Condemn the War Criminals

oogleGay isyay ouryay iendfray

Pizza Shop Heckler: Bush Sr a 'Murderous, Zionist Piece of Shit' (and vid)

http://rawstory.com/2010/01/pizza-heckler-bush-sr-murderous-zionist-piec...

"At an unidentified pizza shop visited by George H.W. Bush recently, one of the customers decided to give the former President a slice of his mind...'The guy is responsible for killing millions - if you knew anything about real history' he trailed at the clips end."

Man! That makes my day.

EU Delegation Urges Trial of Israeli War Criminal

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116234&sectionid=351020202

"a high ranking European Parliamentary Delegation in the Gaza Strip has called for the prosecution of Israeli officials over war crimes in the territory.."

no similar recommendation from Canadian MPs

Filmaker Loach Urges Boycott of Israel

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116198&sectionid=3510212 [6]

Afghan Government Demands Arrest of US 'Death Squad'

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24403.htm

"Kai Eide, UN representative to Afghanistan confirmed the Afghan government's investigative conclusions that US troops handcuffed and then executed eight students enrolled in grades 6 through 10 in a night raid on December 27, 2009.

President Hamid Karzai demanded the arrest of the US troops engaged in the break-in and mafia-style execution of the children.

The US responded to the Afghan demand of January 1 by rejecting the findings of the Afghan government and UN with a vague promise of their own self-investigation at some later date.."

NATO/US Troops Shot Civilian Protesters (again)

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/01/15/nato-us-troops-shot-civilian-proteste...

"NATO explained that US Marines went out to direct anti-NATO protests in Garmsir and "when the civilians in the crowd disregarded instructions", the troops opened fire on the crowd.

US Lt. Col. Todd Breass shrugged off the civilian casualties, insisting "things like this happen."

The civilians were protesting a Tuesday incident in which NATO forces opened fire on civilians, killing 13 people.

You left a little bit out of the story.

Was it a branch from a tree? Was it a stick with a nail in it like they used to chase away the aliens on the simpsons?

Why wouldn't a marine just walk up to the man and take his stick away? Are soldiers allowed to shoot unarmed civilians? Looks that way.

Why were foreign troops engaging in crowd control in the first place?

Why are foreign troops in Afghanistan?

What went on in those cities; what goes on in Afghanistan, is none of our business. We have no moral and legal basis to be there.

Complaint Filed Against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24447.htm#

'International Arrest Warrants Requested'

We Must Not Renege on War Crime Laws

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24449.htm# [12]

"We are shocked at suggestions by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister Ivan Levis and foreign secretary David Miliband that Britian may consider changing its laws to avoid any future attempts to prosecute suspected war criminals, Israeli or otherwise

Tony Blair: War Criminal

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan2010/blai-j30.shtml

"Former Prime Minister Tony Blair's testimony before the Chilcot inquiry into the 2003 Iraq war marks him down once more as a war criminal.."

Unlike the US, Canada has signed the Rome Statute. That means that we can detain war criminals, including American ones and extradite them to the ICJ.

RE: link above
Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, U.S.A. has filed a Complaint with the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) in The Hague against U.S. citizens George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales (the “Accused”) for their criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition” perpetrated upon about 100 human beings. This term is really their euphemism for the enforced disappearance of persons and their consequent torture. This criminal policy and practice by the Accused constitute Crimes against Humanity in violation of the Rome Statute establishing the I.C.C.

The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute. Nevertheless the Accused have ordered and been responsible for the commission of I.C.C. statutory crimes within the respective territories of many I.C.C. member states, including several in Europe. Consequently, the I.C.C. has jurisdiction to prosecute the Accused for their I.C.C. statutory crimes under Rome Statute article 12(2)(a) that affords the I.C.C. jurisdiction to prosecute for I.C.C. statutory crimes committed in I.C.C. member states....

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24447.htm#

Chilcot War Inquiry: Professor to Launch 'Nuremberg' War Crimes Prosecution Against Blair

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247407/Chilcot-War-Inquiry-Prof...

