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US to handle war crimes trials, not UN
The United States has the "sovereign right" to prosecute Iraqi leaders for war crimes in its own courts, and will not hand Saddam Hussein or his henchmen to any international tribunal, senior American officials said yesterday. In a move likely to alarm Downing Street, senior Pentagon and State Department officials summoned reporters to hear a pre-emptive rejection of any role for the International Criminal Court (ICC) - the permanent war crimes tribunal established in The Hague. Instead, Iraqi leaders accused of war crimes could be tried in federal courts in the United States, or by special military tribunals, they said. The United States had the right to imprison those found guilty, or sentence them to death. Britain, as its ally in the war, would have the same rights.I seem to recall that the Four Powers didn't require an ICC to deal with the Nazi and Japanese war criminals. Didn't we do something about that in, oh, what's the name of that town? The Bush administration has aggressively resisted the authority of the ICC, saying it fears that its military personnel and other citizens might be singled out for politically motivated prosecutions. To Britain's dismay, Washington last year "unsigned" the treaty establishing the court, and has leaned on allies worldwide to sign agreements shielding American citizens from any potential ICC probe. Among the many smart things GWB did. Pierre-Richard Prosper, the United States ambassador for war crimes issues, said the ICC had no jurisdiction over this war, because neither America nor Iraq had signed up to the treaty establishing the court. "So there!" W Hay Parks, a senior Pentagon lawyer, accused Baghdad of three specific violations of the Geneva Convention and the rules of warfare, and said others were being investigated and catalogued. The first two alleged war crimes centred on Iraqi television footage of American soldiers captured and killed when their supply convoy was ambushed near the southern city of Nasiriyah, Mr Parks said. A third crime involved alleged acts of "perfidy", when Iraqi forces attacked coalition troops while carrying the white flags of surrender, or while disguised in civilian clothes. Mr Parks said that further charges might be levelled, amid signs that prisoners of war might have been killed, tortured, or treated inhumanely. The mention of humane treatment raised the prospect that a teenage soldier rescued last week might become a key witness against the Iraqi regime. Pte Jessica Lynch, 19, is the only American prisoner of war to have returned to American custody. There were initial reports that some members of the 507th Maintenance Company - Pvt Lynch's unit whose supply convoy was ambushed at Nasiriyah - had been executed in cold blood. We, the Brits and Aussies should form up the tribunals. We could invite in some of our coalition allies if they want. Run the tribunals as we did in Nuremburg. Let the Iraqi people in to see the trials and broadcast them via satellite to the entire Middle East. Keep the UN and ICC as far away as possible. Posted by: Steve White 2003-04-08 |
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