Robert Parry: Neocons Now Love International Law

[seafan]

Their empire is falling.



President Bush with cabinet members. (Photo: AFP / Getty Images)



Neocons Now Love International Law

By Robert Parry
August 12, 2008

It’s touching how American neoconservatives who have no regard for international law when they want to invade some troublesome country have developed a sudden reverence for national sovereignty.

Apparently, context is everything. So, the United States attacking Grenada or Nicaragua or Panama or Iraq or Serbia is justified even if the reasons sometimes don’t hold water or don’t hold up before the United Nations, The Hague or other institutions of international law.
However, when Russia attacks Georgia in a border dispute over Georgia’s determination to throttle secession movements in two semi-autonomous regions, everyone must agree that Georgia’s sovereignty is sacrosanct and Russia must be condemned.

U.S. newspapers, such as the New York Times, see nothing risible about publishing a statement from President George W. Bush declaring that “Georgia is a sovereign nation and its territorial integrity must be respected.”
No one points out that Bush should have zero standing enunciating such a principle. Iraq also was a sovereign nation, but Bush invaded it under false pretenses, demolished its army, overthrew its government and then conducted a lengthy military occupation resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

The invasion of Iraq also wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. In the months after the 9/11 attacks, Bush proclaimed an exceptional right of the United States to invade any country that might become a threat to American security or to U.S. global dominance.

When asked questions about international law, Bush would joke: “International law? I better call my lawyer.”

The neocons’ contempt for international law goes back even further – to the 1980s and the illegal contra war against Nicaragua and the invasion of Panama. Only in the last few days have the neocons discovered an appreciation for multilateral institutions and the principles of non-intervention.
Despite this history, leading U.S. newspapers don’t see hypocrisy. Instead, they have thrown open their pages to prominent neocons and other advocates of U.S.-led invasions so these thinkers now can denounce Russia while not mentioning any contradictions.

On Monday, the Washington Post’s neoconservative editorial writers published their own editorial excoriating Russia, along with two op-eds, one by neocon theorist Robert Kagan and another co-authored by Bill Clinton’s ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke.
All three – the Post editorial board, Kagan and Holbrooke – were gung-ho for invading Iraq, but now find the idea of Russia attacking the sovereign nation of Georgia inexcusable, even if Georgia’s leaders in Tblisi may have provoked the conflict with an offensive against separatists in South Ossetia along the Russian border.

“Whatever mistakes Tblisi has made, they cannot justify Russia’s actions,” Holbrooke and his co-author Ronald D. Asmus wrote. “Moscow has invaded a neighbor, an illegal act of aggression that violates the U.N. Charter and fundamental principles of cooperation and security in Europe.”
And to top matters off, the authors accused Russia of breaking an even older international covenant: “Beginning a well-planned war … as the Olympics were opening violates the ancient tradition of a truce to conflict during the Games.”

The New York Times ran an op-ed by neocon columnist William Kristol, who also condemned Russia’s aggression without indicating any remorse for his own enthusiasm for U.S. invasions of countries that Washington didn’t like.

Wearing Blinders

While major U.S. news outlets may be comfortable wearing blinders that let them see only wrongdoing by others, the rest of the world views the outrage from Bush and the neocons over Russia as a stunning double standard.
This larger problem is that the Bush administration – along with its neocon allies and many establishment Democrats – have lost any credibility with the world community when it comes to invoking international law.

Bush has applied these legal principles a la carte for years (for instance, ignoring the Geneva Conventions when he chooses), and many longer-serving U.S. officials have viewed events through the lens of American exceptionalism for decades.
For instance, even as the Reagan administration condemned terrorism in the 1980s, it secretly armed the Nicaraguan contras who engaged in acts of terrorism inside Nicaragua. In 1990, when President George H.W. Bush denounced Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, everyone conveniently forgot that he had invaded Panama in 1989.

It has been as if the rules moved on separate tracks, one set for the United States and one set for everyone else – and it was impolite to notice.

Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, however, it has become harder to ignore Washington’s double standards. Also, after the five-plus-year fiasco in Iraq, the Bush administration must confront both the limitations on its own imperial reach and the fact that it has done grave damage to the protocols of international behavior.

As Russia is now demonstrating in its conflict with Georgia, other big powers may want to play by the same do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do rules laid down by the United States.

It is a case of Washington, Bush and the neocons reaping what they have sown.

(Robert Parry allows unlimited use of his articles at Consortiumnews.)

[magellan]

1. Bet they wish they were part of the ICC now too

Come on, guys, rejoin! That way you can insist Russia be held accountable for war crimes, while the ICC squints its eyes at the USA....

[truedelphi]

3. Funny thing though - Georgia started this by aiming

Missiles at a civilian occupied town in that area. At least two thousand killed.

We are like the Germans - who were being told that Poland attacked first.

[magellan]

4. Yep, the fact that Saakashvili is a NY lawyer who's good friends w/the neocons

...and is accepting US military arms and instructors (and likely US mercenary help) isn't playing into our "official" stance at all, nope, not a bit.

This country is so far down the rabbit hole now that we're starting to pop up in China. I know this is true, I saw it on my tv last night. lol

[truedelphi]

5. Right now, two thirds of my acquaintances think

China is so awesome we should just surrender.

And after we join Israel for a romp called "Russian_Georgian_United States" nuke exchange, we just might have to.