"Plans to bring a war crimes prosecution against Tony Blair based on last week's bombshell evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry have been launched by a leading law professor. He is drafting a submission to the International Criminal Court arguing that Mr. Blair is guilty under  the law of 'joint enterprise' which holds people responsible for the creation of a wider group if they know they are involved in  criminal enterprises.."

Spanish Inquiry of Alleged Bush-era Crimes Begins Monday

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/50119

"On Monday, Feb. 15 in Madrid, Judge Baltasar Garzon will convene an investigation of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity allegedly committed by US government officials and others during the Bush administration..."

Obama's Preventitive War and the End of Nuremberg

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/nure-f20.shtml

"US President Barack Obama's Nobel Prize speech in Oslo last December was widely seen as a glorification of militarism, rather than a promotion of peace...

It is now absolutely clear that, within the American poltiical establishment, there is unequivocal bi-partisan repudiation of the Nuremberg principles, which outlawed and made criminal, the planning and launching of aggressive war...

This article proposes to review the meaning of the Obama speech in the context of the history and development of international law.."

I would dearly love to see my President charged with war crimes....unfortunately I do not think there is a court in the world that could claim jurisdiction. Yes, there is the International Criminal Court in The Hague, but the ICC has no jurisdiction over any crimes committed before it was founded on 1 July 2002.

Nevertheless I hold that Mugabe was responsible for terrible massacres in Matabeleland in the 1980s which should meet the definition of crimes against humanity...to say nothing of what he and the ZANU-PF did during the Brush War.

You mean, when the Zimbabwean people defeated the Ian Smith apartheid colonial regime and won majority rule? Didn't like how they went about it, or the outcome?

Report: Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians To Be Massacred

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/02/19/report-bu...

"The chief author of the Bush administration's 'torture memo' told Justice Department investigators that the president's war-making authority was so broad that he had constitutional power to order a village to be 'massacred' according to a report released Friday night by the Office of Professional Responsibility...

Instead, another senior department lawyer, David Margolis, who was the final decision maker in the inquiry, found that they were guilty of only 'poor judgment'..."

Rhodesian apartheid was vile and needed to end. The methods used to install Mugabe were horrendous, and despite initial optimism the outcome has been less than desirable. And I heard villagers mourn the death of Ian, saying that they had felt safer under his governance.

I do not mourn the end of apartheid or Ian Smith, but I do mourn that Zimbabwe is no longer the breadbasket of Africa, that we are now suffering famine and such joys as the recent cholera outbreak, the torture and murder of political opponents, etc etc etc....

ohh...and Mugabe's winning the 1980 election by 63% of the vote?...I'd say that there was a fair amount of intimidation and cheating involved. So do we say that the Zimbabwean people "defeated the Ian Smith apartheid colonial regime and won majority rule?"...ok

Please forgive the self-advertisement, but I wrote my li'l heart out on the DoJ OPR report, and it's easier to link than to repeat m'self.

What can you say? It's a whitewash. U.S. DoJ lawyers have never heard of Nuremberg, or they probably think that it's quaint of the rest of us to raise the spectre. What really matters is maintaining proper format in your reports, chaps!

In fact, legal fictions and farces like "illegal enemy combatants" and those kangaroo military tribunals are the White House's and Justice Department's attempts to get around the Nuremberg Trials, Nuremberg Principles, Geneva Conventions, U.N. Charter, International Justice Court, International Criminal Court and other international laws, treaties and protocols, etc.

The Flailing Falsehoods of America's War Criminals

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/22-4

"I didn't think it was possible, but former Bush officials--desperately fighting what they know will be their legacy as war criminals--have become ever more dishonest propagandists out of office then they were in office.."

Shaker Anner: Police Launch New Torture Inquiry

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/22-6 [25]

"On Friday it emerged in a UK court that the Metropolitan Police is investigating allegations that MI5 was complicit in the torture, in Afghanistan, of Shaker Aaner, the last British resident of Guantanamo.."

