CJ Morgan,

I am always careful in what I wish for.

But who is going to arrest North Korea's Kim Jong Il let alone China's Hu Jintao?

Where will we find Afghanistan's former Taliban chief, Abdullah Omar?

Will we need to resort to nukes to get Mahmoud "Wipe Israel from the pages of time" Ahmadinejad?

All of these headed or still head regimes guilty of heinous crimes.


Foxy,

Any decent court requires evidence before issuing an arrest warrant

It's like I have always said the law courts are useless if the men with guns (the army or the presiding warlords are not interested in handing any of their leaders or members over to the world courts).

Who is going to be able to bring Mugabee before the world courts while he still controls the army?

Massacres and Ethnic cleansing are always going to happen for this reason. Men with guns have utlimate control in this world not the law courts.

Men like Mugabee and Hitler may eventually end up in front of world law courts, but only after they have served their purpose and the massacres have been carried out. Then some deal may be struck and the people or the army may hand them over.

Dear Steven,

You said ...

"Any decent court requires evidence before issuing
an arrest warrant."

Of course. But some courts in a few
countries, even with evidence,
choose not to do so, for political,
national, or religious reasons.
As we all know.

Take the example given on SBS last night,
Tuesday, July 29th 2008. 8.30pm.
on the "Cutting Edge."
Called "Murder By Numbers in Putinland."

It explored opponents of Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin - who have been systematically
murdered in the years following his rise to
power.

stevenlzionist: << All of these headed or still head regimes guilty of heinous crimes >>

Oh I get it now - you want all the the nasty war criminals brought to justice, except for those who happen to be Israeli. For a moment there I thought you were just having one of your Islamophobic rants.

When talking about war crimes, isn't the nation's leader often held responsible? I feel the only reason George Bush has not been charged with war crimes committed under his leadership, is because he leads the most militarily powerful nation on earth and that affords him all the protection he needs.

ALL war criminals should be brought to justice.

Foxy,

I agree with you. Courts should issue arrest warrants if evidence of a crime is presented.

Furthermore, prosecutors should be assiduous in going after suspects impartially. There should be no selective prosecutions.

Selective prosecutions have been the tool of many tyrants including Mugabe and Hitler. The technique is to prosecute your enemies while ignoring the murder and mayhem of your own side.

In this context Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor at the ICC, is seeking an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir the genocidal president of Sudan. This is the first time an arrest warrant has been sought for a head of government who is in office.

Everything has to start somewhere and this is a good start.

But it is also a dangerous move. If Ocampo is thwarted, if he cannot get an arrest warrant for someone like Omar al-Bashir, then the court is fatally flawed.

I cannot make up my mind whether Ocampo is grandstanding or whether he is sincerely trying to make a case for international justice. Time will tell. For now I shall give him the benefit of the doubt.

CJ Morgan,

In my second post I agreed with F_H who specifically mentioned allegations of crimes by IDF personnel.

I would like to see perpetrators of crimes against humanity brought to justice whether they live in Jerusalem, the White House or Downing Street. But also if they live in Beijing, Tehran, Gaza, Cairo, Pyongyang, Rangoon or Damascus.

What I do not want to see is selective prosecutions.

JW,

Yes all war criminals should be brought to justice. But George Bush is not the only head of government one may reasonably suspect of war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Furthermore JW, most of the post-invasion murder and mayhem in Iraq may be attributed to sectarian violence among Iraqis. Don't the murderous leaders of the various Iraqi factions also merit their day in court?