Another Israeli War Criminal of the Year AwardStephen Lendman Peacemakers are scorned. Waging war on humanitys rewarded. On March 21, Obama received Israels Medal of Distinction. Its also called the Presidents Medal. Its Israels highest civil award. Its for individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the State of Israel or to humanity, through their talents, services, or in any other form. In 2012, Henry Kissinger won. His rap sheet includes decades of crimes of war, against humanity and genocide. Israel rewarded his New World Order ruthlessness. It didnt surprise. Obama replicates his viciousness writ large. Bill Clinton has his own cross to bear. Hes Israels newest honoree. Shimon Peres established the award. One war criminal honored another. Peres bears direct responsibility for decades of colonialism, apartheid, militarized occupation, and regional wars of aggression. His rap sheet includes no-holds-barred state terror. He helped institutionalize it. He ordered innocent victims slaughtered on his watch. Hes a serial killer multiple times over. Hes a menace in his own time. For eight years, Clinton was Wall Streets man in Washington. Hes a corporate America tool. Hes a war criminal multiple times over. Michel Chossudovsky exposed his sinister Rwanda agenda, saying: Rwandas civil war raged from October 1990 August 1993. Bush I and Clinton bear full responsibility. From the outset of the Rwandan civil war in 1990, Washingtons hidden agenda consisted in establishing an American sphere of influence in a region historically dominated by France and Belgium. Americas design was to displace France by supporting the Rwandan Patriotic Front and by arming and equipping its military arm, the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA). Clinton continued what Bush I began. Both men bear full responsibility for ethnic massacres. Rwandas civil war set the stage for the participation of Ugandan and Rwandan RPA in the civil war in the Congo. Washington funded and trained their militaries. US special forces were involved. Ethnic rivalries were exploited for profit and dominance. Rwandas genocide served US strategic and geopolitical interests. Clinton remains unaccountable for war crimes. Hes got much more blood on his hands. Hes responsible for genocide against innocent Iraqis. He did so by intermittent bombings. He maintained lawless sanctions. They caused about 1.5 million deaths. Most were young children. Up to 7,000 died monthly. Former UN humanitarian coordinator Dennis Halliday resigned in protest. He refused to be part of what he called genocide. Hans von Sponek quit the same post. He denounced the sanctions, saying: It cannot continue that (UN authorities) punish the most vulnerable and the most innocent. Jutta Burghardt also stepped down. She headed the World Food Programs Iraq operations. It is a true humanitarian tragedy what is happening here, she said, and I believe any human being who looks at the facts and the impact of the sanctions on the population will not deny that (von Sponek) is right. James Rubin was Clintons Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. He also served as chief State Department spokesman. He denounced von Sponek and Halliday. He did so disgracefully. He called them unsuitable humanitarian coordinators, saying: Their job is to work on behalf of the Iraqi people and not the regime.The United States is, and will remain, second to none in enforcing sanctions. Rubin dismissively ignored US sanctioned mass murder. Its one of historys great crimes. Clinton bears full responsibility. He remains unaccountable. So do stooges like Rubin. Hes a Columbia University adjunct professor. He poisons young minds. Hopefully students wise enough to know better avoid him. He represented the worst of rogue governance. He shames legitimate academia. He fronted for Clintons ruthlessness. His rap sheet reveals shamelessness. He helped institutionalized extraordinary renditions. In June 1995, his Presidential Directive (PDD 39) authorized all legal means available to exclude from the United States persons who pose a terrorist threat and deport or otherwise remove from the United States any such aliens. Black site torture prisons followed. Guantanamos one of many. They exist globally. They hold innocent victims. Few, if any, committed crimes. Theyre brutalized for political advantage. At issue is unchallenged imperial dominance. In 1999, Clinton waged war on Yugoslavia. He did so lawlessly. He ravaged it for 78 days. He massacred and displaced thousands. A humanitarian disaster followed. Homes and communities were destroyed. Around two million people lost livelihoods. Environmental contamination was extensive. Imperial priorities alone matter. Much worse lay ahead. At home, Clinton served Wall Street crooks. He helped institutionalize grand theft. He facilitated public misinformation, deregulation, market manipulation, insider trading, Ponzi schemes, false