The Sickening scent of idealism and the Nuremberg Principles

Last week, Barack Obama walked a step farther than any president before him. He declassified a number of documents pertaining to the illegal, immoral, unjust, and horrific regime of systematic torture that occurred at Guantanamo Bay during the previous administration. In doing so, he began the slow process of healing the deep scars left by the war criminals previous to his administration. Yet, it can often be said that to go halfway is almost worse than not going anywhere at all, and this is quite possibly one of those situations.

As he declassified the documents and issued orders to shut down the prison in Cuba, Mr. Obama also promised that legal action would not be taken against those who perpetrated the torture. To understand why this is wrong, we need to look back to 1946, to a series of principles laid down during the Nuremberg Trials. In particular, Principles I-IV and VIb

I: Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment.

II: The fact that internal law does not impose a penalty for an act which constitutes a crime under international law does not relieve the person who committed the act from responsibility under international law.

III: The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.

IV: The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.

VIb: War Crimes: Violations of the laws or customs of war which include, but are not limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation of slave labor or for any other purpose of the civilian population of or in occupied territory; murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war...

It is these principles that make Obama's actions unacceptable. He will tell us that we don't need to waste time exploring the past. What we would do, were we to follow these principles and try the bastards, is not to waste time, but to prove to the world that such awful behavior will never be tolerated.

Principle I states that anyone who commits a war crime must be punished. Those who engaged in torture/interrogation techniques, extraordinary rendition, secret military trials, the violation of habeus corpus laws, and a host of other crimes violated international law in doing so. As stated in II, the fact that internal law doesn't force their punishment is irrelevant, as they are guilty of their crimes under international law.

Principles III and IV are perhaps the most important with regards to this issue. If an act is committed at the bottom level, it is capable of being punished at the top level, even if they were a head of state. The trials of Pinochet in Spain and Britain proved that much; leadership in government does not vindicate you. Principle IV, the one instrumental in the execution of countless Nazi leaders in 1946, says that the excuse "I was only following orders" is meaningless, and you are still liable under international law.

When Obama says that "those who were forced to do so regardless of their better judgment will not be prosecuted", he spits in the face of these principles, he makes a mockery of international law. If you refuse to punish the crimes that were committed, you set a dangerous precedent. The war crimes tribunals of Nuremberg and Tokyo were so successful because they ensured that an example was made of those who committed their crimes. Under Obama's vision, it is only a matter of time before another Cheney or another Wolfowitz or another Tenet comes along and realizes they can get away with torture, with murder, with war crimes, with indiscriminate slaughter of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, with conspiracy and Crimes Against Peace. I do not want to see that happen.

What I want to see happen is something entirely different. I want to turn on the TV one morning to behold the sight of George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, George Tenet and Donald Rumsfeld in irons, being led away to The Hague in Holland, to be tried for their crimes and the crimes their administration committed. I want to see those who tortured people who were often in the wrong place at the wrong time - like Maher Arar - and those complicit in their torture properly punished. I want to see justice, not idealism.

Short Reading List

Thought I'd post one of these, as other people have as well. I first compiled this list in late March, and have been steadily ticking off the books on it.

To Read:
Middle East Illusions, Noam Chomsky
Beyond Chutzpah, Norman Finkelstein (when it arrives)
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
A brief history of Time, Stephen Hawking

Read:
The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens
Chasing a Mirage, Tarek Fatah
Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco (best fiction I have ever read)
I don't believe in atheists, Chris Hedges
Project Censored: 2009, Project Censored
Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky

I spend too much time reading.

On Popes, AIDS, and Abortions

The Holy Roman Catholic Church; an ancient institution with more followers than any other Christian denomination in the world. It's headquarters - Vatican City - is the center of one of the largest archives in the world, with art collections dating from before the birth of the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages, the HRCC was a massive political force, capable of overruling the decrees of emperors and kings. Yet throughout its history, the Catholic Church has suffered from a crushing burden: it's outdated and (at times) horrific doctrine and dogma.

Take, for example, Pope Adolf II's Benedict XVI's comments while touring Africa in Cameroon last month. He essentially said that "condoms make the problem of HIV worse", and that "abstinence is the key". Wait a second, didn't the Pew Research Center already prove that "abstinence only" is about as effective as powdered water? In studies conducted several years ago, it was discovered that "the pledge" prolonged abstinence by a mere 18 months, while other forms of sexual contact increased during those 18 months. So, let's move to Africa now, where a population is on the verge of total destruction from the overwhelming power of HIV/AIDS. If you teach people how to engage in safe-sex, I can guarantee that the rates of infection will drop. You need only look at the gay community to know that it works. When they figured out that unsafe sex spread HIV like wildfire in southern Australia, they quickly adapted, and now their prevalence rates, though still cause for distress, are much lower than they used to be. When, 18 months after the Catholic doctrine has been stuffed down their throats, it fails, what then becomes of Africa? To make a long and sad story short: It continues to be torn apart by AIDS.