Fascism is Alive and Well in Spain: The Case of Judge Garzon

http://www.counterpunch.org/navarro02222010.html [26]

"In a few days the Supreme Court (chaired by a judge who swore loyalty to the Fascist regime during the dictatorship) will pass judgement on Judge Baltazar Garzon and most likely divest him of his judicial responsibilities..

To put this in perspective, what is happening is equivalent to the Supreme Court of Germany (presided over by a judge who swore loyalty to the Nazi Government), responding to the request of the Nazi Party and passing judgement on the only judge who had decided to try the crimes committed by the Nazi regime..

This is what is happening in Spain. And the 'official' international media remain silent..."

Should US War Criminals be Subject to the Rule of Law?

http://lawsnotmen.org/node/4

"The Robert Jackson Steering Committee works to bring about the criminal prosecution of top government officials in the United States whom there is probable cause to believe have committed war crimes.."

Military Told To Heed Abuse Claims

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/afghanmission/article/771198--militar...

"Craig Scott, a professor of international human rights law at Osgoode Law School, said: 'if there's this paper trail of good legal advice going against what the government is doing, its even more likely the federal government violated its obligations under international law..."

That and I don't think the US signed the treaty to create it - for the reason that (horrors!) someone might want to prosecute a US politician or officials for war crimes.

There is the International Justice Court (IJC).

Bugliosi, Dennett Want Bush Prosecuted for Murder

http://corporatecrimereporter.com/dennett.htm

"In 2008, Charlotte Dennett ran for Attorney General in Vermont. Dennet's key campaign pledge - if elected, she would appoint Vincent Bugliosi as a special prosecutor to seek a murder indictement against George W Bush for the deaths of US soldiers in Iraq.."

subject: haunted by war crimes.

tweet from George Galloway, MP: Poor Tony Blair: Cold sweats, sleepless nights, murdered sleep - more like Macbeth every day.

See here: Depressed Tony Blair told Gordon Brown he would quit after Iraq war.

  Unlike our Canadian Supreme Court the ICC has no democratic legitimacy.  True, a group of activist judges and others from the middle powers got the Rome Treaty through the General Assembly of the UN, which is NOT the World's legislature. But the governments which represent most of the world's people, China, Russia, India and the USA don't like it.

  Up to now it has concentrated on Africa, the poorest neighbourhood of the world, itself victim of centuries of exploitation (no excuse for corruption and self-serving politics).  Image a court here in Canada that only prosecuted crime in the poorest ghettos .

  "Justice" is often a mask for political fashions and ideological agendas.  The ICC drains over 100 million Euros from public funds for 5-600 well-paid employees, all true-believers.  They travel around Africa, all expenses paid, sometimes intervening in peace and reconciliation negociations and possibly prolonging conficts. Each indictment takes millions that could save lives from diseases like Aids and malaria.  Do Africans need "an example" (like the trial of Charles Taylor)?  That was the excuse for lynchings of formers slaves in the "citizen courts" in the Southern towns after the US Civil war. 

 The ICC also, in a sense, gives legitimacy to the New World Order, where neo-liberalism rules, and the imposition of Western democracy is a reason for military intervention.  But we love to dream of the day when George Bush will be arrested and "brought to justice".  Who will judge the judges ?

The Rome Treaty is an international treaty that was agreed to by a number of countries. It is a protocol to the Geneva Conventions. The ICC, just like the International Justice Court (IJC) was created by the U.N.

The laws and the courts to apply those laws are in place. With its illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, its torture in Bagram, Abu Ghraib, GTMO and other secret gulags in Eastern Europe, along with the legal fiction where people are deemed to be "illegal enemy combatants", the U.S.A. has thus said to the U.N. and the world "So you have the law (and the courts to apply them), go ahead and enforce them."

In the case of the U.N., the idealism is there. What is required is people of conviction in the Security Council to have the courage of their convictions and do the right thing. We can end these wars and discourage future ones. This would be a very good way to do it.

