MrSpkr's random thoughts . . .

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

This is why the United States was right in deciding against joining the International Criminal Court.

UK cluster bombs may be war crime
Tue January 20, 2004 04:48 PM ET

By Peter Apps

LONDON (Reuters) - British use of cluster bombs in the Iraq war could count as a war crime and justifies further investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor in the Hague, a group of international lawyers say.

Really? I guess these folks would prefer that we used squirt guns and rubber bands.

Seven academics from Britain, Ireland, France and Canada interviewed eyewitnesses and examined evidence to see if there was a case for referring British conduct to the court, said the pressure group Peacerights, which organised the review.

"There is a considerable amount of evidence of disproportionate use of force causing civilian casualties," one of the lawyers, Professor Bill Bowring of London Metropolitan University, told a news conference on Tuesday.

Compared to what?

"The U.S. cannot be tried before the court because it refuses to sign up to it. The UK did."

Which goes to prove that George Bush and the Republicans are not NEARLY as stupid as the Left makes them out to be. This type of political prosecution is PRECISELY the reason the United States did not sign up to be screwed over governed by the ICC.

Cluster munitions are small bomblets scattered on a target area by larger bombs, rockets or artillery shells, designed to destroy infantry or soft skinned vehicles.

Use of bunker-busting munitions had also killed civilians, Peacerights said.

Gee, I guess since Saddam had the poor taste to deploy bunkers under populated areas, we should just refrain from attacking, right? Or maybe we should just send in troops and take a lot more casualties (and risk higher civilian casualties due to the extended firefights that would undoubtedly ensue)?

"THIS ONE GOES TO TOP"

ICC officials were unavailable to comment, but Bowring said senior politicians, possibly including Prime Minister Tony Blair, could have something to worry about.

Mr. Blair, this is exactly the sort of thing you and all other Britons can expect if you fully join the EU. You have been warned.

"Heads of state are not immune in principle," the law professor said. "This one goes right to the top."

Because, of course, like bureaucrats around the world, nobody wants to make a decision on this. Weasels.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said last month more than 1,000 civilians were killed or wounded by some 13,000 U.S. and British cluster bombs in the Iraq war last year.

And they STILL haven't killed nearly as many civilians as Saddam and Family, Inc., managed to haul in on a good Saturday night.

Bowring said British aircraft had dropped 70 cluster bombs and British artillery fired 2,000 cluster shells.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said cluster munitions were lawful weapons that had been used in line with international law during the war to oust Saddam Hussein.

British forces had "of course" not been involved in war crimes, he added.

Save your breath. The loons that support this prosecution despise you and all you stand for simply because you supported America in Iraq. You are, in their eyes, the embodiment of the Devil's Handmaiden.

Bowring said the report would be sent to both the British attorney general Lord Goldsmith and the ICC.

Experts were dubious the case would proceed.

"Instinctively, it seems probable that political pressure will be bought to bear to prevent this going to the ICC," barrister Hugo Charlton told Reuters.

In other words, even though this case is fully justified on the merits (at least, in the minds of the loony Left), evil politics will allow the Brits to get away with murder.

The British military was also the subject of complaints to the ICC last July when Greek lawyers sent the court a dossier of human rights allegations in Iraq.

The court has received hundreds of complaints from dozens of countries since it came into force in July 2002, but only one formal investigation has been launched, into reported crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Again, George W. Bush looks brighter every day.

Steve
- posted by MrSpkr @ 13:40

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