The arrogance and soullesness of the Catholic Church is overwhelming. They are actually willing to condemn an entire continent to destruction because of their ancient doctrine and dogma - a doctrine and dogma that will succeed in doing nothing but kill off a continent. Pope or not, Benedict XVI is not infallible, and he is definitely not correct on this issue.

You'd think that, for one month, the Catholic Church would have done enough damage, but it doesn't stop there. In mid-march, the HRCC excommunicated the mother of a nine-year-old Brazilian girl, along with the doctors who performed her abortion. For those you who don't know, excommunication is the Catholic-equivalent of the "go directly to jail" monopoly card. Why did they excommunicate them? Because a 9-year old had an abortion. Why did she have an abortion? Because her stepfather repeatedly molested and raped her, causing her to become pregnant. Had the pregnancy been carried through, she would have died, no debate or question. Yet again, stupid dogma means that, rather than being congratulated for saving a young life, the doctors are excommunicated and condemned.

Benedict XVI continues to prove that he completely insane, without even mentioning his service in the Hitlerjugend in the 30's and 40's. Since becoming Pope in 2006, he has fought an unnecessary war with Islam, insulted the world's Sunni populations, declared homosexuality to be "a disease and sin akin to burning the rainforests", annulled the excommunication of a Muslim & Jew-hating, Holocaust denying bishop, and then declared condoms and abortions of rape-victims "evil".

It's time to take power away from these psychopaths, for the good of humanity. It's time to realize that, just because an ancient Roman Emperor sanctioned it 1800 years ago doesn't mean it holds any relevance or weight today, that human life is more important than religious doctrine and dogma. Benedict, your time is up, your morals are spent. Something is rotten in the state of the Vatican, and it is time to extract and destroy it.

"Morality is doing what's right, no matter what you're told.
Religious Dogma is doing what you're told, no matter what's right." - Unknown

We needed that like a shotgun blast to the head

The Israel-Palestine conflict; a half-century year old territorial land war, where both sides are steeped in the blood of innocents - Palestinian and Israeli alike. Both sides have committed horrific atrocities; the Palestinian intifada in Hebron, the IDF reservist's massacre of 135 people in the Cave of the Patriarchs, the destruction of civilian equipment by suicide bombers, Israel's horrific foray into the Jenin Refugee Camp. Both sides have committed enough atrocities that an ICC case could be brought against either side with ample evidence to send everyone from Yasser Arafat to Ariel Sharon to prison for the remainder of their lives (if they were still alive).

With all that in mind, you'd think that people in those two countries would be eager for the bloodshed to stop. One side is, and not the one we think. Unless you've been reading Haaretz for the last year (which I'll just assume most of you have not been doing), you'll likely have been convinced that Hamas is a fanatical group of satanic Arab terrorists eager to annihilate Israel without any negotiation. The reality is quite different. Following the declaration of the June ceasefire, Hamas strove to maintain it, attempting to crack down on splinter-groups continuing to attack Israel. It was, in fact, Israel who broke the ceasefire on 4 November 2008, causing Hamas - who had previously been making attempts to renew the ceasefire - to retaliate. That, of course, blew into the shitstorm of the Gaza conflict, killing 1,400 Palestinians, wounding another 5,000, and - in the words of Norman Finkelstein - "using a Hydrogen Bomb to eliminate an anthill".

Even after that, you'd think that the people of the region would still want peace. What better way, then, to kick-start the peace process than to elect an ultranationalist government to run Israel, one that wants little to nothing to do with Palestine or the peace process.
But wait, this story gets better. As the foreign minister of the new government, Likud appointed Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the ultra-ultranationalist party in Israel. Before becoming the leader of that party, Lieberman was a member of Kach, a now-banned political party identified as a terrorist group by the Israeli and US governments in 1994. Lieberman has advocated a variety of extreme positions, such as "taking care of" Arab MPs who show signs of what he calls "disloyalty to Israel" (read "questioning the government's settlement programs"), or turning Israel into an entirely Jewish state by annexing settlement blocs and turning over Arab-majority territory to Gaza or the West Bank.

Having been sworn in as the new foreign minister, Lieberman wasted no time in continuing to fuck up any attempt to have peace in the region, by declaring the Annapolis conference "not recognized" by the Israeli government. The settlement agreement that was supported even by the followers of Ariel Sharon has now been rejected by a man who is not only a borderline fascist, but an open racist and warmongerer who would - in ages past - have been tried for conspiracy and Crimes Against Peace.
We didn't need this, Mr. Lieberman. We didn't need you to further destroy an already-perilously precarious process (While we're on the subject of alliterations, I have to also note that the persistent power-mad punchups that are the norm with Likud are pissing me off). The peace process needed this like a shotgun blast to the head. The Arab League is ready to negotiate. Hamas and Fatah are even ready to negotiate. The United States is even ready to bend on some issues - despite the overwhelming presence of The Lobby, and yet we have a bunch of fascists running the government in Israel who refuse to even consider a peace process. They continue to divide and splinter where we should be trying to mend and heal. As MLK said, we are either going to live as brothers, or die as fools. It seems that Avigdor Lieberman prefers us to do the latter.