Nurenberg prosecutor says try bush for war crimes

[rodeodance]

Few are listening.


http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0825-06.htm

Bush and Saddam Should Both Stand Trial, Says Nuremberg Prosecutor
by Aaron Glantz

A chief prosecutor of Nazi war crimes at Nuremberg has said George W. Bush should be tried for war crimes along with Saddam Hussein. Benjamin Ferenccz, who secured convictions for 22 Nazi officers for their work in orchestrating the death squads that killed more than 1 million people, told OneWorld both Bush and Saddam should be tried for starting "aggressive" wars--Saddam for his 1990 attack on Kuwait and Bush for his 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"Nuremberg declared that aggressive war is the supreme international crime," the 87-year-old Ferenccz told OneWorld from his home in New York. He said the United Nations charter, which was written after the carnage of World War II, contains a provision that no nation can use armed force without the permission of the UN Security Council.

Ferenccz said that after Nuremberg the international community realized that every war results in violations by both sides, meaning the primary objective should be preventing any war from occurring in the first place.

He said the atrocities of the Iraq war--from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the massacre of dozens of civilians by U.S. forces in Haditha to the high number of civilian casualties caused by insurgent car bombs--were highly predictable at the start of the war.

Which wars should be prosecuted? "Every war will lead to attacks on civilians," he said. "Crimes against humanity, destruction beyond the needs of military necessity, rape of civilians, plunder--that always happens in wartime. So my answer personally, after working for 60 years on this problem and who hates to see all these young people get killed no matter what their nationality, is that you've got to stop using warfare as a means of settling your disputes."

[panader0]

1. Ah, the voice of reason.

I hope that when bush is jailed, they'll put him on tour, and bring his little cage to every town in Amurka and every one in Iraq too.

[Briar]

2. Excellent article

Yes, there is moral equivalence. Foul acts remain foul whosoever commits them.

[erik-the-red]

3. Realism and Idealism

Ferenccz said that after Nuremberg the international community realized that every war results in violations by both sides, meaning the primary objective should be preventing any war from occurring in the first place.

It's a good observation that rules are broken during wartime. As idealistic as it is, the best thing to do is still to prevent war.

[crim son]

4. Have we ever actually declared war?

I thought we were engaged in the nebulous "war on terror" and not on any particular nation. :sarcasm: