A Genocidal War to "Prevent" Genocide?

-- if by "the job" one refers to demolishing what remains of America's liberty, prosperity, and international reputation.

If the Bush regime, which clearly lusts for war with Iran, isn't able to confect a casus belli out of dubious claims about Teheran's nuclear program or its role in fomenting insurgency in Iraq, it may embrace a justification for aggressive war: An attack on Iran would be necessary in order to arraign its president on a charge of incitement to genocide.

Last December 14, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations held a symposium to inaugurate an “international effort to prosecute President Ahmadinejad for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention provisions of the UN Charter and other international conventions.”

For "international effort" we should read: "A campaign involving the familiar cast of war-intoxicated neo-Trotskyites from North America and Israel."

The roster includes former Israeli prime minister Bienjamin Netanyahu, Natan Sharansky, General Staff Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Ya'alon, the IDF's former chief of general staff, former Israeli UN ambassador Dore Gold, former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton, former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, and, of course, Harvard's Alan Dershowitz (who never met a guilty, rich murderer he couldn't exonerate, or an innocent Arab he wouldn't obliterate).

According to this “august” group, an indictment should be submitted to the UN's International Criminal Court at The Hague accusing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of violating the Genocide Convention by making public statements allegedly calling for the obliteration of Israel.

For Cotler and Dershowitz, a trial would be a mere formality, since Ahmadinejad's guilt is apodictic.

“Ahmadinejad’s genocidal criminality is as clear and compelling as any I’ve ever seen,” insists Cotler. “This is advocacy of the most horrific of crimes, genocide; embedded in the most virulent of hatreds, anti-Semitism; propelled by a publicly avowed intent to acquire nuclear weapons for that purpose, and dramatized by the parading in the streets of Teheran of Shihab-3 missiles draped in the emblem `Wipe Israel Off the Map.'”

The execrable Alan Dershowitz: The love-child of Shylock and Bozo the Clown? (Actually, this is entirely unfair; Bozo has much more charisma, and Shylock -- who, along with his daughter, was treated horribly -- wasn't a cynical grievance-peddler like Dershowitz).

In an address that unambiguously called for military action – up to an including nuclear strikes – against Iran, Dershowitz insists that Iran has actually “succeeded at the beginnings of genocide” through its alleged role in the bombing of an Argentine synagogue in 1994.

Given his eagerness to cultivate favor with the Israel-centric Evangelical Right, it's not surprising that Mitt Romney has eagerly enlisted in this campaign. A position statement issued by the Romney campaign calls for “an indictment of Ahmadinejad for incitement to genocide under the Genocide Convention. The United States should lead this effort.”

In an argument almost certain to become a mantra chanted by Bu'ushist media mullahs, Romney suggests that the Genocide Convention not only permits, but requires, pre-emptive war.

"The full title of the Genocide Convention is the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” observes the Romney campaign's position statement. “Remember that word: Prevention. Article III of that treaty establishes that 'public incitement to commit genocide' is a punishable crime. Every signatory to this treaty, including the U.S. and most European countries, shares an obligation to enforce it. So do human rights groups that care about international humanitarian law.”

What would “enforcement” of an indictment against Ahmadenijad look like in practical terms? To answer that question we turn to Dershowitz, a comprehensively loathsome figure who seems to have made acting out the worst anti-Semitic caricatures his mission in life.

“If the international community fails, if this challenge is not met, we reserve [the] right of self-defense,” brayed Dershowitz at the December 14 symposium. “We pledge to do everything it takes, and anything it takes, to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. We will stop at nothing in satisfying that pledge.”

When Dershowitz says “nothing,” that is exactly what he means. As I pointed out several months ago, during the most recent Israeli-Lebanese war, Dershowitz declared that the entire nation of Lebanon could be liquidated if the Israeli government deemed such action necessary. So it's reasonable to believe that “everything it takes, and anything it takes” to forestall Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons, as defined by Dershowitz, would include nuclear genocide of the Iranian people.

So here's the reasoning (if that word can be tortured into applying here) being followed by Dershowitz and his comrades:

The President of Iran has given speeches endorsing the destruction of Israel with theoretical nuclear weapons. This entitles Israel and/or the United States to use their very real nuclear arsenals to annihilate the entire Iranian population. And this unprecedented atrocity would not only be compatible with the UN's Genocide Convention, it is all but mandated by it.

If we're going to get into the business of dragging people off to The Hague to stand trial for incitement to genocide, Dershowitz really should be among the first in the dock. Another suitable defendant would be Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the Baghdad-born, Cairo-educated Rabbi who serves as “spiritual leader” to the Shas Party, the third-largest in Israel.

Among the reasons Iran's president Ahmadenijad is being depicted as an avatar of Adolf Hitler are the Iranian figurehead's skepticism about the Holocaust. Rabbi Yosef, from the perspective of at least some who survived that episode, has committed what could be considered an even more serious offense by denying the humanity of those who were killed at the death camps, insisting that they "were reincarnations of the souls of sinners, people who transgressed and did all sorts of things that should not be done. They had been reincarnated in order to atone."

Genocide advocate Rabbi Ovadia Yosef meets with Israeli President (and accused rapist) Moshe Katsav (left) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (right).

Yosef has also called for Israel to “annihilate” Arabs as the opportunity presents itself. “It is forbidden to be merciful to them,” insisted the Rabbi in a Saturday night sermon broadcast by radio in 2000. “You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable.”

Much attention (in my view, hardly enough) has been paid to the growing efforts of Saudi Arabia to propagate Whabbi Islam in the United States and Europe. But Rabbi Yosef is easily the match of any Whabbist Mullah in propagating genocidal doctrines – not necessarily among his Israeli followers and Jewish disciples in other nations, but among a large and growing community of Dispensationalist Christians. His most effective emissary has been Benny Elon, an Israeli Knesset member and former Israeli Minister of Tourism.

Joel Rosenberg, a former Israeli government adviser turned “novelist” (his books are ineptly written and badly plotted war propaganda) points out that Elon “was at the forefront of Israel's campaign over the last several years to team up with Evangelical Christian supporters around the world.” In the Knesset Elon heads the “ increasingly influential Christian Allies Caucus, which was established nearly two years ago and now has 14 parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, [and which] aims to garner the support of pro-Israel Christians around the world.”

At last December's Jerusalem Summit, Elon presented an award to San Antonio preacher John C. Hagee, founder of the Christian Lobby for Israel – a self-described “Christian AIPAC” devoted to representing the interests of the Israeli government. Like Rosenberg, Hagee is an indefatigable advocate for war; rather than novels, however, Hagee prefers to use religious tracts as his propaganda delivery system.

The people seeking a UN "genocide" indictment of Ahmadenijad are conjuring up yet another Golem that they believe -- with entirely unwarranted confidence -- will always be under their control. They really need to refresh their memories regarding the way most versions of that story ended.

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