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War Crimes Update

- Monday, May 5, 2003 |

JINSA Reports #310 and 311 (Feb. 03) discussed Belgium’s plan to become the world’s anywhere, anytime arbiter of “war crimes” and court of international jurisdiction. The most widely publicized case was to be that of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon regarding Christian militia killings in Lebanon in 1982. JINSA’s concern:

If another country arrogates to itself the right to determine what constitutes “war crimes” or “genocide” and that country has a clear political stake in determining certain people or certain countries “guilty,” we may find our own soldiers on the wrong side of Belgian legislation for enforcing the disarmament of Iraq – since that policy does not meet with the approval of the Belgian government … Failure to stop the laughable Belgian assertion of moral superiority will almost surely find that “superiority” turned against American officials and American interests.

Following enormous diplomatic embarrassment, the Belgian parliament amended the law. Those claiming to be victims of “crimes against humanity” outside Belgium can bring a case in Belgium only if they have lived there for at least three years. Then, a prosecutor will have to determine whether Belgium is the right venue. Belgian officials told The Guardian newspaper that accepting cases will be the exception, not the rule, and countries with an “impartial judiciary” will simply have cases referred back to them. Finally, the changes in the law are retroactive.

Better, but it still leaves historically morality-challenged Belgium to decide which countries have a democratic system with an impartial judiciary. It is not inconceivable that they will assert that Israel is not a democracy and it’s judiciary not impartial. It is not inconceivable that they will assert that PA or Cuban “justice” is acceptable, and refer cases pending against Arafat and Castro back to them. To what extent will Belgian distaste for Israeli – or American – policies trump common sense?

Now a Belgian lawyer has announced that he is preparing to take American General Tommy Franks to court on charges of war crimes in Iraq, citing “indiscriminate killing of Iraqi civilians, the bombing of the Baghdad market, the shooting of an ambulance and the failure to stop hospitals being looted.” The complaint will allege unknown American forces committed atrocities in Iraq and that “command responsibility” for their actions rests with Gen. Franks.

This is first of all a misunderstanding of the place of Gen. Franks in the American chain of command that runs to the Commander in Chief. But even the Belgians can’t imagine lodging war crimes charges against President Bush, so they’ve chosen Gen. Franks.

But more important, this is a blatantly political attempt to use Belgian courts to smear the American military – the idea that Iraqi looting of an Iraqi hospital is an American “war crime” mocks the millions of victims of Saddam’s real crimes. The mass graves coalition forces and Iraqi civilians are finding didn’t dig themselves.