The My-Lai Massacre: Vietnam's Holocaust

http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2010/02/24/the-my-lai-massacre-vietn...

"Do you realize what it was like killing 500 people in a matter of 4 or 5 hours? It's just like the gas chambers - what Hitler did. YOu line up 50 people, women, old men, children and just mow 'em down. And that's the way it was - from 25 to 50 to 100. Just killed. We just rounded 'em up and a couple of guys just put the M-16 on automatic, and just mowed 'em down.."

Citizen's Arrest of War Criminals Tony Blair and George W Bush

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17350

"All over the world, citizens are mobilizing to take action to demand accountability from those who have been committing with impunity, the highest order of international crime. This pattern of war crimes at the top is continuing and even accellerating during the Presidency of Barack Obama...I humbly suggest that Canadians might want to get involved.

 I question whether global legalism is a "very good way" to end wars although it appeals to many.  War have various causes, mostly political and economic.  The enormous gap between rich and poor (20% have 80% of the world's wealth) is very unstable.

 The judgement of Nuremburg left the WW2 victors guiltless when we know that they bear much of the responsibilty for the last 18 months of the war, the most deadly, wanting total victory (no deals, no impunity) over Germany and Japan. Obama reflected this conviction of Western Righteousness in his Nobel address.

 The International Court of Justice adjudicates disputes between countries and began before the UN.  The ICC's "justice" will continue to be SELECTIVE, accusing the 'bad guys' leaving the exploiters, the corporate boards behind the mining, etc, unpunished.

Has this growing movement against impunity (for punishment) something to do with the increasing support for the death penalty and minimum sentences here in Canada?

Absolutely, I'd call it the rise of "Harperism".

Suppressing Evidence: David Miliband and UK Complicity in Torture

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/supressing-evidence-david-miliband-and-u...

"Last night I went to see Polly Nash and Andy Worthington's harrowing documentary 'Outside the Law, Tales from Guantanamo'.

The film knits together narratives so heart wrenching I half wish I had not heard them..

Nash and Worthington's  film also explores the legal and pragmatic implications of our transatlantic freefall into ethical bankruptcy. It asks how we might navigate our way out of a situation that doesn't legally exist. The answer is with great difficulty.

With lawyers like Clive Stafford Smith working tirelessly to defend people who have not been accused of a crime and have no evidence against them to refute, the courtroom has become the domain in which we watch the dream of European multiculturalism imploding. Here we see UK Muslims struggle to exert Enlightenment-based Common Law against a so called civilized, liberal government who would apparently prefer the Magna Carta had never been written...

Many news consumers prefer to maintain that detainee accounts of asphyxiation, physical torment, sexual and religious abuse, were either deserved, fabricated or necessary..'

Israel Violates International Law with EU Complicity

http://www.indepthnews.net/news/news.php?key1=2010-03-0513:54:04&key2=1

"The European Union (EU) is an accomplice of Israel in its proven violations of international law, as it legitimizes Israeli actions in the Palestinian occupied territories and provides support to it, according to the findings of the Russel Tribunal on Palestine (RTP) which met in Barcelona March 1-3.."

Canada would obviously also be found to be in violation if the issue was put before a similar tribunal..

Maher Arar: Six Amicus Briefs Ask US Supreme Court  to Hear Case

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/03/08-4

"Six Amicus Curiae briefs were filed with  the Supreme Court in support of the petition for Certiorai filed by the Center for Constitutional RIghts (CCR) on behalf of Canadian citizen Maher Arar, asking the Supreme Court to hear his case against US officials for their role in sending him to Syria to be tortured..

Lower courts concluded that Mr. Arar's suit raised too many sensitive foreign policy and secrecy issues to allow them to hear his case. If the lower court rulings are allowed to stand, the federal officials involved will remain free of any legal accountability for what they did to an innocent man.."

First things first. We Canadians have our own war criminals to take care of. We can worry about jurisdiction regarding foreign ones later.

Washington Post Warns that Prosecuting War Crime of Aggression Might Deter It

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/51194

"If the [International Criminal] court is to gain credibility and succeed, it must be authorized to prosecute the most serious international crimes, and it must do so. And those steps must be taken in that order."

