Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 9th. On the 9th, the Chinese Society for Human Rights Research published an article "Serious Humanitarian Disasters Caused by the US War of Aggression". The full text is as follows:
The U.S. war of aggression caused severe humanitarian disasters
China Human Rights Research Society
April 2021
The United States has always called itself a "city on the hill", supports "natural human rights", shoulders a "natural mission", and often uses force abroad under the banner of "humanitarian intervention."
Since the declaration of independence on July 4, 1776, the United States has not participated in the war for less than 20 years in a history of more than 240 years.
According to incomplete statistics, from the end of World War II in 1945 to 2001, 248 armed conflicts occurred in 153 regions of the world, of which 201 were initiated by the United States, accounting for approximately 81%.
Most of the wars of aggression launched by the United States were unilateralist actions, and even met with opposition from its allies.
These wars not only claimed the lives of a large number of soldiers from all sides, but also caused extremely serious civilian casualties and property losses, leading to alarming humanitarian disasters.
The selfishness and hypocrisy of the United States have also been exposed through these acts of foreign interference.
1. Major wars of aggression launched by the United States after World War II
1. The Korean War.
The Korean War that occurred in the early 1950s was short but extremely bloody. The war resulted in the deaths of more than 3 million civilians and about 3 million became refugees.
According to North Korea’s statistics, the war destroyed about 8,700 factories, 5,000 schools, 1,000 hospitals and 600,000 households, and 2 million children under the age of 18 were displaced by the war.
South Korea’s losses were as high as 41.23 billion won, equivalent to 6.9 billion U.S. dollars under the official exchange rate. During the war, South Korea had about 600,000 houses, 46.9% of railways, 1,656 highways, and 1,453 bridges destroyed.
In addition, the division of North and South caused by the war also caused a large number of family separations.
There are approximately 130,000 Koreans with separated family members registered with the Ministry of Unification, of which 75,000 have passed away.
The US "Diplomat" magazine website reported on June 25, 2020 that as of November 2019, the average age of split family members in South Korea was 81 years old. Since 1988, more than 60% of the 133,370 reunion applicants have passed away. They The vast majority of people in China have never seen their loved ones again after separation.
2. The Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War that took place from the 1950s to the 1970s was the longest and most cruel war after World War II.
According to estimates by the Vietnamese government, about 1.1 million North Vietnamese soldiers and 300,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed, and as many as 2 million civilians died in the war. Some of them were systematically massacred by the US military in the name of "fighting against the Viet Cong."
The bombs dropped by the U.S. military in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia exceeded three times the bombs dropped by all parties during World War II.
It is estimated that at least 350,000 tons of explosive bombs and mines are left in Vietnam. At the current rate, it will take 300 years to clear them from Vietnam’s land.
The Huffington Post website reported on December 3, 2012 that statistics from the Vietnamese government showed that remnants of war have killed about 42,000 people since the official end of the war in 1975.
In addition, the US military also dropped 20 million gallons (approximately 75.71 million liters) of defoliant in Vietnam, resulting in 400,000 Vietnamese deaths, and about 2 million Vietnamese suffered from cancer or other diseases due to exposure to defoliant.
The war that lasted for more than ten years caused more than 3 million refugees to flee, and a large number of people died on the way across the ocean.
Among the refugees who fled Vietnam, 92% of the respondents said that the effects of defoliants make them feel persistently fatigued. Other manifestations include miscarriage and birth defects.
Official US data show that 20% of Vietnam’s jungles and 20% to 36% of mangroves have been destroyed by defoliants.
3. The Gulf War.
In 1991, the Allied forces headed by the United States sent troops to Iraq. In an air strike against Iraq, 2,500 to 3,500 civilians were killed and 9,000 houses were destroyed.
After the war, about 111,000 civilians died due to the destruction of infrastructure and lack of medical supplies and food.
According to estimates by UNICEF, the war and subsequent sanctions resulted in the deaths of approximately 500,000 children.
During the war, the Allied forces deliberately destroyed Iraq’s infrastructure, resulting in most of its power stations (92% of installed capacity), oil refineries (80% of production capacity), petrochemical complexes, telecommunications centers (including 135 telephone networks), and bridges. (More than 100), highways, railways, radio and television stations, cement plants, and factories producing aluminum, textiles, wires and medical supplies were destroyed.
The Gulf War also caused serious environmental pollution. About 60 million barrels of oil were dumped into the desert, polluting about 40 million tons of soil; 24 million barrels of oil spilled from the oil wells, forming 246 "lakes"; artificial fuel oil wells were generated. The smog and smoke polluted 953 square kilometers of land.
In the Gulf War, the US military also used depleted uranium bombs for the first time.
4. The Kosovo War.
In March 1999, the NATO troops headed by the United States blatantly bypassed the UN Security Council under the banner of "Avoiding Humanitarian Disasters" and carried out 78-day continuous bombing of Yugoslavia, killing more than 2,000 innocent civilians and over 6,000 Injured, nearly 1 million people were displaced, and more than 2 million people lost their source of livelihood.
NATO troops also consciously targeted the Yugoslavian infrastructure to eliminate their determination to resist.
According to estimates by Serbian economists, the total economic losses caused by the bombing were about 29.6 billion U.S. dollars.
The bombing caused damage to a large number of bridges, roads, railways, 25,000 families, 176 cultural monuments, 69 schools, 19 hospitals and 20 health centers, and 1.5 million children could not go to school.
In addition, NATO troops have used at least 31,000 depleted uranium bombs, leading to a sharp increase in the incidence of cancer and leukemia in the region, and having a long-term catastrophic impact on the local and European ecological environment.
5. The war in Afghanistan.
In October 2001, the United States sent troops to Afghanistan, and while attacking Al Qaeda and the Taliban, it also caused a large number of civilian casualties.
Due to the lack of authoritative statistical data, all parties are inconclusive on the casualties of civilians in the war in Afghanistan.
It is generally believed that since the U.S. military entered Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, more than 30,000 civilians have been killed, bombed, or killed by the U.S. military. The number of injured has exceeded 60,000, and about 11 million people have been killed. For refugees.
After the US military announced its withdrawal in 2014, Afghanistan is still in turmoil.
The New York Times website reported on July 30, 2019 that 363 people, including 89 children, were determined to have died from US military bombs in the first half of 2019.
According to the assessment of academics at Kabul University, the war in Afghanistan caused an average of about 60 million U.S. dollars in economic losses and about 250 casualties every day.
6. The Iraq War.
In 2003, despite the general opposition of the international community, the United States invaded Iraq on unwarranted charges. It is difficult to accurately count the number of civilian deaths. According to estimates, it is estimated to be between 200,000 and 250,000, of which more than 16,000 were directly killed by the US military.
In addition, the U.S. military has seriously violated international humanitarian principles and caused many incidents of torturing prisoners.
After the United States announced its withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, local wars and attacks have continued.
The coalition forces led by the United States have also used a large number of depleted uranium bombs, cluster bombs and white phosphorous bombs in Iraq, and have not taken any measures to minimize harm to civilians.
According to United Nations estimates, Iraq still has about 25 million landmines and other explosive remnants that need to be cleared.
At present, the United States has still been unable to complete its commitment to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.
7. The Syrian war.
Since 2017, the United States has launched air strikes against Syria on the grounds of "preventing the Syrian government from using chemical weapons."
From 2016 to 2019, there are 33,584 civilians who died in the war in Syria.
Among them, the U.S.-led coalition bombing directly killed 3,833 people, half of whom were women and children.
The U.S. Public Television Network reported on November 9, 2018 that the so-called "most accurate air strike in history" launched by the U.S. military on Raqqa alone resulted in the death of 1,600 civilians.
According to a survey conducted by the World Food Program in April 2020, about one-third of Syrians do not have enough food, and 87% do not save.
According to estimates by the World Doctors Organization, since the beginning of the war in Syria, about 15,000 doctors (about half of the country’s doctors) have fled the country, 6.5 million have been internally displaced, and 5 million have fled as refugees.
In addition, the United States has frequently intervened in other countries through direct or indirect means such as supporting proxy wars, inciting domestic rebellion, assassinations, providing weapons and ammunition, and training anti-government forces, causing serious harm to the social stability and people's safety of relevant countries.
Since a large number of such incidents are secretly manipulated by the US government, it is difficult to count the specific consequences of damage caused by them.
