Have the rules of the game changed?

[IndianaGreen]

Have the rules of the game changed?

Monday 21 September 2009
Ramzy Baroud

We may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the era of impunity. That was how one Palestine expert greeted Richard Goldstone's report to the United Nations on the Gaza conflict.

The report delivered by Goldstone, an internationally renowned former South African supreme court justice and chief prosecutor in the international tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia, followed a fact-finding mission to probe alleged war crimes committed by Israeli troops in Gaza during its bloody 23-day onslaught against a largely defenceless population.

Goldstone made some important recommendations following a thorough investigation by a mission organised by the UN Human Rights Council in April.

One is that the UN security council should set up a team of experts to monitor Israel's investigation of the war crimes committed in Gaza. If Israel fails to do so, then the situation should be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor.

This raises questions. Did Israel commit war crimes in Gaza? Is Israel capable of conducting an honest investigation into those crimes considering the lack of any serious legal accountability?

"The mission concluded that actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly in some respects crimes against humanity, were committed by the Israel Defence Force," Goldstone told reporters. He also said that the Israeli government had so far carried out no credible investigation.

But it's puzzling that Goldstone would think that a genuine investigation is possible in the first place.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/features/Have-the-rules-of-the-game-changed

[Kurska]

1. The international community can't even bring Sudan to heel.

The only time a nation has ever been charged with war crimes is if they lose the war or the government that did them are violently outsted from power, good luck with that.

[Vegasaurus]

2. There are so many crimes against humanity throughout the world today

that make OCL look like a walk in the park.

[IndianaGreen]

3. What you call OCL, we call war crimes

What part of using phosphorus bombs over population centers did you miss?

You do realize that your twisted logic could be used to downplay the Holocaust when compared with what the Turks did to Armenians, the Austro-Hungarians did to Serbians, and the Spaniards did to the indigenous peoples in America.

[Vegasaurus]

5. No, but I don't think there is moral relativity, actually nt

[oberliner]

6. Is there any military conflict that does not involve war crimes?

Would you agree that all of the military conflicts currently going on around the world are or involve war crimes being committed?

Is there a war/military conflict current or historical that did not include war crimes?

[Violet_Crumble]

7. I don't really understand the point in post #2...

It sounded a lot to me like that poster was trying to justify any war crimes committed by Israel by saying that war crimes happen all the time....

[oberliner]

9. I don't normally like to speak on behalf of other posters

However, I think what that post was trying to communicate was a criticism of the UN Human Rights Council which has so fastidiously documented and criticized Israel for its conduct while (until recently) ignoring or minimizing more horrendous behavior from other UN member states.

This is a criticism that has been leveled against this council by numerous people of various political stripes including Kofi Annan himself.

A (in my view) legitimate perception is that, far from being counted as one among many numerous countries whose conduct warrants international investigation, Israel appears to be uniquely and repeatedly singled out by this council disproportionately among the variety of nations who have engaged in actions that may have violated international law in an egregious fashion.

I know that some efforts have been made in recent years to rectify these concerns which have been raised in the past, but I do think some criticism is still warranted.

[Violet_Crumble]

11. I just thought you might have known what they were trying to say...

..seeing as how you appeared to be arguing in support of their 'argument' in the post I replied to. I don't think pointing out that someone else somewhere else does something too is not any sort of argument as far as I'm concerned. If Israel doesn't want to be criticised, then it shouldn't committ violations of international law the way it has...

[Howardx]

4. the end of the era of impunity

none too soon either

[bemildred]

8. US Code, Title 2441 War Crimes

---
(c) Definition.— As used in this section the term “war crime” means any conduct—

(1) defined as a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party;
(2) prohibited by Article 23, 25, 27, or 28 of the Annex to the Hague Convention IV, Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, signed 18 October 1907;
(3) which constitutes a grave breach of common Article 3 (as defined in subsection (d)) when committed in the context of and in association with an armed conflict not of an international character; or
(4) of a person who, in relation to an armed conflict and contrary to the provisions of the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices as amended at Geneva on 3 May 1996 (Protocol II as amended on 3 May 1996), when the United States is a party to such Protocol, willfully kills or causes serious injury to civilians.

(d) Common Article 3 Violations.—

(1) Prohibited conduct.— In subsection (c)(3), the term “grave breach of common Article 3” means any conduct (such conduct constituting a grave breach of common Article 3 of the international conventions done at Geneva August 12, 1949), as follows:
(A) Torture.— The act of a person who commits, or conspires or attempts to commit, an act specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation, coercion, or any reason based on discrimination of any kind.
(B) Cruel or inhuman treatment.— The act of a person who commits, or conspires or attempts to commit, an act intended to inflict severe or serious physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions), including serious physical abuse, upon another within his custody or control.
(C) Performing biological experiments.— The act of a person who subjects, or conspires or attempts to subject, one or more persons within his custody or physical control to biological experiments without a legitimate medical or dental purpose and in so doing endangers the body or health of such person or persons.
(D) Murder.— The act of a person who intentionally kills, or conspires or attempts to kill, or kills whether intentionally or unintentionally in the course of committing any other offense under this subsection, one or more persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including those placed out of combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause.
(E) Mutilation or maiming.— The act of a person who intentionally injures, or conspires or attempts to injure, or injures whether intentionally or unintentionally in the course of committing any other offense under this subsection, one or more persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including those placed out of combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, by disfiguring the person or persons by any mutilation thereof or by permanently disabling any member, limb, or organ of his body, without any legitimate medical or dental purpose.
(F) Intentionally causing serious bodily injury.— The act of a person who intentionally causes, or conspires or attempts to cause, serious bodily injury to one or more persons, including lawful combatants, in violation of the law of war.
(G) Rape.— The act of a person who forcibly or with coercion or threat of force wrongfully invades, or conspires or attempts to invade, the body of a person by penetrating, however slightly, the anal or genital opening of the victim with any part of the body of the accused, or with any foreign object.
(H) Sexual assault or abuse.— The act of a person who forcibly or with coercion or threat of force engages, or conspires or attempts to engage, in sexual contact with one or more persons, or causes, or conspires or attempts to cause, one or more persons to engage in sexual contact.
(I) Taking hostages.— The act of a person who, having knowingly seized or detained one or more persons, threatens to kill, injure, or continue to detain such person or persons with the intent of compelling any nation, person other than the hostage, or group of persons to act or refrain from acting as an explicit or implicit condition for the safety or release of such person or persons.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002441----000-.html

[oberliner]

10. Is the US in breech of this in your opinion?

It would appear that they are, or at least have been recently.

[bemildred]

12. Is the Pope Catholic?

One of the things that concerns me most about this country (and Israel too BTW) is that the rule of law is largely a fiction. The ruling elites do as they like, lie and misuse language constantly, and basically are corrupt and self-serving weasels. Decadent and corrupt countries do not do well. When nobody really cares a fig about the public good and the integrity of public institutions, things fall apart. It is not a recipe for military success either, or rising political influence, etc. as we can see in both cases.