A war crimes pariah

 Russia attacked Ukraine, on Thursday. Feb. 24, 2022. The war is now entering its fourth week. And, thanks to around-the -lock worldwide media coverage of this baseless and horrific war, Russia’s dictatorial president is already being accused of deliberate war crimes, which includes genocide. Video footage has documented Putin’s personally-ordered missile strikes, artillery bombardment, and aerial bombing of Ukrainian schools, including kindergarten facilities, churches, all hospitals and civilian dwellings, including high rise apartment buildings, and large groups of civilians fleeing the battle zones. All of the above qualify as war crimes.

Although outnumbered by the invading Russian military, the Ukrainian military and patriotic civilian volunteers have out fought and exposed the invading Russian forces as poorly trained, poorly supplied and poorly led. They have shot down a good number or Russian fighter aircraft and helicopters and destroyed numerous Russian tanks. On the ground, they have inflicted heavy casualties on the Russian army, including the killing of three Russian generals. There are claims of over 5,000 Russia military personnel killed and/or wounded on the battlefield. I have not been able to verify that figure, but it is a believable number.

They have not stopped the invaders, but the Ukrainians have slowed the Russian advances to a crawl. This gallant stand by the Ukrainians, combined with the ineptness of his own military, has angered Putin. As a result, Putin has resorted to war crimes as evidenced on video being aired on television around the world.

It is ironic that Putin claims he attacked Ukraine because the latter had been bullying and carrying out genocide against Russian-backed separatists in the eastern regions of Ukraine. On March 7, 2022, both Russia and Ukraine were scheduled to appear before the United Nations highest court to address Russia’s claim. On the appointed day, Ukraine representatives were present in the courtroom and ready to not only debunk Russia’s false claims but to bring their own charges of war crimes and genocide charges against Russia. However, no Russia officials or their representatives were present in the courtroom. The court has made no rulings, which is typical of the United Nations.

It is worth noting that a leading association of genocide scholars has backed Ukraine and Western powers’ view that Russia was misappropriating the term genocide to describe the treatment of Russia speakers in eastern Ukraine. Melanie O’Brien, president of International Association of Genocide Scholars, told the Reuters news organization there is absolutely no evidence that Ukraine was engaging in any kind of genocide. This debunked Russia’s claim to the contrary and nullified Russia’s claimed reason for invading the Ukraine.

The atrocities and war crimes being committed by the Russians are horrific. Although there are literally hundreds of hours of video footage documenting the human carnage and the war crimes being committed by the Russians, there was one that I cannot stop thinking bout. It was of a Ukrainian woman lying in the street. Both her legs had been blown off and her dead baby was laying nearby. Her concern was more for her dead baby than her critical injuries.

I was in Vietnam for four years running Special Paramilitary Operations for the Central Intelligence Agency. I have seen the dead, the dying, and the horrible wounds of war. I still have a few photographs taken by my teams during clandestine patrols out of northern Thailand into Cambodia. The photos documented the horrific war crimes perpetrated on the Cambodia people by Pol Pot, a soulless war criminal, and his army. There is a special place for him in Hell. Hollywood made a movie appropriately entitled “The Killing Fields” about those terrible atrocities. But I do not believe that anything has ever touched me as deeply as that woman and her dead baby. Vladimir Putin must pay for this murder and all the others his military is committing in Ukraine!

Vladimir Putin is a war criminal! Joe Biden is an Idiot. Our Pentagon is manned by politicians, not professional soldiers. Our Congress is self-serving. The Department of Justice and the FBI needs to be depoliticized. The military draft must be resurrected. Our borders must be secured and keenly monitored. The world is an increasingly dangerous place. It is time that these problems are addressed by us, the American people. It is time we convene a convention of our 50 states to be attended by trustworthy representatives of the people.

God bless America, Ukraine and its 44-year-old president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy!

--Jerry Jones, a native of Sparta, is CIA retired.