2. The consequences of the war launched by the United States
Since the Second World War, almost all US presidents have launched or intervened in foreign wars during their tenure. The reasons for the war include "prevent the spread of communism", "maintain justice", "stop aggression", "humanitarian intervention", combat terrorism, and prevent " "Weapons of mass destruction" proliferate, protect the safety of American diaspora, and so on.
Among them, only one was a counterattack against the United States after a direct terrorist attack, and the others were all actively using force outside the background that was not directly related to the vital interests of the United States.
Even this only "legitimate defense" is clearly an over-defense: under the banner of "eliminating the al-Qaeda threat", the U.S. military is adhering to the principle of "preferring to kill by mistake and not killing by mistake" and expand the range of strikes at will in the war on terrorism. , Causing a large number of local civilian deaths and injuries; even if the US military claimed to have used "relatively accurate" drone attacks, indiscriminate killings of innocents still occurred frequently.
Judging from the procedures that the United States follows in its use of force, some people use the “legal channel” authorized by the Security Council to launch military attacks after manipulating the United Nations, but more often leave the Security Council aside and ignore the opposition of other countries and even allies. Indiscriminately launching an attack on an independent sovereign country, and even provoking a war outside without the approval of the U.S. Congress, which has the sole statutory power to declare war.
From the perspective of the consequences, the foreign war launched by the United States has triggered various regional and international crises.
-The war directly led to humanitarian disasters in the country concerned, including casualties, destruction of facilities, production stagnation, and in particular, a large number of innocent civilian casualties.
In areas where the fighting has spread, people died at homes, in markets, on roads, from bombs, bullets, improvised explosive devices, drones, American airstrikes, government sweeps, terrorist and extremist organizations’ massacres, and Domestic riots.
According to a research report released by Brown University in November 2018, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, 43,074, 23,924, 184,382 to 207,156, 49,591, and 12,000 civilians were killed in the war in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. There were 67, 8, 277, 75, and 31 people from the media and 424, 97, 63, 185, and 38 humanitarian aid workers who died in the line of duty.
Casualties are often downplayed by the US government.
The US "Intercept" website reported on November 19, 2018 that the actual death toll of civilians in Iraq far exceeded the number officially reported by the US military.
——War has brought about a series of complex social problems, including refugees, social unrest, ecological crisis, psychological trauma, etc.
According to statistics, several wars involving the US military in recent years have caused the number of refugees to remain high. For example, there are 11 million in Afghanistan, 380,000 in Pakistan, 3.25 million in Iraq, and 12.59 million in Syria.
These refugees were forced to stay away from their homes. About 1.3 million of the Afghan refugees went to Pakistan and about 900,000 to Iran; about 3.5 million of the Iraqi and Syrian refugees went to Turkey, and about 1 million went to Iran.
In Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, the number of casualties caused by lack of medicine, malnutrition and environmental pollution far exceeds the number of casualties directly caused by the war.
It is estimated that the number of deaths caused by non-war is four times the number of direct deaths caused by war.
The uranium content per kilogram of soil in Basra, Iraq, rose sharply from less than 70 becquerels before 1991 to 10,000 becquerels in 2009, and even as high as 36,205 becquerels in areas left behind by war materials.
The British "Guardian" website reported on August 22, 2016 that the birth rate of babies with birth defects in Iraq in 2010 was as high as 30%, while under normal circumstances this figure is only 2% to 4%.
- The war launched by the United States has also produced spillover effects, causing harm to countries not involved in the incident.
For example, in the Vietnam War, the US military used the name of blocking the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" to spread the war to neighboring countries such as Cambodia and Laos, causing more than 500,000 innocent civilians to be killed and injured, and a large amount of unexploded ordnance was left behind.
During the war in Afghanistan, US planes and drones often dropped bombs on neighboring Pakistani villages to injure the innocent when they were fighting terrorists. Even the wedding car and Pakistani border guard soldiers were not spared.
In the continuous air strikes against the Yugoslavia, the US military also targeted the Chinese Embassy, resulting in the death of 3 Chinese journalists and wounding more than a dozen others.
-The United States itself has become a victim of its foreign wars.
According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 103,284 and 153,303 people were physically injured in the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
From 2001 to 2005, among 103,788 veterans who returned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, about one-third were diagnosed with mental or mental illness, and 56% of those diagnosed had more than one disease.
Research by the US Congressional Research Bureau shows that from 2008 to 2016, more than 6000 veterans committed suicide each year.
The compensation paid by the U.S. military to veterans and their families who participated in the Korean War amounts to 2.8 billion US dollars per year, and the compensation to veterans and their families who participated in the Vietnam War exceeds 22 billion US dollars per year. Disabled care costs have exceeded 170 billion U.S. dollars.
"Business Insider" website reported in December 2019 that since the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan, it is estimated that more than 3,800 American civilian contractors have died. This far exceeds government statistics and even exceeds the death toll of the US military.
3. The humanitarian crisis stems from the hegemonic thinking of the United States
Looking at the many aggressive wars launched by the United States, it can be seen that there are many cases of humanitarian crises caused by its military actions.
In countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other countries where the current war is unstoppable, “incorrect bombings and injuries” have occurred frequently, refugees have nowhere to stay, infrastructure is riddled with damage, and national production has stagnated.
Wars launched by the United States abroad are often under the banner of "human rights above sovereignty" and "humanitarian intervention." Why did they eventually turn into humanitarian disasters?
In April 2011, the US "Foreign Policy" magazine summarized the five reasons why the United States frequently uses foreign force. Except for its military advantage, it is difficult for it to resist the temptation to resort to force, and the domestic check and balance mechanism is difficult to play an effective role. Mention what role American values play in it.
In fact, "protecting human rights" is not a clear driving force for the United States to use force abroad. The use of force abroad is only a means for the United States to achieve its own goals. Although it does not exclude the drive of morality, it is not a sufficient or necessary condition.
As long as it considers the need, as long as it believes in its own benefit, as long as it feels within its capacity, the United States will have the urge to use force.
No matter how terrible the humanitarian disaster this brings, it will always be borne by others and will not affect the United States in achieving its goals, nor will it directly harm Americans.
Choosing to use force regardless of the consequences reveals the hegemonic mentality of "America first" and the strong takes all, and the unilateral thinking of "I am the only one who owns the world, and would rather take the world."
In the eyes of American politicians who always respect "universal values", are the "human rights gifted to them" equally given to other people in the world?
Now that the United States has established a law that all ethnic groups are equal, does the United States really think that they should also enjoy the same basic rights when facing foreign people, or is it just because they don’t have American votes in their hands?
The United States believes that terrorist attacks against civilians in its homeland are despicable and punishable. Is it an acceptable and “necessary” sacrifice that occurred outside the United States and was carried out by the US military and caused a large number of innocent civilian deaths and injuries. ?
On other people’s land, they “prefer to kill by mistake and never miss to kill”, wantonly use radioactive weapons, destroy all vegetation with toxic agents, and open fire at will without identifying the nature of the target. When carrying out these actions, the American values “self-evident” Who is given the human rights of "Yu"?
Where are the human rights of those civilians who have to bear the risk of being shot and killed by terrorists just because they are unable to escape the war zone?
Where are the human rights of the children who were maimed by the chemical weapons of the US military at birth and suffered for the rest of their lives?
Where are the human rights of those refugees who have nowhere to stay in order to escape the fighting of the US military?
In the final analysis, the mode of thinking of resolving disputes by unilateral war at every turn has its own problems.
Humanism and hegemonism are inherently opposed, and expecting a hegemonic country to defend the human rights of other countries is tantamount to seeking a tiger's skin.
The settlement of international disputes depends on equal consultation under the framework of the United Nations, on coordination with a well-regulated international mechanism, and on building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Only by discarding the hegemonic thinking of the supremacy of self-interest can we prevent "humanitarian intervention" from turning into a humanitarian disaster, achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, and enable people of all countries to truly enjoy all basic human rights.
Attached:
1. A list of the civilian casualties caused by the US's major foreign wars of aggression since World War II
The Korean War: 3 million civilians died and 3 million refugees;
Vietnam War: 2 million civilians died, 3 million refugees, 3 million defoliants victims;
Air strikes in Libya: 700 soldiers and civilians died;
Invasion of Panama: 302 civilians were killed and 3,000 injured;
Send troops to Somalia: 200 civilians were killed and 300 injured;
Gulf War: The war killed 120,000 civilians, sanctions killed 2 million, and the economic loss was 600 billion U.S. dollars;
The Kosovo War: The war killed more than 2,000 people, injured 6,000 people, and lost 200 billion U.S. dollars in economic losses;
The war in Afghanistan: more than 30,000 civilians died, 70,000 injured, 11 million refugees;
Iraq War: 200,000 to 250,000 civilian deaths and 3.25 million refugees;
The Syrian War: More than 40,000 civilians died and 12.59 million fled their homes.