All China has to do to occupy the center of the world is to keep out of the Big Problem areas and wait for the smoke to clear.

It will truly dominate then.

[seafan]

6. And Bush paved his way into power, pushing NATO membership and missile defense cooperation.....

Bush is arming and training Georgia's forces; he used them in his Iraq adventure.


Saakashvili was very happy to rename the road to the airport "George W. Bush Highway."

On a visit two years ago, President Bush, under the influence of Georgian food, music and high-concept schmoozing, stayed up celebrating hours past his bedtime.

"I learned firsthand what it means to be fed by a Georgian," said Bush right before hitting the dance floor. Georgians were so impressed that they renamed the road to the airport George W. Bush Highway.

Bush toasts Georgia as a 'beacon of liberty', May 11, 2005

(Bush) added: "You've got a solid friend in America."

He raised the prospect of further political change. "Now, across the Caucasus, in central Asia and the broader Middle East, we see the same desire for liberty burning in the hearts of young people. They are demanding their freedom - and they will have it," Mr Bush said.

Tbilisi, Georgia, remarks by George W. Bush, May 10, 2005


.....

The following year, Georgians returned to this square and pulled down the statue of Lenin. And on April 9th, 1991, you declared to the world that Soviet Georgia was no more, and that the independent nation of Georgia was born. (Applause.) On that historic day, you reclaimed your sovereignty, but the hopeful start you made was not fulfilled. So 18 months ago, Georgians returned to this square to complete the task you began in 1989. You gathered here armed with nothing but roses and the power of your convictions, and you claimed your liberty. And because you acted, Georgia is today both sovereign and free, and a beacon of liberty for this region and the world. (Applause.)

The path of freedom you have chosen is not easy, but you will not travel it alone. Americans respect your courageous choice for liberty. And as you build a free and democratic Georgia, the American people will stand with you. (Applause.)

You are building a free future for your children and grandchildren, and you are helping other nations to do the same. When the Afghan people defied terrorists to vote in that nation's first free presidential elections, Georgian soldiers were there to provide security. (Applause.) And last year -- and last year, when terrorist violence in Iraq was escalating, Georgia showed her courage. You increased your troop commitment in Iraq fivefold. The Iraqi people are grateful, and so are your American and coalition allies. (Applause.)

.....

In this global struggle for liberty, our duties begin at home. While peaceful revolutions can bring down repressive regimes, the real changes and the real challenge is to build up free institutions in their place. This is difficult work, and you are undertaking it with dignity and determination. (Applause.) You have taken tough steps to reform your economy and to crack down on corruption. You are building a democratic society where the rights of minorities are respected, where a free press flourishes, a vigorous opposition is welcome, and unity is achieved through peace. In this new Georgia, the rule of law will prevail, and freedom will be the birthright of every citizen. (Applause.)

.....

As you build free institutions at home, the ties that bind our nations will grow deeper, as well. We respect Georgia's desire to join the institutions of Europe. We encourage your closer cooperation with NATO. Georgia's leaders know that the peaceful resolution of conflict is essential to your integration into the transatlantic community. At the same time, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia must be respected -- the territorial and sovereignty of Georgia must be respected by all nations. (Applause.)

.....

Wonder if Condi Rice's imperialist statements last month were the last straw:

War has torn apart yet another region of the world in the last week, as Russia and Georgia clashed over South Ossetia, a breakaway province that lies in the Caucasus mountains between the two countries.

But the question of South Ossetia’s status has become wrapped up in a much larger conflict – the US’s relentless drive to expand its Nato alliance and encircle Russia with a ring of pro-Western regimes.

By Monday of this week the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali lay in ruins as a result of the Georgian assault there.

Tens of thousands of refugees have fled South Ossetia, the majority heading north across the mountains into Russia.

The US backs Georgia’s government, while Russia supports the South Ossetian separatists. And now this imperial rivalry has spilled over into a military conflict that has started to spread further across the Caucasus region.

Breakaway

At the weekend Russia boosted its military presence in Abkhazia, another breakaway province of Georgia.

On Monday Russian troops crossed over the border into Georgia proper.

Recent US actions have also poured fuel on the flames in the region. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, declared in July that “membership of Nato is Georgia’s future” and pledged support for the country’s “territorial integrity”.

Many commentators believe it was this move by the US that emboldened the Georgian government to mount its attack on Tskhinvali last week.

The new round of tensions is the result of US expansion into countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence.

.....

(Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov) http://nksagar.indiainteracts.com/2008/08/12/medvedev-order-ceasefire-in-georgia/">accused the US for inciting Saakashvili for military “misadventure" in South Ossetia.

“The US have given a lot of money and equipment to Saakashvili to train Georgian Army, although we had expressed concerns that he could use it inside the country".

However, Washington assured us that it will not happen.

In the past they (Americans) have been stopping Saakashvili at our request, when he was on the verge of this, but this time for some reasons they could not control him," Lavrov said.

Speaking about his telephonic conversation with the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Lavrov said, “Rice advised us not to use words like ‘genocide" and ‘war crimes" referring to Georgian regime, but she forgot to give similar advice to Saakashvili, while talking about Russia."

.....

As long as Bush/Cheney/Rice remain in power, our foreign policy smoulders in ruins. As a result, our country's security is highly vulnerable.



Putin, it seems, has had enough of Bush.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Exactly my thoughts when I read what Dim-son said the other day.