Spain's Most Famous Judge May be Suspended

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50904

"Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon who became world famous when he issued the warrant that resulted in former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's arrest in London in 1998, is now facing legal charges himself, which could cost him his job.."

how convenient for the various war criminals who might have been named under Spain's 'universal jurisdiction' - that this judge is taken out..

There is little evidence that these "war crimes" trials in Africa do much to provide a deterrent.  They cost a great deal and don't do anything to solve the underlying political problems of poverty and exploitation.  And it is very partial "justice" We catch a few of the badies only.  Criminal law is very Western, Christian, Latin in origin. We see that the Harper crowd wants tougher sentences here, too

Richard Dawkins: I Will Arrest Pope Benedict XV

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7094310.ece

"There is every possibility of legal action against the Pope occurring.."

Charismatic Judge Who Pursued Spain's Fascist Assassins Finds Himself on Trial

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/25/baltasar-garzon-spain-franco

"Powerful enemies are attempting to unseat the 'superjudge' who tried to bring the death squads of Franco's dictatorship to book.."

Tony Blair, Very Close to Being Indicted for War Crimes

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18838

"While on a speaking engagement in Malaysia organized by 'Success Resources Company' former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was the object of an articulate protest movement demanding his indictment for war crimes. This was no ordinary protest. Tony Blair has been accused of war crimes in a legal initiative led by the country's Prime Minister, Dr. Matathir Mohamad."

Yet in Canada Condi Rice is honoured at the University of Calgary and George Bush and Bill Clinton barely draw a couple hundred protesters at their Toronto speaking events earning 'ridiculous money' talking to packed houses of high priced ticket holders. Meanwhile Splitting the Sky is largely ignored by the Canadian Peace Movement for an attempted citizen's arrest of Bush and Galloway is refused entry as a 'terrorist'. What a country.."

Drone Pilots Could Be Tried For 'War Crimes': Law Prof

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/04/drone-pilots-could-be-tried-for-...

"The pilots waging America's undeclared drone war in Pakistan could be liable to criminal prosecution for 'war crimes' a prominent law professor told a Congressional panel.."

This is a video that has repeatedly been removed from utube over the years by the PR people of one of the most drastic war criminals in modern history.  I finally found it again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIqOyvQ3kAA&feature=fvw

Arrest of 13 CIA Afghan Sought in Spain

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/05/hbc-90007028

"Prosecutors attached to the Audienca Nacional in Madrid are reportedly requesting that Judge Ismael Moreno issue an arrest warrant for the arrest of 13 CIA agents involved in an extraordinary rendition operation from 2004..."

28 Die in NWA Drone Attack

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28794 [52]

"The US spy planes on Tuesday launched the biggest missile attack in North Waziristan Tribal Region and killed 28 suspected militants and villagers. An official of the paramilitary Frontier Corps on condition of anonymity said the death toll might rise as some of the missiles struck houses of local tribesmen in the village..

They said over 500 people, including militants and local tribesmen have lost their lives in these missile strikes and several others were maimed for life..."

New Weapons Experimented on Gaza: Population Risks Genetic Mutations

http://www.newweapons.org/?q=node/113

"Toxic and carcinogenic metals, able to produce genetic mutations, have been found in the tissues of people wounded in Gaza during Israel's military operations in 2006 and 2009. The research has been carried out on wounds provoked by weapons that did not leave fragments in the bodies ofthe victims, a peculiarity that was pointed out repeatedly by doctors in Gaza. THIS SHOWS THAT EXPERIMENTAL WEAPONS WHOSE EFFECTS ARE STILL TO BE ASSESSED, WERE USED..."

End Zionist War Crimes and Impunity for War Criminals

Maher Arar: Obama Administration Sides with Bush DOJ

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/05/13-3

"The Obama administration has opposed Mr. Arar's petition for certiorai, arguing that his case was properly dismissed, and that the Supreme Court should not consider it.."

Baltasar Garzon's Trial Threatens Universal Justice

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51427

"The trial of Spain's 'superjudge' Baltasar Garzon is aimed at squelching the principle of universal justice by suspending its main advocate. If Garzon is suspended it will put an end to the principle of universal jurisdiction, according to which the perpetrators of war crimes against humanity are subject to international jurisdiction if no national court is able or willing to handle the cases.."

Could International Criminal Court Deploy US As World Law Enforcer?

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/06/10-4

"The United States, which continues to shun membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC) for fear that it might itself be prosecuted, could wind up acting as the ICC's military muscle on the planet. Having failed to prosecute anyone but Africans since its creation in 2002, the ICC now actively woos the US, the world's most prolific perpetrator and sponsor of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, as global enforcer of ICC indictments.."

US Opposes ICC Bid to Make 'Aggression' A Crime Under International Law

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2010/0615/US-opposes-ICC-bid... [57]

"One of the main US concerns in seeing 'aggression' added to the ICC's jurisdiction was the impact it could potentially have on US military operations abroad. But Koh says the US successfully negotiated the 'aggression' statute's wording so that US forces won't be susceptible to it."

When the criminals control the process there is no process...

So has Judge Garzon been suspended ?  I remember his attempt at judging Pinochet as if Pinochet was the unique criminal in the overthrow of Allende.  It seemed to me that it was up to the Chileans to deal with him, not some new Spanish Savanorola. Like its up to the British to judge Tony Blair.

I wonder where this thirst for "universal justice" comes from, other than that it furthers the careers and crusades of a class of zealous judicial activists.  We Westerners, Christians, used to have a Just God, who punished the wicked, if not in this world, then in the next.  We could count on it.  No longer. That really bothers some of us.  At least God had authority whereas this new Rome Treaty Tribunal has little.  Who judges its judges?  Behind our Supreme Court stands the Parliament, constitutionally with the authority of the people.

Now the ICC, at great cost, has had a conference on adding "agression" to their mandate.  Since Nuremburg, agression has been the supreme crime but that didn't prevent the humanitarian bombing of ex-Yugoslavia nor the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. 

"We are the Accusers not the Accused"

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1470

"All of the defendants have argued that what they did was not only morally necessary but crucially that it was legal. UK law allows the commission of damage to property, to prevent greater crimes.."

Will no one comment on my last posting ?  The ICC is the great hope of so many on the Left.  As a former (70s) supporter of the World Federalists I may have encouraged it through my membership fees.

The ICC is a fixed-game, Imperialist, Kangaroo court that will only go after African leaders, small fry and official enemies - not  Bush, Obama or Netanyahu. It is a farce and worse than useless as a vehicle for prosecuting war criminals. As stated above; when the criminals themselves control the justice process, there is no justice.

What am I to say? I don't know about 'great hope', more like a practical idea scuppered by geopolitics. I am delighted that the Henry Kissingers and Israeli defence ministers of this world have to think twice when considering trips abroad. Its early days yet and there is no objective reason to believe it won't go even more pearshaped, but in principle, by all means turn up the heat on the sociopaths.

There's also the ICJ, the International Court of Justice.

The U.N. is also in the process of selecting members for its own inquiry of the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

As of yet, I haven't heard of any further developments, though.

US Hijacks ICC Conference

http://www.voltairenet.org/article166182.html

"The ICC conference in Kampala last month reached the historic agreement to include the crime of aggression within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. However, the US successfully maneuvered from the sidelines to subvert the process. By obtaining ICC subordination to the decisions of the Security Council, where the US wields veto power, Washington has not only further eviscerated the Court, it has in effect guaranteed immunity for US nationals.."

British Officials Moving to Ammend Internal Law to Protect Israel's War Criminals

http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=25620 [65]

"Pro-Israeli senior officials in the British government are embarking on getting the arrest warrant law changed in order to prevent the arrest of Israeli officials during their visits to the UK.."

Merove, in response to me, writes that the ICC is a "practical idea scuppered by geopolitics."  I fail to see the "practical" in an institution costing over $100 million in public funds going to well-paid lawyers and expenses with so few results.  If (geo)politics scupper it, so much the better.  Politics means people, opinions, and power and they're closer to democracy than appointed judges.  Have we forgotten the Inquisition and the Stalin trials ?  I would not want to live in a world where Henry Kissinger or anyone could be tried by some non-democratic Universal Court.  His excesses have been well documented for those interested.  Our national courts exist in a more-or-less democratic framework.  The UN is not the World Government.

Thanks to NoDifferencePar for his updates

Where does the ICC get it's operational money from?

"The ICC is financed by contributions from the state parties. The amount payable is determined by the same method as the United Nations - each state's contribution is based on the country's capacity to pay.."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court

Humm can't get the pie chart in that link to show... seems the USA, China and Russia is lacking in the chart. Gee I wounder why?...

Israel's Friends at Westminster Legislate to Protect Vilest Criminals

http://www.redress.cc/stooges/slittlewood20100724

"Israelis wanted for war crimes can sleep easier thanks to their friends and admirers in the British establishment.."

Who Will Take Out the Garbage if Our Courts and Justice System Won't Punish War Crimes?

http://www.redress.cc/global/slittlewood20100807

"Stuart Littlewood considers the impunity with which state sponsored murderers and war criminals operate and argues that if universal jurisdiction is not made to work, then upright, socially responsible citizens may have to dispense justice themselves. 'Assassinations may not remain the private playground of shadowy CIA and Mossad operatives for much longer.."

Perhaps war criminals like Avigdor Lieberman, George Bush or Bill Clinton may not visit Canada with the comfortable ease they have thus far enjoyed. The case of activist Splitting the Sky's attempts to citizen's arrest George Bush in the face of Canada's refusal to implement its own law concerning 'credibly suspected' war criminals, is an item worth considering in this regard.."

Universal Jurisdiction to Hold Israel Accountable

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/08/universal-jurisdiction-to-hold-isr...

"The well established universal jurisdiction principle (UJ) holds that certain crimes are too grave to ignore, including genocide, crimes of war and against humanity..It's high time UJ principles enforce accountablitiy using Israel as a test case.."

See also Bruce A Clark: 'Judicial Culpability for War and Genocide in the Age of American Empire'

http://www.bepress.com/gj/vol8/iss3/art6/ [73]

"For legal purposes, the American empire was inaugurated in the 1870s with the invasion and occupation of the national territories of the Indians of North America, and continues with the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.."

Video: Citizen's Arrest of Tony Blair

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/content/video-citizens-arrest-tony-bla...

Criminalization of Justice at the Hague: Carla Del Ponte Faces Charges of Witness Intimidation

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20938

"Carla Del Ponte, the former chief prosecutor of the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague has recently been confronted with charges of intimidation of witnesses, which has led to the tribunal opening an investigation into the matter..."

Uncovering International Judges

http://bosco.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/09/10/uncovering_international...

"Several UK-based legal scholars have just published an important new book, Selecting International Judges, that takes a hard look at how international judges are chosen. They examine the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice and the results are devastating...

For the most part they find that judges are selected through a combination of cronyism at the national level and horse-trading at the international level.."

The Collapse of Western Morality - by Paul Craig Roberts

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts09242010.html

"As the Israeli official said, we are only doing to the Palestinians what the Americans did to the American Indians...."

Exclusive Eye Witness Account: Universal Jurisdiction on Trial

http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/middle-east/1613-exclusive-...

"When I was being held in Israel in 2007 and undergoing a 12-hour interrogation session I remember my interrogator saying to me as he shrugged his shoulders 'International Law? What is that?'

I asked him if he believed he was above International Law and he said 'Of course; we are the Law.'

The Ad Hoc War Crimes Tribunals - by Christopher Black

http://narodnipokretsrbije.info/?p=2312

"The abandonment of these fundamental principles upon which all international law was constructed, has been trumped by the further step taken by the American government of claiming the right to set up their own military tribunals to condemn as criminals any persons who resist the agenda...The purpose of these tribunals is simply propaganda. They have no other purpose.."