2. List of American wars of aggression and foreign intervention since World War II
1947-1949: Intervention in the Greek Civil War
1947-1970: Interfering in the Italian elections and supporting anti-communist forces
1948: Supporting the rebels in the Costa Rican civil war
1949-1953: Supporting anti-communist activities in Albania
1949: Interference in the change of Syrian government
1950-1953: Launch of the Korean War
1952: Interference in the Egyptian Revolution
1953: Supported the Iranian coup to overthrow the government
1954: Support for the change of government in Guatemala
1956-1957: plotting a coup in Syria
1957-1959: Support for the Indonesian coup
1958: Creating a Lebanese crisis
1960-1961: Supporting the Congolese coup
1960: Prevent the Lao government from reforming
1961: Support for the Bay of Pigs operation in Cuba
1961-1975: Supporting the Laotian Civil War and the opium trade
1961-1964: Supporting anti-government activities in Brazil
1963: Supporting civil strife in Iraq
1963: Supporting the Ecuadorian rebellion
1963-1975: Participated in the Vietnam War
1964: Intervention in the Simba Rebellion in Congo
1965-1966: Intervention in the Dominican Civil War
1965-1967: Supporting the massacre of Communists by the Indonesian military government
1966: Supporting the domestic rebellion in Ghana
1966-1969: Conflict in the North Korean Demilitarized Zone
1966-1967: Supporting the Bolivian Rebellion
1967: Interference in the change of Greek government
1967-1975: Intervention in the Cambodian Civil War
1970: Interference in Oman's internal affairs
1970-1973: Support for the Chilean military coup
1970-1973: Support for the Cambodian coup
1971: Supporting Bolivia's coup
1972-1975: Aid to Iraqi rebels
1976: Support for the Argentine coup
1976-1992: Interference in Angola's internal affairs
1977-1988: Supporting the coup in Pakistan
1979-1993: Supporting Cambodian rebels
1979-1989: Intervention in the war in Afghanistan
1980-1989: Funded the Polish Solidarity trade union against the government
1980-1992: Intervention in the civil war in El Salvador
1981: Confrontation with Libya in Sidra Bay
1981-1982: Promoting the change of government in Chad
1982-1984: Participated in multilateral intervention in Lebanon
1982-1989: Supporting the Nicaraguan rebels
1983: Invasion of Grenada
1986: Invaded Sidra Bay, Libya
1986: bombing of Libya
1988: Shoot down an Iranian civil airliner
1988: dispatched troops to Honduras
1989: Confrontation with Libya in Tobruk
1989: Interference in the internal affairs of the Philippines
1989-1990: Invasion of Panama
1990-1991: Launching the Gulf War
1991: Interference in Haitian elections
1991-2003: Leading enforcement actions in Iraq’s no-fly zone
1992-1995: First intervention in the Somali civil war
1992-1995: Intervention in the Bosnian War
1994-1995: dispatched troops to Haiti
1996: Support for the coup in Iraq
1997: dispatched troops to Albania
1997: dispatched troops to Sierra Leone
1998-1999: Launching the Kosovo War
1998: Attacking Sudan and Afghanistan with cruise missiles
1998-1999: dispatched troops to Kenya and Tanzania
2001-now: launching the war in Afghanistan
2002: dispatched troops to Côte d'Ivoire
2003-2011: Starting the Iraq War
2004-present: launching a war on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan
2006-2007: Support the Palestinian Fatah's actions to overthrow the democratically elected government Hamas
2007-now: second intervention in the Somali civil war
2009: Support for the Honduras coup
2011: Support the Libyan rebels
2011-2017: Launch of military operations in Uganda
2014-now: US-led intervention in Iraq
2014-now: U.S.-led intervention in Syria
2015-now: Supporting Saudi Arabia's participation in the Yemeni civil war
2019: Support for Venezuelan government change