In February of 2022, Iraq paid the last of its reparations to Kuwait for the Gulf War. 52 billion dollars. Meanwhile, the United States carpet bombed Iraq into submission over more than a decade first to take out Saddam Hussein and then again to tackle ISIS that emerged in the power vacuum created by the "rebel" uprising in Syria. During the war in Iraq, the US vowed not to use chemical weapons but did so anyway, firing nearly 10,000 rounds of depleted uranium, including into civilian areas.
This was followed with a similar vow and similar behaviour during the Iraq and Syria conflicts: https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/14/the-united-states-used-depleted-uranium-in-syria/
It is also worth noting the outcomes of the napalm and Agent Orange chemical weapons attacks used liberally in Vietnam, resulting in mass casualties, environmental destruction, and birth defects.
"The Geneva protocol, developed after World War I to prohibit the use of chemical and biological weapons in war, would seem to forbid the use of these chemicals. But Britain argued that the conflict was an emergency, not a war—and that the treaty didn’t outlaw using chemicals for police actions."
So where are the reparations from the United States? They don't exist, of course. Nixon did agree to give about $4 billion to Vietnam in "aid" to help rebuild the country but while $24 billion went to American war veterans because of Vietnam, survivors of the Vietnam War still fight for the legacy of reparations not only because of destruction of the past, but also of the present and the future in terms of cancer and birth defects caused by these horrific crimes. Those in Iraq and Syria are no different. Let's also remember the massive amounts of capital that were taken out of Iraq by the US soul sourcing rebuilding contracts to the likes of Halliburton (owned by then Vice President Dick Cheney). As is the case with capital and historical power backing biased rhetoric, even the WHO took a fairly neutral stance on the legacy of chemical attacks on Iraq, and these damning stories are rarely picked up by Western media and denied when they are unless there is extremely damning evidence to support it.
How come it's always the poor countries who pay and the rich countries who deny and don't pay? Is this really the legacy of a "moral West"?
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