A law firm with a fetching name, Public Interest Lawyers intends to prosecute Prime Minister Tony Blair for war crimes at the new International Criminal Court (ICC), if an Iraqi war goes ahead.
Phil Shiner of the law firm is leading a campaign to prosecute leaders in the seven-month-old ICC, if military action goes ahead without a second United Nations resolution expressly authorising force, or if any Iraqi civilians are killed in bombing campaigns.
“The ICC brings a new international context to war – Blair now has to consider his individual accountability.”
The ICC’s independent prosecutor can initiate proceedings at the request of a state or can receive evidence from anyone, and then decide whether to prosecute, subject to advice from three of the court’s 18 judges. The prosecution will be based on the fact that national leaders could be held individually responsible for war crimes and be tried as ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has at a separate court for former Yugoslavia.
The United States fiercely opposes the ICC, saying it would infringe U.S. sovereignty, but Britain has ratified its treaty and would have to give up any citizen the court wanted to try.
“The ICC will now place a serious constraint on Blair.”
Oh really?! That must make Blair quake in his boots. I fervently hope he ignores the self-righteous and attention-seeking bunch of idiotarians. The International Criminal Court, what a brilliant idea, I hear people cry, just like the UN. The picture comes into focus once the client of Public Interest Lawyers’ who initiated the proceedings is revealed! Enter CND, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament! And I thought they were all in Iraq making sure Saddam gets disarmed and prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons. You can’t rely on anybody these days.
But there is a serious lesson for Blair and the UK government in this farcical episode – next time read the small print on all those treaties and agreements and codes and declarations you are signing, in case the Tranzis decide you are not dancing to their tune. It seems that in this case, the US knew better…
Please don’t tell me these attorneys are pursuing a politically motivated prosecution! I’m shocked, shocked!
The Poodle could always go on the lam to America.
By the way, why don’t they sue Saddam at the ICC ? Isn’t he a head of state ? Or maybe the problem is “no proof” ?
Do you by any chance have GPS coordinates for this law firm’s head office? We do like to minimize collateral damage…
No problem, I’ll send them via your secure line. I’ll even throw in the coordinates of the ICC for good measure …
Much obliged. Remind me to buy you a beer next time I’m in Londinium.
Pray to whatever gods you worship that the last three posts are indeed from who they purport to be.
I hope this lawsuit goes forward. I’d also like to see an indictment of Chretien for the Ivory Coast intervention. No surer way to see this silliness go away than for the leaders of Britian and France to be brought up as its first cases.
It’s times like these when I wish Blair would commit a real war crime and have these people rubbed out by MI5. Of course as WL points out, this can only serve to delegitimise the IC, so no real harm done.
I’d actually like to see this indictment happen. Not because I dislike Tony Blair (I’m a Yank, so I rather like him. I’ll leave the British to like or dislike him as they please), but because I think there is half a chance the US Marine Corps would declare him an “honorary Marine”, and duly inform the ICC that they look forward to a “friendly debate” over just how Mr. Blair will wind up in their custody.
More seriously, it seems that Tranzi thinking has brought much of Europe to the edge of the abyss. I think indicting Mr. Blair would then be a big step forward (and very far down) for them.
In order for the ICC to discredit itself, taking up and serving a writ condemning Tony Blair as a war criminal would be a positive step.
Such a move could obtain support from France and the European Commission, if the war goes ahead after a French veto (one scenario).