International justice requires an international court: Commemorating the 5th anniversary of the Rome Statute

On July 1, 2007 the United Nations along with international NGOs and others from around the world, celebrated the 5th anniversary of the Rome Statute. 5 years ago, the representatives of 120 nation/states came together in Rome,and decided that "lasting peace requires justice." In that spirit, and in pursuit of that result, they established the International Criminal Court, or ICC.

The International Criminal Court is a permanent court with jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The Rome Statute according to ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, " created a comprehensive and global criminal justice system." The Rome Statute incorporates and codifies the Genocide Convention, and the Geneva Conventions. It also "integrates different legal and procedural traditions into a new international model, where victims are given the right to participate in proceedings." The Rome Statute also created a trust fund for reparations, and compensation to be paid in favor of victims.

The ICC, or International Criminal Court is granted subject matter, and territorial jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the Rome Statute. Since the UN Security Council can refer any situation to the court, it is possible that the court's jurisdiction can extend to the entire world.

For those of us who understand the very real relationship between justice and peace, the International Criminal Court and the Rome Statute represent the world's only hope for a system of international justice that is blind to government and corporate power, and politics, yet is able to see perfectly the need for an equalizer of men, who are prone by an imperfect nature, to the sometimes violent and lawless excesses that result from vengeance, brute strength, and greed.

There is no more poignant example of this than the so-called "war against terrorism" that has shaped up to be little more than a politicized assault on Muslims, Arabs and Islam, and for oil, carried out by religious fanatics mostly in the US, who have masked their hatred with self righteousness and vengeance against an entire religion and culture, because of the act of a few socio-paths who lacked both religion and culture. Pre-emptive wars, Guantanamo Bay, renditions, torture, Abu Ghraib, Haditha, economic sanctions that killed millions of innocent children, the elderly, sick and disabled in an attempt to coerce political outcomes, are all examples of such excesses, perpetrated by governments and their militaries against civilian populations.

We can only imagine how differently things would be if instead of vigilante justice carried out at the behest of a few ideologues, driven by racism and religious bigotry, the 9/11 tragedy had been investigated by an international court, and its perpetrators found, captured and convicted through an international criminal process, and punished with the consent and consensus of an entire world, united in its intolerance for terrorism, and sympathetic, rather than suspicious of its victims.

Imagine if Saddam Hussein had been captured and taken to the Hague for trial, and his life or death determined by an international court. Rather than being a source of further hostility, justice might have united the world, and served as a step towards reconciliation rather than further polarization.

The war on terror is not the only example of an action that might have been better prosecuted by an international criminal court, than resolved through pre-emptive, and perpetual wars of aggression, which are themselves international crimes. There are many other examples of on going conflicts that will only be truly resolved once the issues related to rights and law are also resolved. Such issues cannot be resolved by wars, or negotiations.

The 5th anniversary of the Rome Statute, seems an appropriate time for us to consider the future of a world that is ever more connected, and where the actions of a few, whether governments, groups or individuals can affect a great number of people. Political expediency and vengeance cannot be our only considerations and preoccupations. We must again look at justice as a cause, and also a deterrent. We must reach that understanding shared by 120 nations in Rome, when they declared that "lasting peace requires justice." I add, that international crimes require an international court, and law. Never again should one nation be allowed to prosecute an international war of vengeance against a single race, religion and culture with impunity. The International Criminal Court is an independent court that is not dependent upon governments or the UN Security Council to trigger action. It is worthy of our support, and respect, and should be ratified by every nation/state in the world.

Who will save the West from itself?

American collaboration with Israel and the rest of the Western powers in the ongoing genocide in Palestine is criminal and wrong. The only thing more disgraceful is that all of the Western powers, and also the UN, will convene here in the US to discuss a solution to the suppossed problem created when the Palestinians elected a Hamas dominated government. Is Hamas the cause of the problems that plague the Middle East? Why didn't these same powers convene to discuss what the world should do in response to the American people electing a Republican or Democrat government? Both have done little more than fleece the American taxpayer, kill our children in illegal wars, and give our daughters plenty of contraception,or abortion, and our old men Cialis. Well, actually they have done more. They have also created chaos in one of the most important regions of the world, while simultaneously killing millions of innocent civilians (many more than Hamas)and calling them, "collateral damage." This meeting is as ridiculous as the White House event, wherein the newly elected German Chancellor came to the US to call for Western unity in condemning Iran for saying that there are discrepancies in the holocaust history. While she was condemning Iran, some weirdo was waiting to be heard in an Italian court, where he planned to challenge the Church's claim that Jesus existed as a historical figure. Can you imagine, she wanted the Western world to unite against Iran for challenging holocaust exaggerations. She couldn't care less about a legal challenge to the existence of Jesus. Even though she leads one of the great Christian nations, she didn't call for Western unity in defense of Christ. She called for Western unity in defense of the holocaust story, and Jewish pride.

The media is reporting that the ultra Zionist Benjamin Netanyahu and his ilk are telling the Western nations that they must come together in defense of everything Israeli and Jewish since anti-Semitism is supposedly on the rise. They say anti-Semitism is threatening again as in World War II, to manifest as another holocaust. What garbage. What about the genocide being perpetrated by Israel and the Western powers against the Palestinian people? Who should unite in their defense? Perhaps Israel should ask "why" anti-Semitism is growing, and the US should perhaps ask why anti-Americanism is also growing, along with growing discontent right here in the states.

The US made a big mistake when it turned our intelligence gathering, and foreign policy making over to the Israeli government and their counterparts operating here in the US, including AIPAC. They have killed more than 3000 American children, and maimed and tormented many more, in a plot that is so ridiculously stupid that no one can even talk about it. Their war on terrorism, their war in Iraq, their pre-emptive strike doctrine, their torture, their lies, and their other crimes against humanity like the genocide in Palestine are an embarrassment to the Western world, or should be. They have perhaps squandered billions in US taxpayer money, and stolen billions more, skimming off of American pension funds, and have been stealing from reconstruction projects in Iraq. They have derailed the credibility of the US government, and destroyed American prestige and influence in the world. Now they want us to send 40 thousand more of our children into Iraq to die, and also to attack Iran either along with them, or in their defense. This all seems just fine with our so-called representative government that gets bigger, and less representative of American sentiment, and more representative everyday of the Jewish sentiment, which is morally skewed, self absorbed, violent and also self destructive.

So the big question today is, "who will save the West from itself?" Who will save us from the people who call themselves Western "leaders" yet they have forsaken their obligation to their own people, countries and children in order to appease a foreign power that has given us nothing but headaches. This foreign power, while demanding our money, our children's lives, and also our honor and our pride, has also sought to undermine our Constitution. Our "ally" has left us nothing, not even the illusion of independence and power. They have enslaved the American worker, who now works more hours per day for less money than almost any other worker in the industrialized world, yet can't get affordable health care, housing, or a pension. They have poisoned our people with drugs and pornography and sexual addictions and crime. They have broken up our families, and caused fear and suspicion to weaken our communities. These are the people who will convene in Washington to decide the fate of the Arab and Muslim world, beginning with Palestine. These are the people who will decide what to do about Hamas, as though Hamas is what is plaguing the world. Who will save Palestine from us, and who will save us from ourselves?

If we are lucky, the people of the United States will stop shopping, and start listening. If we are lucky we will stop eating, and try to understand what is happening to our country, and what is being done in the world in our names. Whereas our government is a joke, we, the people, can salvage the great American experiment simply by upholding our Constitution, and demanding that it be adhered to. We must save ourselves, from ourselves, by turning to the past and giving new life to our Constitution. It is an idea and a testament to independence, freedom and equal rights. It is the threads that stitched together the souls of these 50 states, and though often strained, had never been completely torn except once, resulting in a civil war. Will we wait for our country to become like Iraq or Palestine? Occupied, drained and stripped of its resources, its wealth, and power, and like the Palestinians, will we start killing one another to curry favor from enemies? Wake up America!