More Evidence of US War Crimes

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/pers-j24.shtml

"All these officials deserve to face an international war crimes tribunal.."

The powerful countries like Britain and Germany would never support an International Court that could condemn one of its own leaders like Blair.  Meanwhile the ICC provides excellent incomes for hundreds of well-meaning zealots.  I expect it will go the way of the League of Nations.  More and more African countries are ignoring it.  Its part of a Western New World Order, a project of the World Federalists supported by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

I've just read "Victors' Justice - From Nuremberg to Baghdad" by Danilo Zolo which had an excellent review in the London Review of Books.  The Allies had already in 1942 proclaimed no immunity/impunity for German and Japanese leaders likely prolonging the war for a least one year, a year of hundreds of thousands of innocents killed.

But they never will (and you know it deep down inside). That could happen only if the USA gave them up to a ICC and that will never happen, ever.

But you can always hope.

Bush cancels Switzerland visit under threat of protests and efforts to arrest him:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/142289-bush-cancels-swi...

When similar grounds for prosecution of Bush were presented to each and every MP requesting their assistance, by Lawyers Against War, before the last Bush Canada visit, all declined to assist. L.A.W received a further response to their solicitation from Jack Layton's office that "no further correspondence will be entertained."

Why can't Canada be like Switzerland?

Why can't the USA?  Their own laws forbid torture and the ordering of it carried out.

Bush openly admitted to doing so.  In fact he said he would do it again.  There is no reason why Eric Holder's Justice Department cannot arrest, charge and try the son of a bitch and then throw him in jail.

Obama's excuses have long since worn thin.  Of course the American media will now not even entertain the possibility of bringing such a mass murderer to justice.  Disgusting.

There's the problem. Obama is himself a war criminal/human rights abuser when he said his administration wasn't going to persue the wrongs committed and prosecute those who committed them in the Bush administration. To aid and abet criminals is itself as criminal as if one committed the original crime.

Things aren't much different in Canada. Look at how Herr Harper has so far successfully quashed or delayed Torturegate, Sand Trap I and possibly Sand Trap II.

It almost doesn't matter now as some truth deniers like to say. But it doesn't matter to Anglo-American-Canadian oligarchy for entirely different reasons. Asian and BRIC countries, the rest of the non English speaking world, realize now that the USA is a very corrupt and very lawless nation. At one time the US was able to convince/coerce countries to bow to US imperialism, like Japan when they begged them to please commit economic suicide by 1987,  in order to help out an ailing American economy. They are asking China and other countries to do something similar today. But there has been a real decline of faith in US economic and foreign policies in just the last ten years. We're into a colder war now and trust between countries is waning. The western world has descended into economic and currency conflicts as well as a state of increasing liquid war. These are dangerous times.

George W: No Immunity for Former Presidents Under Law

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23139

"According to the Bush indictment, which was written on behalf of torture victims by CCR and ECCHR, former President Bush bears individual and criminal responsibility for the acts of his subordinates which he ordered, authorized, condoned or otherwise aided and abetted, as well as violations committed by his subordinates which he failed to prevent or punish.

As all states are obliged to prosecute such torturers, Bush has good reason to be very worried."

I find it endlessly hilarious how the US news media and its clueless pundits actually expect the Chinese to "stop manipulating their currency" while completely ignoring the fact that this is exactly what their own Fed has been doing with Quantitative Easing I and II.  Printing massive sums of money in a desperate bid to make American made crap more sellable.  Problem is, no-one's buying.  Even GM has had to set up plants in China in order to sell there.  When are these idiots going to realize that the Chinese and Indians aren't stupid?

It's as if they actually still beleive that the rest of the world owes them something.  The arrogance is appalling.  It's like watching an imperious buffoon of a captain shouting orders from the bridge of a sinking ship.

http://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2011/02/09/americas-stay-at-home-ex...