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In a recent seperate article, http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steven_l_070223_democratic_president.htm , Rich wanted to address my earlier article that requests pardons/amnesty for those US Troops who were accused of war crimes.http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steven_l_061224_iraq_war___pardon_th.htm
Rich asked what makes this different, what would be a war crime if these aren't.
First, lets look at how the International Criminal Court defines war crimes:
Definition
War crimes are defined in the statute that established the International Criminal Court, which includes:
Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, such as:
Willful killing, or causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health
Torture or inhumane treatment
Unlawful wanton destruction or appropriation of property
Forcing a prisoner of war to serve in the forces of a hostile power
Depriving a prisoner of war of a fair trial
Unlawful deportation, confinement or transfer
Taking hostages
The following acts as part of an international conflict:
Directing attacks against civilians
Directing attacks against humanitarian workers or UN peacekeepers
Killing a surrendered combatant
Misusing a flag of truce
Settlement of occupied territory
Deportation of inhabitants of occupied territory
Using poison weapons
Using civilian shields
Using child soldiers
The following acts as part of a non-international conflict:
Murder, cruel or degrading treatment and torture
Directing attacks against civilians, humanitarian workers or UN peacekeepers
Taking hostages
Summary execution
Pillage
Rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution or forced pregnancy
However the court only has jurisdiction over these crimes where they are "part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes"
The last sentence is the difference as far as I am concerned. Is it the policy of a country, an army, etc. to engage in this behavior? Is a group being intentionally targeted due to race, color, creed, national origin, ethnic group, sexual orientation, etc?
Or, is it what we are seeing, an entire army is disintegrating and breaking mentally due to multiple long deployments in a horrible situation and some of them are breaking in a way that makes them dangerous to themselves and/or others.
Folks, I gotta tell ya, we ain't seen nuttin yet on this one. Before it is all over, we are going to see a Mental Health crisis with Iraq war vets the likes of which have never been seen in the West.
It is easy to pontificate on this, pat ones-self on the back and loudly proclaim how serious war crimes are. That is not in dispute. The question that is before us is, what is our responsibility to these men who have broken, and did they break because of the position in which we put them?
