Law. Not War.
by Steve, May 31st, 2006
Here ya go, Wacky Mommy, my first entry in a while. The execution of 24 unarmed civilians in Haditha by apparently rampaging marines last November has left me rattled. But ethically, how are their deaths any worse than the tens of thousands of civilians killed in this conflict? The responsibility for these 24 and all the other thousands must ultimately be layed at the feet of those who instigated this awful conflagration.
This incident should serve to point out that the whole bloody adventure is a crime, in fact “the supreme crime”, to quote Nuremberg prosecuter Robert H. Jackson. “To initiate a war of aggression…is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of whole,” wrote Jackson.
How can it be that in 1945 the we accepted Jackson’s premise that “It is high time that we act on the juridical principle that aggressive war-making is illegal and criminal,” but in 2006 it is up for debate?
You can read more about Jackson and the concept of replacing war with the rule of law on fellow Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin B. Ferencz’s site.
