Tuesday, October 21, 2003



The US doesn't care about war crimes, part II

Why am I so pissed off about this? Well, look at it this way: If the US government discovered that 35 years ago a band of psychopaths had gone on a road trip across America, killing hundreds of people, they would spare no effort in investigating the crimes. And if they knew who was responsible, they would arrest them in an instant.

That's the situation we have here, yet the US is sitting on its hands and doing nothing. Their blatant inaction condones the atrocities, and sends the message that the deaths of non-Americans are simply not worthy of consideration unless it is politically useful (as in Kosovo or Iraq). The double-standard undermines the prohibition on war-crimes worldwide by making it easier to argue that prosecutions for atrocities are simply "victor's justice", rather than the enforcement of universal human rights. It is in a sense a betrayl of every victim of military atrocities and a diminishment of their oppressor's crimes.

Justice is indivisible. In order to be justice, it must be enforced consistently and impartially, regardless of race, class, or nationality. If the US actually gave a shit about justice or human rights, it would punish its own as vigorously as it punishes its enemies. The fact that it doesn't speaks volumes about its real values.

0 comments: