LINK: Joseph Britt at Belgravia Dispatch has an interesting reflection on how far the rule of law has come on the international scene:
"The length of time Saddam Hussein has been in custody was about how long it took between the time senior Nazi and German military officials surrendered to Allied forces and the end of their respective trials at Nuremberg. In the cases of ten senior Nazis sentenced to death, a little over two weeks elapsed between delivery of verdict and execution of sentence. With all respect to today's international legal community and its dream of perfect justice for all and full employment for lawyers, the trials given the Nazis were good enough."
...and though the reflection is mostly on Saddam Hussein, I think similar complaints can be made about the woeful international law responses to Pinochet and other similar former 'heads of state.' I think this is an area where just about everyone can agree international law should extend (even those of us who are cynical of what else can be done in the international system), but it does seem to frequently feel like justice isn't really getting done in any of these cases. Suggestions?*
*I'm looking at you, Ms. Soon-to-be International Law student
"Thou shalt not extinguish thine anger, but shall master it,
that thy conscience may not be blunted by adjustment
to wrong causes."
-The Dutch Ten Commandments to Foil the Nazis
No comments:
Post a Comment