WAR CRIMES TRIALS LURK IN THE BACKGROUND
The principal charge that was laid at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal, following World War Two was that of "planning and waging an aggressive war".
Those who were found guilty, were hung.
There is no more serious step that any leader can take than to make the decision to send young men and women off to war. In the case of the American invasion of Iraq, there are eerie similarities to that long-ago battle against Nazi Germany, right down to the question of criminal behaviour.
The problem is that in our own time, everything is backwards…there are no good guys…only aggressors and victims. In Iraq, the most serious crimes have been committed by both sides in an aggressive war that ought never to have been waged and would never have been undertaken by a rational leader.
Many of us believed at the time that planning and waging an aggressive war against a nation that had not attacked us was the wrong thing to do. That’s in part, at least, why Canada stayed out of it. (I believe the other part is that Canada did not wish to go to war with a moron).
The decision to invade Iraq was wrong. Increasingly it looks criminal.
I remember vividly, the first day of the American Blitzkrieg against Baghdad.
It was about 3:00 a.m. in Toronto and I was driving to work. As usual, I was listening to CBC radio, thinking about my own early morning newscast.
As I drove down Yonge street an announcer broke into regular programming and began to report on the invasion and the first wave of bombings. I was shocked, because I was still hoping (in vain as it turned out), that Mr. Bush and his people would do the right thing and listen to what reasonable people were saying.
I was also deeply saddened by the news; I actually felt a lump in my throat. No war can happen without terrible civilian casualties. No matter how good the U.S. military is…a bombing campaign always kills the innocent.
For soldiers, war is hell; but for civilians, especially the children…war is a searing trauma that will last a lifetime.
On the other hand, I wasn’t surprised by the invasion. Given America’s long history of baseless interference in other peoples’ business, it seemed like just more of the same-old.
Still listening to the radio, I pulled over to pick up a morning coffee. As I got out of my car a solitary woman in Arabic dress, wearing a head scarf was crossing the almost-deserted street. I still had that lump of sadness in my throat, as I watched her walking; I thought about the latest tragic news and I resisted the urge to run after her. I wanted to apologise for what our American friends were doing. I wanted to explain that I knew how bad it would all be…not just for people in the Muslim world but for all of us. I was ashamed that I did not have the courage to speak to her. I say this now out of sorrow and sympathy for all Muslims and out of shame for those like me who stood by and did nothing.
It was crystal clear to me in that moment, that this was going to be a lot more than just a fight against Iraq in order to change the government there. Knowingly or not, George Bush was going to complete the demonization process against Muslims and the Islamic world. I knew that the invasion would be seen by many as justified.
After Septemer 11th, 2001, there was an appetite in America to punish anyone who even looked like a Muslim, even though the attacks were carried out by a tiny group of insane extremists. This invasion would, I knew, fan the flames of bigotry and raise the level of hatred in our society.
It wasn’t just the foolish and criminal behaviour…illegal in the eyes of the world…of George W. Bush and his government, that bothered me that morning. This action would also- I believed- raise the security stakes in the dangerous game of "us-against-terror". This invasion would be the beginning of a brand new wave of terror. It would herald the beginning of a fight that would create many many more terrorists.
I was prompted to write this post today, after reading this morning’s news. How pathetic it is that so manyservants of the state in America informed their leadership that the invasion would be a mistake- but kept their mouths shut in public. Their silence left the American people at the mercy of a mendacious president and his underlings , who were hell-bent on going to war and to hell with everyone else.
The fact that Americans were kept in the dark about the truth, makes them victims too. They suffer another kind of pain that surely equals the pain felt by innocent Iraqis.
Americans must live with the shame of this criminal act by their leader. They must live with the fact that it was all so unnecessary…so avoidable. And they must live with the most horrible shame of all…that tens of thousands of people, including their own lost soldiers…died for nothing.
The more we learn about Bush and Cheney and the others, the more apparent it is that War Crimes Trials will have to be held. 
Here’s the story that jumped out at me this morning.
and here’s a postscript
-The Bush administration formally renounced support of the International Criminal Court yesterday, declaring that the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal would be an unchecked power, able to prosecute U.S. soldiers and their superiors-
Yet we continue to suck up to the GRS* by pimping their agenda in Afghanistan.
Canada should contribute only to military endeavours untainted by USA.
But that wouldn’t give much of an outlet to SNC/Lavalin for their boxes of bullets which end up in Iraqi civilians, would it.
As of yesterday, the US Democrats are every bit as responsible as Republicans for the continuing carnage In the Middle East. They’re makin’ Bushie look like a Churchillian giant.
* Giant Rogue State
The nightmare continues
I agree with everything you say…but what about the trials? How does that happen, who prosecutes and is there domestic support within the United States for such a move?