accounting, embezzling, bilking investors with impunity, and practices leading to housing bubble disaster for millions. He ended Glass-Steagall. It prevented commercial/investment banks/insurance company combinations. He signed into law the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. It legitimizes swap agreements and other hybrid instruments. It permits some of the worst financial crimes. It ended regulatory oversight over derivatives and leveraging. It turned Wall Street more than ever into a casino. It lets banksters speculate on financial derivatives and an alphabet soup of securitized garbage. It includes asset-backed securities (ABSs), mortgage-backed securities (MBSs), collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), collateralized bond obligations (CBOs), credit default swaps (CDSs), and collateralized fund obligations (CFOs). Theyre combined, sliced, diced, packaged, repackaged, and sold in tranches to sophisticated and unwitting investors. Doing so continues unabated. Who said crime doesnt pay? Clintons telecommunications deregulation let media and telecom giants combine. Doing so destroys competition. TV owners got new digital television broadcast spectrum space. The public lost out hugely. His 1994 Reigle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act let bank holding companies operate in more than one state. On January 1, 1994, NAFTA became US law on his watch. Its hugely destructive. It supersedes national laws and sovereignty. It violates fundamental rights. It avoids environmental responsibility. On January 1, 1995, the World Trade Organization was established. Public Citizens Global Trade Watch director Lori Wallach called it a slow motion coup against democracy. Its a supranational trade authority. It established one size fits all rules. Humans are either labor or consumers, said Wallach. Water, trees, animals-basically all of nature-is a resource to be exploited. To exploit these human and natural resources most efficiently, all barriers breaking up this single world market must be eliminated-so as to maximize efficiency of scale. So-called free trade permits grand theft, plunder, exploitation, ecocide, and virtually anything goes unrestrained for profit. Level playing fields dont exist. High pay/good benefit jobs are offshored and destroyed. Menial low pay/part-time/temp/low or no-benefit ones replace them. Clinton waged war on social safety net protections. Thirdworldizing America became policy. Welfare reform punishes disadvantaged families. In 1996, Clintons Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) became law. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) ended. Time limit harshness replaced it. Five years and out became policy. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) mandates it. States are given diminishing amounts of federal funding. Fixed block grants provide it. Theyre free to administer policy freely. They take full advantage during harder than ever hard times. To qualify, recipients must work or train for jobs. Single mothers with small children are cheated. Millions are left on their own out of luck. Bush II and Obama hardened what Clinton began. He established managed competition healthcare. It reflects the worst kind of marketplace medicine. It sacrifices health for profits. Obamacare raised it to a higher level. Clinton called himself a New Democrat. He helped found the Democratic Leadership Council. Its hard-right agenda reflects neoliberalism harshness. Its corporatist, anti-populist, anti-labor, anti-welfare, and anti-government serving everyone equitably. It supports the worst of imperial Americas ruthlessness. Wealth, power, privilege and unchallenged global dominance matter most. Clintons reflects shamelessness. His record speaks for itself. On June 19, one war criminal honored another. Shimon Peres awarded Clinton Israels Medal of Distinction. It reflects shame, not honor. Ceremonies were a celebration of lies. Lawlessness and immorality substituted for virtue, integrity and righteousness. Illusion replaced reality. Peres 90th birthday was celebrated. He was presented as a man of peace and vision. He represents the worst of institutionalized state terror. Clinton has his own cross to bear. Let us pray together for tomorrows peace, said Peres. He deplores it. He waged war for decades to prevent it. Its nice to receive an award, said Clinton. I accept (it) because I feel like a poor pilgrim on a constant journey to expand the definition of us and shrink the definition of them. Peres responded saying: You are receiving just as much out of office as you did in.You really are the most loved leader and a friend of all human beings and the Jewish state. Both men reflect the worst of rogue leadership. Honoring them reflects hypocrisy writ large. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War.Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/ linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 