ALI, Tariq. "[It] would, if some other country were doing it, be labelled genocide"

Tariq Ali (born 21 October 1943) is a British-Pakistani historian, novelist, filmmaker, political campaigner, commentator and author of numerous books (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariq_Ali ). .

Tariq Ali on the Fifth Anniversary of the March 2003 US, UK and Australian invasion of Iraq (2008): “Now we know the exact costs of war and occupation. It has cost the United States and its allies three trillion dollars to kill one million dead Iraqis, wound a million more and drive two million Iraqis out of their country as refugees. The human cost of this war would, if some other country were doing it, be labelled genocide. The leaders who went to war would be tried as war criminals, but this is the war of 'western civilization' against Islamo-barbarians, Islamo-fascists and all the other names given to the new enemy. Abusing, defaming, killing Muslims is now calmly accepted in Euro-American culture. The people who do this have institutionalised the judeocide of the Second World War as the only universal crime. As long as you denounce that crime, you can commit your own crimes today. This is the world we live in. This is the world of double-standards. Why the surprise when those under fire refuse to accept these standards. A modest proposal. Perhaps the Nobel Prize Committee should institute a new award: the Nobel Prize for War Crimes.”. [1].

Tariq Ali, Statement on the Fifth Anniversary of the March 2003 US, UK and Australian invasion of Iraq, Brussells Tribunal, Messages to the People (March 2008): http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Messages190308.htm .