventional military advancements, but rather with the aim of breaking the will of the people.

He went on to predict that the next war in Lebanon would be an urban one, systematically targeting cities in order to "break society" because, as he put, "humanitarian law is dead - it's out."

"I've been a war surgeon for 30 years. I've seen a lot, but I am shocked," he said. "If the aim of the enemy is to scare us into subjugation and to put us down on our knees, then we have to stand up - we do not bend down."

The death of Humanitarian Law was Gaza, and unless rectified, we will soon become a world of morally bankrupt lawless savages preying on the weak and destined for the trash heap of history.

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Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2009/04/28.html Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com ) Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net