AP: Iraq to Create War Crimes Tribunal

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites)'s U.S.-appointed government will establish a tribunal for crimes against humanity in the coming days that could try hundreds of officials, including Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and his top aides, Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

Some human rights groups criticized the plans, saying Iraq's U.S. occupiers have too much of a hand in them and that Iraqi judges and prosecutors may not have the experience needed to try the cases.

The law creating the tribunal — which could be passed as early as Sunday — will be similar to proposals made in Washington in April, one member of Iraq's Governing Council said. The law calls for Iraqi judges to hear cases presented by Iraqi lawyers, with international experts serving only as advisers.

That would be starkly different from U.N.-sponsored tribunals set up to consider war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. In those cases, international judges and lawyers have argued and decided cases.

(more)

but satire is definately cold and stiff.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites)'s U.S.-appointed government will establish a tribunal for crimes against humanity in the coming days that could try hundreds of officials, including Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and his top aides, Iraqi and American

It will be a huge success for Bush. I guess he will show us Saddam in no time.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031205/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_war_crimes

d'oh

Maybe I should read the article and not just the headline.

From the article:

..."Iraqis want it that way, and they're capable of doing it that way," she said. "There is no need to have an international tribunal when the local population is willing and able to do it."

Adnan Jabbar al-Saadi, a lawyer with the new Iraqi Human Rights Ministry who said he expected to argue some of the tribunal cases, agreed. "I think it's very important for people to see the criminals who killed their families in court," he said. "The United Nations asked us if they should give money to people so they would feel better, and I told them nothing will make them feel better except seeing the responsible criminals in prison."

Some groups questioned the legality of the tribunal. Under the Geneva Conventions, an occupying power can't create new laws, except when needed to restore order.

Hodgkinson said she wasn't concerned about questions of legality.

The Truth and Reconcilation Commission model seems to have proven itself in a couple of other countries...why not Iraq?

groups IMO. Way too emotionally charged and way too many disappeareds under Sadam for the Iraqis to try these people. Also, I think the article point out that there was a lot of corruption within their justice system.

This is an article yesterday re the RW paramilitaries in Colombia. HR orgs around the globe are really up in arms about this one in part because US lap dog Uribe is backing it:

<clips>

Colombian far-right warlord wants truth commission

BOGOTA, Colombia, Dec 4 (Reuters) - A notorious far-right warlord has proposed truth commissions to investigate massacres and other crimes in Colombia's 40-year-old war, but wants the killers themselves to escape jail.

In an interview with daily El Tiempo published on Thursday, fugitive paramilitary leader Carlos Castano said truth commissions could be established once both his far-right militias and their Marxist guerrilla foes join peace talks.

"What would be desirable is a truth commission, once all the participants in the conflict sit down at the table," said Castano, whose United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known by the Spanish initials AUC, is negotiating with the government.

The former army scout faces 27 arrest warrants for crimes including mass murder and drug trafficking and has received two sentences of 40 years in absentia and another for 22 years for killing 56 people. He has admitted to many of the murders and is wanted by the United States for cocaine smuggling.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04335947.htm

That bastard certainly does need to be on trial for crimes against humanity.

What Iraq really needs is an international war crimes tribunal, along the lines of what exists for the former Yugoslavia.

But Bush can't go along with that because that would - God forbid - involve the United Nations.

Do you think the Nuremberg Trials were excessively harsh? I think they were de minimus.

"Hodgkinson said she wasn't concerned about questions of legality."


And when American soldiers are taken hostage somewhere in the world, what exactly will protect them from atrocities and show trials?

this must'ta be a Henry Kissinger type joke, 'eh?

custody? That Iraqi army guy last week and then the thousands in Afghanistan--a documentary about the 4,000 men who disappeared at Mazar-i-Sharif is gonna be on Free Speech TV this Sunday (I think), although I can't seem to find it on their website, maybe it's Link tv.

Meanwhile, this letter (pdf format) was sent in November to Lieutenant General John Vines, U.S. Commander in Afghanistan from the Lawyers Committee on Human Rights.

<clips>

Dear General Vines:

I am writing to request information about the current status of the military investigations into the deaths of three detainees who died in U.S. custody in Afghanistan. Mullah Habibullah and Mr. Dilawar died at Bagram Airbase in December 2002.1 A third man, Abdul Walli, died at a U.S. holding facility near Asadabad in June 2003.

According to press reports, pathologists working for the Department of Defense determined that the Mr. Habibullah and Mr. Dilawar had suffered “blunt force injuries” and classified their deaths as homicides.2 In response to these reports, Lt. Gen. Daniel K. McNeill indicated in
March 2003 that the circumstances behind the deaths were being examined by the U.S. military in the context of an ongoing criminal investigation.3 In June 2003, a spokesperson for the U.S. military announced that a separate investigation had been launched into Mr. Walli’s death. According to the BBC, reports from Afghan sources suggested that Mr. Walli had been tortured during a U.S. interrogation session.4

more...

The CPA doesn't have a clue what they're doing. They keep putting the cart before the horse. How can you even talk of a war crimes tribunal when ya still don't have a "real" government! They have a helluva lot more important things to think about right now like jobs, reconstruction, food, building whateva kind of government they're gonna have....

Jazzgirl

Sorry - couldn't resist. There's something about hearing fascist lyrics on a Clear Channel radio station that makes my heart...er...have heartburn.

Anyway, who's surprised about this tribunal? The exercise of US power since 9/11 has increasingly followed the Soviet script - centralized power, swelling police authority, external military aggression, and now the show trials in Iraq (and probably soon, their sequels in Guantanamo Bay).

Seems we had it in us all along; one tragedy on our soil and all the fine words for all the fine decades come to naught... The Toby Keith inside our black hearts emerges...in an instant.

Terrible and awe-inspiring, is it not? And don't you tremble at what the next few years will bring? No sane man or woman alive dares not tremble at what we're becoming.