Friday, May 06, 2016

War Crime, a Term That Has Lost All Meaning


There was a time we were all about "war crimes." We vilified war criminals. They were monsters and not just Nazis either. We wanted nothing more than to see them swinging from a rope.

We built up intricate bodies of law defining crimes of war, crimes against humanity, all these things we would simply not stand for, no sir. Torture, attacks on civilians, commencing hostilities without lawful justification - we worked up a whole codex of unacceptable actions.

First we had Nuremberg and we sent a lot of Nazis packing. Next up we ran a sequel for the Japanese. Then we set up this court in the Hague and we even prosecuted a few of these murderous martial fiends. Who can forget the image of Slobodan Milosevic in the prisoner's dock?

Only then our side, the good guys, got into this war crime business ourselves - big time. We were still okay with putting little nations' monsters to stand trial but we wouldn't be having any of that nonsense for our people.

You can go back as far as Henry Kissinger, ever further back except almost no one recalls their names. Bush, Cheney and their cohort should be languishing in some dismal cellblock right now. They aren't. That won't be happening either.

We still bang up some 90-year old geezer who kept the books at some Nazi concentration camp but these people, who are responsible for civilian deaths by the tens of thousands, no they get a pass.

Israel has an entire campaign strategy, Dahiyeh, that is a tailor-made war crime. It targets civilians. It deliberately targets their essential infrastructure - water, sewer and power plants. It's a blueprint. You start with their civilian infrastructure, take that out. Then you hit their hospitals and their schools. After that you shift your focus to their residential neighbourhoods. Sure that's a flagrant and calculated violation of any number of laws of war and human rights but, hey, it doesn't matter - not when you've got Washington and Ottawa on your side.

Israel isn't our only war crimes ally. What about Saudi Arabia? It loves getting those American cluster bombs and dropping them on Houthi villages in Yemen knowing that Ottawa and Washington will just smile and look the other way.

It seems somebody just bombed a refugee camp in Syria. The UN says it's a war crime. Does it matter? Hardly.

Laws of war and laws of human rights are funny things. Once they become honoured mainly in the breach they become irrelevant. Words like "war crime" that used to stir the soul to righteous indignation  are stripped of their currency, reduced to so much lip flap.

Yet they are important. Their decline points the way we're headed, the Brave New World that awaits.  In case you're wondering, it won't be kind.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shit , Mound.
I am just about to go out for an evening of joviality with my wife and friends and you bring up the subject of war criminals!!
My mind immediately turns to Tony Blair the thought of which turns my stomach to the point that I will not enjoy my evening meal!
That Blair and Bush can still demand hundreds of thousands of dollars for a speech leaves me 'speechless'.
That there are so many that willingly subscribe to them , leaves me nauseated.

Trailblazer

The Mound of Sound said...


Sorry, TB, I should have thought about that. I had just finished reading Foreign Policy's "Friday Afternoon Follies" and I know better than to do that.

Do try to put this out of your mind and enjoy your dinner.

Steve said...

The world has the heart of darkness rabbit bomb blues.

Unknown said...

Just a thought Mound. I wonder if the words, War and Crimes having individually lost their meaning, that when joined together, War Crimes, they are rendered meaningless.We know who the criminals are, but can their one sided invasions of non-threatening countries like Iraq, Palestine,Yemen, Libya etc. be considered wars? Maybe we can charge them with pre-meditated murder and that would include their NATO allies.It will never happen of course.